The enticing scent of liquid yellow butter combined with the  crackle of popcorn can be a unique sensory experience that  encourages movie theater goers to enter the halls of brightly  lit poster displays, life-sized cardboard cutouts, and bond over  arts, entertainment and occasionally the overpriced tickets  and pretending that $10 for a tub of popcorn is a reasonable  price, all in the name of escaping reality for a couple of hours.  Arts and entertainment can not only hold the potential to  transport viewers to alternate universes, but to unify movie  goers of all backgrounds. Yet, in recent days, the Embassy  Theater on Pine Street in Waltham has become entangled in  controversy.  

This past February, the Embassy Theater in Waltham was  given another chance after it closed its doors in 2022 due to a  decrease in ticket sales during the COVID-19 pandemic. Smaranda Maria Albeck, founder of Boston Rhythmic, bought  the property in March of 2023 with the goal of expanding her  dance school, which has locations in Hyde Park and Westborough. Albeck says she received a special permit in 2022 from  the city that allowed her to renovate four of the six screening  rooms into dance studios, while the remaining two stayed untouched.  

Since its reopening in February, the property — now known  as the Embassy Performing Arts Center — has been hosting  weekly classes and summer camps for students and their families, alongside screenings of popular first-run movies such as  “Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour,” “Inside Out 2,” and “The Holdovers.”  

However, Tim Nasson, the now former executive director of  the theater, and Albeck are actively disputing over the operations of the theater.  

Nasson, who has been in the movie business for over 30  years, claims that he and Albeck have a contract requiring the  theater to gross $750,000 from box office sales, concessions, gift  cards and rentals in 2024. Nasson declined to provide The Justice with a copy of the contract, but asserts that it mandates  daily operations with a full schedule during school vacations,  holidays, weekends, and summer break. He says that Albeck  had breached the contract by halting movie showings until after 4 p.m. on weekdays from June through August so that she  could use the lobby for gymnastics camp.  

Nasson argues that Albeck failed to recognize that limiting  showtimes during the profitable summer season was detrimental, writing in a Sept. 6 email to The Justice that “[Albeck]  said in writing ‘kids are at camps and at the beach in the summer. No one goes to the movies.’” He goes on to state, “That is  how incompetent she is when it comes to knowing anything  about how a movie theater runs.”  

Albeck’s view differs. “There is no breach of contract,”  she wrote in a Sept. 8 email to The Justice. “The building and  businesses within the building are in full compliance with all  state, city and local requirements.” She adds that neither she  nor her attorney have received any copy of a contract between  her and Nasson. 

Additionally, Nasson points to a supposed abatement from  the the City of Waltham to Albeck, on the condition that she  keeps two of the auditoriums in operation as movie theaters.  He claims that the two screening rooms are supposed to operate daily and show first-run films.  

According to Albeck there is no such ‘contract’ with the  city. She clarifies that while she was issued a special permit  by the city for the Embassy Performing Arts Center, and that  “there is no mention in any city documents about what kind  of programming there should be scheduled at the Embassy.”  

The Justice obtained a copy of the order from the city that  grants Albeck the “the right to amend a Special Permit, Order  No. 28404, dated June 23, 1997 [….] to allow a Minor Modification to said Order to permit the use of a Performance Arts  Center to coincide with the movie theatre use as permitted by  Order No. 28404.” 

During a property tour with The Justice on Sept. 8, Albeck  explained that the operational model under Nasson was financially unsustainable as it relied too heavily on walk-in  moviegoers. She also mentioned the challenges of managing  students and navigating through moviegoers with multiple  screenings occurring daily, especially during summer camps.  Instead, she envisions hosting scheduled special events such  as film director talks, stand-up comedy, themed film screenings, and live music. For her, the goal is to enhance community engagement and better predict attendance and financial  outcomes —, not showing blockbuster movies.  

The dispute between the two parties has now extended beyond in-person arguments and spilled over into Facebook. 

“Appropriate parties have been informed about Smaranda’s multitude of lies, gaslighting and manipulation,” Nasson wrote in the comment section of a recent story from The  Waltham Channel on Facebook. “She owns no business with  the name EMBASSY THEATER, no IPs with the business  name ‘EMBASSY THEATER.’ I OWN ALL OF THEM.” 

Albeck confirms that Nasson has revoked her access to any  Embassy Theater Waltham accounts and says he has falsely  claimed online that the theater is permanently closed. She  says the theater is open, but it appears to be on a smaller scale.  During the Sept. 8 visit, Albeck was showing CatVideoFest  2024, a compilation of cat videos, with about 10 people in attendance. She had other showings of the same movie on Sept.  7, and Aug. 30 and 31, but attributes the limited types and frequency of showing to Nasson, who she says “has erased much  of our software, including the ticketing system.” According to  her, Albeck is in the process of recovering the digital assets.  Once resolved, “we will resume and expand our movie programming,” she said.  

Most of the online exchanges are happening on The Waltham Channels' Facebook account. 

In defense of Albeck, Facebook user Tom Arena, commented, “Tim Nasson something wrong w you. Business disputes  arent handled by public attacks, hijacking resources and [attempts] to damage business. Malicious vandalism. Lying to  [the] public, defamation, take it to court, not internet. I had  very nice popcorn friday, and didnt appreciate the “we’re  closed” email from hijacked domain.” 

Others have expressed their disappointment in Albeck’s  management of the theater.  Another user, Steve Sur, wrote “Very sad.. people all over  the area looked to the Embassy for 1st run movies.. and were  so glad they were back this past year. Bad move to let that go.  Very disappointing.” 

Albeck and Nasson are also making their presence known.  Albeck brainstorms with commenters on the future of the theater and Nasson accuses her of having “engaged in abusive,  toxic, harassing and gaslighting communications … committing over 100 ADA [Americans with Disabilities Act] violations … [and saying] the concession stand has been shut down  by the city for expired Serve Safe licenses.”  

The Embassy Theater Waltham account, which Nasson controls, says that his “lawyer will be filing an injunction against  Smaranda, the owner of the property at 16 Pine Street, if she  does not honor our contract.” Noticeably, the comment section of the theater’s account has been disabled, while Albeck’s  personal account and the Waltham Performing Arts Center account continue to allow comments.  It is unclear the future of the theater and what will come of  the dispute. 

However, Albeck did write to The Justice that she  and her lawyer are “considering legal action” for “all the false  rumors he is spreading on the internet about our business, me  personally and his efforts to sabotage our business.