The theater's expensive furnishings, which included wrought iron stairs, bronze doors, tapestry rugs hung from vaulted ceilings decorated with intricate moldings and paintings, four Spanish balconies, and a Wurlitzer organ were some of the remarkably lavish highlights of the original building.

After operating it successfully for a year the owners leased the theater to a locally formed non-profit headed by Kelley Graves and board member Scott Simon, believing it would insure its future in the community.

Unfortunately, due to mismanagement, in 1997 the non-profit went bankrupt, returning control to the owners, who rented it on an event basis till the property's sale in 2000 to local realtor Mat Orne.

In 2000 Grant Wilson Jr., of Stone Coast Brewing took ownership control of the State Theatre building and reopened the venue with a new energy, hoping to capitalize on the strong live music industry in the Northeast.

Throughout the next six years the State struggled to meet code enforcement regulations and only held concerts sporadically after 2003 before disputes about who would pay for repairs finally closed its doors again in 2006.

[5] It reopened in 2010 after The Bowery Presents from New York City and Alex Crothers from Higher Ground in Burlington, Vermont, signed an agreement to extensively renovate the property.

Since its grand reopening in October 2010 under the partnership of Crothers and The Bowery Presents as well as general manager and talent buyer Lauren Wayne, the State Theatre has hosted such acts as the Avett Brothers, boygenius, Elvis Costello, Skrillex, Bassnectar, Trey Anastasio, Mastodon, Gillian Welch, Iron & Wine, Bright Eyes, Excision, Pixies, The Flaming Lips, Flux Pavilion, Pretty Lights, FUN, Of Monsters of Men, MGMT, Queens of the Stone Age, Yes, Arctic Monkeys, and Aziz Ansari.