Arts & Culture in Boca Raton

The most recent addition to Paragon Theaters’ repertoire of upscale movie venues, Paragon Deerfield 8 Movie Theater cushions customers in the plush luxury of its newly renovated theaters. Stadium-style seats pad posteriors as their owners gaze upon the silver screens from clear vantage points. An expanded concessions menu sates the palates of moviegoers by presenting a range of hearty fare and, for those of age, beer and wine.

Sony HD digital projectors bathe the towering screens in crystal clearness, granting films a visual crispness so pronounced it has enabled sponsors to advertise their logos in actors' pores. The company plans additional upgrades and outdoor seating to bring all the amenities found in its locations in Miami, Florida, and Burnsville and Rochester, Minnesota, to the new Deerfield Beach location.

It's 1980-something. Glen, a young boy, dons a pair of glasses with one blue lens and one red, excited by this new technology that's supposed to make things on the screen pop out at you. During the next two hours, Glen ducks swooping avians during the revival of Alfred Hitchcock's ¬_The Birds_ in 3-D, terrified, yet thrilled. This is one of Glen Gray's earliest memories about the theater his father built more than 30 years ago. Today, Glen lives out those moments each day as the proprietor of Movies of Delray, where the projectors roll a medley of Hollywood features, and foreign, art-house, and independent films.

Gold walls and burgundy curtains lend to the lobby’s art-deco air, and a large chandelier illuminates more than 60 pencil drawings of movie icons of yore, such as John Wayne, Elvis, and Marilyn Monroe. This old-fashioned lobby disguises the updates within: brand-new bathrooms, granite countertops at the concession stand, and in the theaters themselves, digital surround sound and updated seating. Rows of black leather seats cushion moviegoers with high backs and wide benches so cozy that Glen claims guests have fallen asleep in them, only waking up at the end of the picture or when Bruce Willis turns out to have been a metaphor all along.

In celebration of film, professor Shelly Isaacs graces the theater with screenings of obscure Oscar-winning or Oscar-nominated foreign films. After each screening, he discusses the film with audiences, dissecting and analyzing the cinematography, characters, and plot.

With only 130 seats, Mosaic Theatre can justly claim that there’s not a bad seat in the house. Designed to be a maximally flexible space, the venue changes its seating for every performance to enhance the theatergoing experience for visitors or to clear way for the mid-play goat chorus line.

It's 1980-something. Glen, a young boy, dons a pair of glasses with one blue lens and one red, excited by this new technology that's supposed to make things on the screen pop out at you. During the next two hours, Glen ducks swooping avians during the revival of Alfred Hitchcock's ¬_The Birds_ in 3-D, terrified, yet thrilled. This is one of Glen Gray's earliest memories about the theater his father built more than 30 years ago. Today, Glen lives out those moments each day as the proprietor of Movies of Delray, where the projectors roll a medley of Hollywood features and foreign, art-house, and independent films.

Gold walls and burgundy curtains lend the lobby an art-deco air, and a large chandelier illuminates more than 60 pencil drawings of movie icons of yore, such as John Wayne, Elvis, and Marilyn Monroe. This old-fashioned lobby disguises the updates within: brand-new bathrooms, granite countertops at the concession stand, and, in the theaters themselves, digital surround sound and updated seating. Rows of black leather seats cushion moviegoers with high backs and wide benches so cozy that Glen claims guests have fallen asleep in them, only waking up at the end of the picture or when Bruce Willis turns out to have been a metaphor all along.

In celebration of film, professor Shelly Isaacs graces the theater with screenings of obscure Oscar-winning or Oscar-nominated foreign films. After each screening, he discusses the film with audiences, dissecting and analyzing the cinematography, characters, and plot.

Mos'Art Theatre, strives to fortify Palm Beach's cultural scene with "film, art, music, and hope," bolstering a sense of community and inspiring creative expression. Before even entering the theater, audiences pass paintings from local artists and the Art Bar, where they can sip a preshow beer or wine. In the intimate, 150-seat auditorium, the silver screen lights up with indie and foreign films, dazzling eyes and ears with stories that spotlight the human condition and let patrons cry in public without fear of banishment. The management duo, J.R. and Erin Coley, rounds out the commitment to elevating artistic discourse with live children's theater, creative classes, and an ongoing series tracking opera and ballet in the movies.

Named in honor of golf-course designer Bruce Borland, who died in a plane accident in 1999, the Borland Center swings open its doors to the community by focusing on family values. Concerts, plays, and recitals are just a few of the events that coax guests into the venue's 10,000 square feet of space, which harbors a 500-seat theater and a multipurpose ballroom that doubles as an indoor practice field for local cribbage teams on rainy days.