A decline in ticket sales, and the constant quest to try new things as the motion picture industry changes, has led to a new program for Port Townsend’s Rose Theatre.

The downtown cinema is now offering annual memberships, which come in five levels. Membership programs have become more common for small, independent movie theaters in this digital age, when even major cineplexes are having problems filling seats.

“My approach to business has always been that maintaining the status quo is one of the worst things a business can do,” said Rocky Friedman, who opened the Rose 23 years ago, in 1992.

The Rose's new membership program starts at Level 1, "Super 8," which costs $40 for folks ages 35 and younger, $50 for those older than 35, and $90 for a dual membership. Super 8 members get $1 off movies, free popcorn and $1 off soda, coffee and tea, and 15 percent off Rose merchandise. The levels continue, with increasing benefits, to the Level 5 "Cinemascope," at $2,000 for individuals, $3,500 for a dual membership. Cinemascope members get free movies on all three Rose screens, private screenings in the Starlight Room, Champagne receptions and more.

Entertainment began at the Rose, 235 Taylor St., with vaudeville shows in the early 20th century, showing moving pictures soon thereafter. It closed as a cinema in 1958, and a succession of businesses used the building, until Friedman came along in 1992 and began restoring it as a theater, along with contractor Phil Johnson.

Three original murals were found on the walls, buried under decades of wallpaper and paint. Half of the pressed-tin tiles on the ceiling of the main auditorium are original. The Rose now glows as a jewel of the historic district, its windows filled with posters advertising ever-changing entertainments.

“Be innovative and creative, and try something new,” Friedman said. “My approach for 23 years has been ‘throw as much at the screen as possible.’”

After acquiring a digital projection system in 2012 – thanks in large part to community contributions – the Rose offers live broadcasts from the National Theatre of London, the Metropolitan Opera and the Bolshoi Ballet, in addition to a variety of films. In 2013, Friedman partnered with Alison Hero-Powers and David Powers of the Silverwater Cafe to open the Starlight Room on the third floor of the building next door to the Rose.

The Starlight Room offers a sumptuous, convivial atmosphere, serving gourmet food and cocktails, along with the Rose's famous popcorn; seating is on comfortable sofas and easy chairs.

"Movies are social. That's why the Starlight Room has been so successful," said Emily Gohn, the director of the Rose's membership program.

Memberships “give people a way to participate socially ... to really be social in their enjoyment of movies.” At member events, people can learn interesting details about films before they see them, and talk about them afterward, she said.

"The Rose is such a pillar of the Port Townsend community, people don't think of it as being vulnerable," said Friedman's daughter, Renata Friedman, 35, who lives in New York and manages aspects of the Rose's website. "In our early days, I think people really appreciated the value of the Rose, because they remember a time when it wasn't here."

The Rose is well loved, but ticket sales have declined drastically in the past decades as the Internet has made movies and media so much more accessible.

Renata said she recently saw a matinee of "Spectre" in New York; her ticket cost $15.50.

Movie tickets at the Rose top out at $10 ($9 for seniors), and those box-office prices will stay the same, Rocky said. Memberships come with big discounts, however – a senior or student with a Level 4 membership ends up paying $5.50 per movie, Renata explained.

Each of the five Rose membership levels offers ticket discounts and other benefits. Ticket prices remain the same for nonmembers, but membership has its benefits – namely big savings.

The discounts and benefits increase with each level; Level 2, “16 mm,” costs $100 and offers $2.50 off movie tickets plus various other discounts and goodies, such as guest passes, free refills, invitations to member-only screenings, Champagne receptions and more. All memberships include free popcorn on Tuesday evenings.

"My big hope is to ... create incentives for people to come to theaters even three more times per year," said Gohn.

Movie theaters are closing or being subsumed by cineplexes all across the country, Gohn said, and many smaller theaters and nonprofit theaters that do art house films have had membership programs, such as the Pickford Film Center in Bellingham and the Grand Cinema in Tacoma.

Gohn, a 1994 graduate of Chimacum High School, began working behind the counter at the Rose when it first opened in 1992. She later moved to New York, studied film and taught, and recently moved back to PT with her son, Sam, 7.

She said Renata and Rocky Friedman both assured her that it's "absolutely acceptable" to raise a child in the theater; Rocky opened the ticket-booth door to show where Renata often curled up to sleep when she was little.

"This whole [membership] endeavor came out of a way to make the Rose a viable business down the line," Renata said in an interview via Skype. "It's an incredibly difficult business to run ... especially this year."

"I have no intentions of leaving this place anytime soon," Rocky said, but he won't always be running the Rose. "With a great supportive team," he's always headed up big projects, such as the transition to digital and the opening of the Starlight Room, he said.

"This [membership program] is the first thing that I have handed off, and they have executed it beautifully," he said of Gohn and his daughter. "It makes me feel ... the transition will be very smooth ... to put responsibility in the hands of the younger generation."