The new owners of the Cameo Cinema in St. Helena are planning to give the theater a broader appeal to families and film buffs alike.

Shawn LaRue of St. Helena and Cathy Buck of Oakville will take over the business in mid-December, after Charlotte Wagner’s lease runs out. The new owners bought the beloved single-screen theater from Wagner, and will continue to lease the space from landlord Lydia Money.

“While we’re the stewards of this theater, we hope to utilize it as much more than just a place to show films,” said LaRue. “We’re very conscious of how a theater fits into small-town America. We want to encourage people to identify the theater as the place where people come together and communicate.”

LaRue is a former Stanford University administrator who moved to St. Helena in 1997 and now works for Swanson Vineyards. He heard that the Cameo was for sale the old-fashioned way — over a haircut.

“It’s true,” said LaRue. “The person who cuts your hair has her finger on the pulse of everything.”

That evening LaRue passed on the news to Buck, a friend he’d met at a wine tasting. Buck is a former Michigan resident who fell in love with the Napa Valley as a tourist and moved here a year and a half ago, also taking a job in the wine industry.

As film buffs and regular patrons of the Cameo, LaRue and Buck were drawn to the opportunity to own their own theater. In late-August, they started to seriously consider buying the Cameo. Deals with investors fell through, so they pooled their resources and bought the business themselves.

Since the deal closed, Wagner has been passing her knowledge of theater management on to the two neophytes, who want to keep her on as a consultant for the foreseeable future.

LaRue and Buck plan to build on the model developed by Wagner, adding programming for kids and families, a lecture series, student film showcases and town hall meetings.

“The Internet and DVDs are so big, but we’re passionate about that hands-on person-to-person interaction,” said Buck. “We want to bring that to the young people in the area and give them a place where they can interact with each other and members of older generations.”

They also want to expand the Cameo’s regular schedule to two movies a week, develop an online forum where locals can review films and discuss how they relate to current events, and form a “Friends of the Cameo” group so locals who value the theater can contribute to its upkeep and offer advice.

LaRue and Buck plan to introduce their changes gradually, but aside from some special Christmas programming, patrons won’t see any major changes when the new owners take over in December. They might hold an open house or grand opening in the spring.

“Anytime someone hears the Cameo’s going to continue operating, there’s a huge sigh of relief,” said LaRue. “That’s told us that people value the opportunity to have a theater. No matter how high-tech our homes get with big-screen televisions and DVDs and high-definition, people still want to come to the movies. That’s our starting point.”