Lewisburg’s Campus Theatre pairs films with science talks in new series

A downtown movie house is turning science into a neighborhood conversation

A 1941 art deco movie house in downtown Lewisburg is making *2001: A Space Odyssey* feel like a neighborhood conversation, with physicist, author and educator Alan Lightman on stage to unpack the film’s vision of the future. At the Campus Theatre, the goal is not just to show a movie, but to use cinema as a doorway into science, and to do it for $6 a seat.

That matters in Union County because the Campus Theatre is not a multiplex or a lecture hall. It is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit historic theater at 413 Market Street, and the venue describes itself as one of the few remaining single-screen art deco movie houses in the country. In a town where Bucknell University and downtown Lewisburg overlap every day, that gives the series a rare kind of reach: it can pull students, families, retirees and casual moviegoers into the same room for a shared conversation about science.

How Science on Screen works in Lewisburg

The Campus Theatre describes Science on Screen as a film and discussion series that brings cinema and science together through expert-led conversations. The theater says its 2026 series is an initiative of the Coolidge Corner Theatre with major support from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, which places the Lewisburg events inside a long-running national network rather than a one-time local experiment.

That national reach is substantial. Coolidge Corner Theatre says it has awarded Science on Screen grants to independent cinemas nationwide since 2010, and a Coolidge document says grant recipients span 45 states plus Washington, D.C. A Sloan Foundation grant record says the program has reached well over 150 independent cinema houses over time, and a current grant will allow Coolidge to make new grants to 70 participating theaters over the next two years. Coolidge also says it has awarded more than $2.75 million in Science on Screen grants to 131 film and science-focused organizations since 2010.

For Lewisburg, that support helps turn a historic theater into a civic classroom. The series is built for people who might never attend a formal lecture, but will show up for a movie night, especially when the discussion is led by someone who can connect science to ordinary life, local institutions and the bigger questions behind the screen.

The first pairing: 2001: A Space Odyssey and Alan Lightman

The spring lineup opens with one of the most surprising and fitting combinations in the series: *2001: A Space Odyssey* with Alan Lightman. The Campus Theatre’s event listing gives that screening the theme “Imagining the Future,” and Lightman is described there as a physicist, author and educator who bridges science and the humanities.

That pairing works because *2001* has always been more than a space movie. It asks how people imagine progress, where technology leads us and what is lost when a society races ahead faster than its moral imagination. In a college town like Lewisburg, those questions resonate beyond film buffs: they touch classrooms, labs, local employers and the everyday choices communities make about innovation, evidence and the future.

The screening is scheduled for April 23 at 7 p.m., with tickets priced at $6. The low cost is part of the story. By keeping the event affordable, the theater makes sure a science conversation is not reserved for people who already feel comfortable in academic settings.

Why Hidden Figures may hit closest to home

The second Science on Screen date, May 2 at 7 p.m., features *Hidden Figures* with Bucknell faculty taking part. If *2001* opens with a question about the future, *Hidden Figures* grounds the series in history, equity and recognition. The film tells the story of Katherine G. Johnson, Dorothy Vaughan and Mary Jackson, three African-American women at NASA whose work helped make astronaut John Glenn’s orbit possible.

That story lands well beyond the movie itself. It is about who gets credited for scientific labor, who is allowed into the room where decisions are made and how institutions can overlook talent when race and gender shape access. Bringing that film to a downtown theater with Bucknell faculty in the discussion deepens the local relevance, because it connects a national story of exclusion and achievement to a campus-community setting where science can feel more approachable.

For Union County readers, the value of that pairing is not just educational. It is social. A film about Black women breaking barriers at NASA, followed by live discussion, can make STEM feel less abstract and more human, especially for younger viewers who may not see themselves in traditional science settings. It also fits Bucknell’s arts culture, which the university describes as including films and guest speakers, reinforcing the idea that the theater and the campus are part of the same cultural ecosystem.

What to know before you go

• Location: Campus Theatre, 413 Market Street, Lewisburg
• Series format: film screening plus expert-led discussion
• April 23 screening: *2001: A Space Odyssey* with Alan Lightman at 7 p.m.
• May 2 screening: *Hidden Figures* with Bucknell faculty at 7 p.m.
• Admission: $6, available online or at the door

The result is a science series that feels local without losing its national ambition. In a town where a historic theater can still serve as both a cultural anchor and a gathering place for ideas, the Campus Theatre is proving that science does not have to arrive in a lecture hall to matter. Sometimes it can start with a movie, a $6 ticket and a conversation that lingers after the credits end.