The Regent Theatre is arguably one of the most divisive buildings in the entire Mudgee region and one woman's campaign to 'revive' the building has attracted plenty of supporters.
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Simone Sheridan, who was born in Mudgee but currently lives in Sydney has been the face of the 'Revive the Regent' movement after a Facebook group was created in 2017 following her success in saving the famous Victoria theatre in Newcastle.
Simone says her success in Newcastle gave her the confidence to believe she could do the same for the Regent.
"I'd watched it sit for a long time like everybody else and was very upset with that. So that gave me confidence I guess to start this group and it's grown from there, that was even before the hotel was proposed but I still had hope that maybe other people had cared as much as I did," Simone said.
Previous stories about the Regent Theatre
"I'd see them commenting on various community posts when the issue arose of what was happening over the years and yeah I'm really happy with the response from people. It goes to show that they're out there, we just maybe didn't have a tool to bring us together,"
Simone says she understands why the building makes people so passionate.
"It's such an important part of our social history and I think having it sit there is like a big dark cloud for a lot of people and they'd rather see something happen than nothing which is quite sad really," she said.
"Unfortunately that's something that perhaps the property owners didn't know about the building."
- Simone Sheridan
"It means that because Mudgee's been deprived of this venue and this cultural programming, people have actually forgotten the potential and so they think 'it can't be done because it hasn't been done' but I really strongly refute that,"
"I've spoken to the previous owners that agree that yes, a cinema solely wouldn't work there - we absolutely agree with that - and we believe that a mix of programming between live shows, things like TED talks, comedy, local theatre, dance groups, schools [would work]."
Simone has been in contact with the current owner of the building and says she knows that while they disagree on a lot of things, they both want to see the Regent succeed.
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"We've been in conversation with the owner for about two weeks and we've managed to gain access via a local who's actually been checking on it there regularly. We've managed to repair the doors at the rear entry that were busted into," Simone said.
"One of things we want to do is create less headaches for this person so that we can actually do right by the building while it's under this interim heritage order."
An interim heritage order (IHO) was issued in late February which means options are limited or stopped completely for further development on the building until the assessment is completed by the Heritage Council of NSW.
Simone is holding an open day at the Uniting Church Hall on Saturday, April 6. She hopes supporters and 'revivers' will turn up to show their support.
"I think the main thing we need to do as a group is show that we do care enough and there are enough people now - not just in Mudgee but a wider circle of people that are watching this theatre."
"There's a lot of negativity out there, I need some of that positivity that I know is there to be shared."
When asked what she would say to people that stress it's a privately owned building Simone wasn't phased.
"That's where the government doesn't think that and they are allowed to list it on the state heritage register is it has value so you know, when we're starting to talk about objects of heritage value in NSW it does become a little bit bigger than the private owner," she said.
"Unfortunately that's something that perhaps the property owners didn't know about the building."
Simone hopes to rally more support around the Regent and maintaining its heritage.
"There's a lot of negativity out there, I need some of that positivity that I know is there to be shared."