Odeum Hosts Exclusive Screening of Haven Bros. Diner Documentary, with Food

The Haven Brothers are a Rhode Island institution, serving patrons out of the original food truck -- the Haven Bros. Diner -- for more than 120 years.

They're the oldest operating diner on wheels and on Saturday, the historic Odeum theater is celebrating their legacy with an exclusive screening of a critically-acclaimed documentary on the Haven Bros. Diner and its place in state lore.

Jeff Toste's "Haven Brothers: Legacy of the American Diner" will be shown at 7 p.m. and outside, the Haven Brothers themselves will be out front with the junior version of their food truck to serve up their legendary fare, which was fast and tasty long before fast food was a turn of phrase.

Inside the Odeum, Rhode Island beer and wine will be on tap and every ticket comes with a complimentary drink. 

For tickets, visit odeum.ticketleap.com/film. They're $20 in advance and $25 the night of the show.

The diner has been a Providence mainstay, serving diner fare out of their mobile kitchen long enough to claim the title of the original food truck and America's oldest operating diner on wheels.

Toste spent the better part of three years documenting the diner, its people and the customers to capture the essence of the state icon and how the community surrounding it has changed, including at time when its fate was uncertain and was relocated from its reserved spot outside City Hall.

How fitting it is for the Odeum to screen a film that addresses the fate and fortunes of a Rhode Island landmark, as the nonprofit performing arts center continues a steady revival of its own. Originally The Greenwich Theatre, it first opened in 1926 and eventually was shuttered in the 1990s and sat empty for several years before a group of volunteers launched a revival that lasted for about 13 years before stringent fire codes and an aging facility led to another closure.

The most recent revival has been picking up steam over the last few years after volunteers continued their efforts, leading to a sizable Champlin Foundation grant and a major construction project that got the structure up to code. It reopened in 2013.

For more information, visit www.theodeum.org