Off-Stage with Ken Stein: Observations from Historic Theatres
The League of Historic American Theatre’s 39th Annual Conference couldn’t have picked a better host city than Nashville. What a great city. I am surprised at all the similarities it shares with my hometown of Austin. Of course, any city would be great if you get to experience it with hundreds of owners, operators, board members and volunteers from North America’s most beautiful theatres. The storytelling that happens when this group gets together is inspiring…
Yesterday, I met a woman from Pulaski, Tennessee who told me a story about a theatre company that had outgrown its space and was looking for a new home. I don’t know the exact details (note to self: get her to write a story for the InLeague Magazine) but they found a storefront on the square in downtown Pulaski. The space seemed perfect: wide open with an area suitable to build a stage. It was the perfect home for the theatre company. Then someone asked, “What’s upstairs?” No one knew the answer. It was used as storage by the previous owner but the doors were currently screwed shut. Maybe that could be office or rehearsal space. Curious, they pried open the doors and…
Folks, it just doesn’t get better than this. A theatre company went looking for a new home and purchased a storefront and then found an Opera House hiding in the attic. That’s right. Upstairs they found the old, forgotten Antoinette Hall built in 1868. No one remembered it was there…