The Texas Theatre's Vianca Vega Wants To Show You Your New Favorite Movie

If you’re a North Texas cinephile, you’ve more than likely bought a movie ticket at The Texas Theatre from Vianca Vega. Maybe you’ve read one of her zines or attended a screening from her curated Spanish film series, Cinema Con Nosotros. You might even follow the content she creates on Instagram under the moniker @thegirlwhoworksattheboxoffice.

If you don’t know her, then you really should. Vega’s passion for the world of film is all about community, and she’s on a mission to share that passion with the world, starting in her own home city. By carving out this niche in Dallas culture, she’s establishing herself as a local creative to watch in the process.

Vega is a 35-year-old Latina, born and raised in Oak Cliff, who glows effusively when she talks about the way she loves movies. The glow is possibly because that love ultimately seems rooted in family. She speaks fondly of constant all-day childhood trips to another landmark Dallas movie destination of yore, the AMC Grand 24 (now a LOOK Cinema property), which changed the landscape of Hollywood in 1995 as America’s first "megaplex" movie theater.

At the age of 15, during a trip to Mexico, Vega’s aunt pulled out a couple of DVDs and suggested a double feature with her mother. These weren’t movies she’d ever heard of before, her aunt didn’t know what they were about and they didn’t seem like blockbuster fare she’d been watching so religiously at the Grand 24. But she felt drawn to them regardless. “So my mom and I watch this double feature of two movies that neither of us know the [synopses] of, who even stars in them,” Vega explains, “And the two movies end up being Y Tu Mamá También, and then La Mala Educación by Pedro Almodóvar.”

The first of those films was Alfonso Cuarón’s coming of age road story about a young throuple’s passionate love affair; the second was a narrative exploration of the transgender experience and sex-abuse trauma. Both films are consummate works of millennial Latin cinema.

It was certainly a “pretty wild” surprise for a teenaged Vega, a far cry from the usual subject matter taken in during those mother-daughter movie-watching afternoons of her youth. But that day in Mexico was a revelation far beyond the more mature-leaning subject matter than she’d been accustomed to. By opening her wide eyes to a whole new universe of cinema outside of the major movie studio system, that double feature effectively changed the course of her life.

After her time at University of North Texas, Vega learned the ins and outs of cinema operations working at corporate indie-film theaters, the Angelika Dallas at Mockingbird Station and The Magnolia in West Village (now the Dallas outpost of Violet Crown, a burgeoning Austin-based chain).

But she began to aspire to the real deal as she saw it – a small, independently owned repertory theater, a place that could keep up with her growing encyclopedic knowledge of popular, indie and international film. Vega dreamed of working in a true arthouse with a curative programming voice, somewhere she could apply her creative potential. And then her dream became a reality.

After a few months of street-team marketing work for The Texas Theatre, Vega was offered a staff position. She was over the moon just to be a part of the team and would've been thrilled just to scoop popcorn. But over the next 12 years, her role on the team greatly evolved beyond the concession stand.

Things really started to take off for Vega during the COVID-19 pandemic, when The Texas Theatre received a film zine in the mail that immediately inspired her to create one of her own. “I was like, ‘Oh my god, this is cool. I wanna learn how to make a zine.’ I just decided to quickly make mini zines about film.”

Vega says her early work in the format consisted of “maybe some showtimes at The Texas Theatre and, like, my top five movies or just little [blurbs] of why you should watch this movie.”


Her manager, Barak Epstien (part-owner of The Texas Theatre), was impressed and encouraged her to distribute the zines during the socially distanced drive-in screenings held by the theater during the early days of the pandemic. As more patrons received them, the positive feedback came rolling in. So Vega named her DIY publication The Marquee Times, and has continued to create new editions.

With interest building around Vega’s unique voice, Epstein suggested she start her own Instagram account. That’s when her personal brand, “The Girl Who Works at the Box Office,” began. The public engagement on her account grew quickly. She began posting movie recommendations and documenting her massive collection of analog physical film media — VHS cassette tapes and DVDs.

“I love having tangible things, like in my hands, and I'm able to show them to people… even though we have the accessibility of streaming and digital. I find it so pure and rewarding to be able to have something [tangible] in your possession and hold it close,” she explains. Vega’s collection is currently around 570 VHS tapes, which you can dive into on her extensive Letterboxd account (the social media platform centered around film discovery and recommendations).

As Vega’s following grew, The Texas Theatre began to utilize her voice more and more. She now coordinates popular nostalgia viewings of fan-favorite millennial movie classics. For instance, the showing of The Twilight Saga: Eclipse she appropriately held on the night of the recent solar eclipse, and bringing actor James Duval to Dallas for a screening of Donnie Darko. She also created her own Spanish film screening series at The Texas Theatre called “Cinema Con Nosotros.”

Ultimately, the driving force of Vega’s work is the desire to share films with audiences who will love them. She considers it a high honor to introduce someone to their new favorite movie and is staunchly against the idea of gatekeeping the world of niche cinema. “The fact that I get to be a part of anyone's cinema experience is the cherry on top [of this work]. It gives me a sense of purpose,” she says.

Lucky for us, Dallas film culture reaps the benefits of fulfilling the sense of purpose in Vianca Vega’s life.

Vianca Vega’s zine, The Marquee Times, is available for purchase at The Texas Theatre.