Providence Place Mall Lifts Local Artist’s Lifetime Ban Just in Time for Film Premiere

Photo courtesy of 42West

Spoiler alert: “Secret Mall Apartment” — a new documentary about eight Rhode Island artists who took over and lived in a previously unused space in the Providence Place Mall (learn more here) from 2003 to 2007 — ends with a title card claiming that the ring leader, Michael Townsend, is still banned from the property seventeen years after he was caught and arrested for trespassing.

So, imagine my surprise when none other than Townsend himself walked into the mall’s Cinemas 16 theater after the credits rolled during a press screening of the film yesterday afternoon.

“It’s super bizarre,” he quipped when asked how it felt to be back on the premises.

As many know, the Providence Place Mall went into receivership back in November. Since then, John Dorsey (one of the temporary receivers) has made it his mission to increase community engagement and revitalize the space. When it came to his attention that “Secret Mall Apartment” was gearing up to make the rounds nationally and that the filmmakers were interested in premiering in Providence, he saw it as a great opportunity to do just that. This also included pardoning Townsend.

“I can’t thank [everyone at the mall] for being so welcoming and accommodating of not only [me] stepping foot onto the property but also allowing us to make things in the mall. We got to exercise art stuff out in the open,” Townsend says, referencing tape art — the medium for which he’s known — that can currently be found throughout the mall. “It’s a strange act of closure.”

He also had a chance to revisit the former apartment space with Dorsey.

“John was genuinely curious about all the fine details. ‘How did you make these things happen?’” Townsend recalls. “It turned into a confessional of sorts. It was really nice after all this time to be able to talk so transparently with the heart of this entity.”

He’s had some practice, as “Secret Mall Apartment” does a deep dive into the wild ways in which Townsend and his friends were able to pull the whole thing off, relying on accounts from the involved artists and showcasing real footage they took back then to document the process. Despite many offers from many different filmmakers over the years, they never felt comfortable sharing until Jeremy Workman came along.

“It had to do mostly with the language [other directors] were using to describe the story back to me; they focused only on just the idea of it being a prank, or folklore,” Townsend says. “Meeting Jeremy turned it around. I met him while he was filming another film and I got to watch him work with a subject. I had seen a previous film of his and really loved it. So I was able to fall into a trust pattern really quickly.”

He also credits Workman for his skills of persuasion.

“That allowed the movie to happen because he was able to go after the seven other artists, all of whom have varying degrees of interest in being exposed.” Until now, Townsend had been the only one to be publicly associated with the secret apartment.

Now I don’t want to give too much else away because I wholeheartedly believe that this is a film Rhode Islanders should see for themselves, but I will echo the many reviews out there that the documentary does a fantastic job showcasing an otherwise hard to believe story. Yes, eight artists truly did set up an actual apartment complete with a couch, hutch, PlayStation 2 and a locking door in the bowels of a monstrous retail structure, but no, it wasn’t just some silly prank. The film gets into not only the how, but the why of it all, spanning themes of gentrification, art, community and philanthropy. My favorite part, in fact, was learning about the amazing projects these artists were working on back then and have been a part of since. The documentary is as enlightening and heartwarming as it is funny and thrilling. You can see the trailer below.

“It’s an interesting story where you go in thinking it’s one kind of movie and you come out thinking it’s another,” says Workman. “That was something that really excited me and dictated my approach.”

Since debuting at the South by Southwest festival last spring, “Secret Mall Apartment” has won numerous awards and currently has a 100% Rotten Tomatoes score. Also did I mention it was produced by Jesse Eisenberg? (Who funnily enough has his own Providence Place Mall connection: he stayed in the nearby 903 apartments while filming The Education of Charlie Banks and had a daily uninterrupted view of the building).

And now both local wider audiences will finally have the chance to see “Secret Mall Apartment” for themselves starting Friday, March 21. You can see it where it all began at the Providence Place Mall theater (get tickets here) — Workman even teased that more Q&As with the film’s stars are planned in the coming days. And if you can’t make it to Providence, many other theaters throughout the state will be showing the film as well over the next couple of months, along with other cities like New York, Los Angeles and all throughout New England. Find the full list and learn more about the film here.