Historic Theaters
Carolina Theatre of Durham
The Carolina Theatre opened as the Durham Auditorium in 1926 with a local stage show entitled, "The Kiwanis Jollies." The 1,400-seat theater accommodated public functions and silent films, along with Vaudeville acts and touring theatrical companies. Will Rogers was the first star to appear at the theater and was followed by luminaries including Katherine Hepburn and Lillian Gish. The first major stage production was Ziegfeld's "Sally," which told a rags-to-riches story of an ordinary woman who attained Ziegfeld stardom. The Auditorium took the name, "Carolina Theatre" after being leased from the city by a commercial movie theater chain that operated Carolina Theatres all over the state. Later, it became a movie house for the talkies and continued to show films for decades.
When commercial operation of the theater ended in 1977, a group of community volunteers saved the Carolina from demolition by reopening it as movie house showing "art films," the first of its kind in the Triangle. The group formed the non-profit Carolina Cinema Corporation and ran the theater for the next ten years, showing films as well as hosting chamber music, dramatic functions and social gatherings in its lounge space. The theater was forced to close in 1987 during construction of a nearby hotel and Civic Center and for its own renovation. Fully restored, the new cinema wing opened at the end of 1993, with the Carolina Theatre and its newly named Fletcher Hall reopening with a week-long celebration in February, 1994. The Carolina Theatre of Durham, Inc. signed a 10 year management agreement with the City of Durham to program, operate and manage the Carolina Theatre complex and in 2001, the Theatre celebrated its 75th birthday by welcoming its one millionth customer since reopening in 1994.
Carolina Theatre of Greensboro
Billed as "The Showplace of the Carolinas," the Carolina Theatre opened on Halloween night in 1927. The 2,200-seat Vaudeville theater was the most monumental structure of its type ever built in Greensboro and later became the first in the state to be air conditioned.
Operated as part of the Keith Vaudeville chain, the Theatre's early programs featured live performing acts, the Carolina Theatre Orchestra, the Carolina News newsreel, an audience sing-along and a silent film accompanied by the impressive Robert Morgan theater pipe organ. In 1928, the Carolina became the first theater in the state to install Vitaphone speakers to accompany the new "talking pictures," and crowds flocked to see films five times daily. For the next 30 years, this downtown movie palace was a hub of Greensboro nightlife. The Saturday morning Circle K Club entertained a generation of local children after World War II.
During the late 1960's, as suburban retail businesses and neighborhood movie theaters drew citizens away from the heart of Greensboro, second-run and B-Grade films drove audiences away from the Carolina Theatre. Still, it avoided demolition and in 1975 was sold to the United Arts Council. With the help of volunteer labor and donated services, the theater was refitted for use as a 1,200-seat performing arts center and reopened in 1977. After closing for a year after a 1981 fire, the theater entered a new stage of renovation thanks to the United Arts Council's Renaissance Capital Campaign and reopened in 1991 as a fully functioning performing arts facility. It has been home to the Greensboro Ballet, Community Theatre of Greensboro, the Livestock Players Musical Theatre, Greensboro Youth Symphony and other local performing arts groups. In the years since 1927 it has hosted celebrity entertainers including Amos and Andy, Vincent Price, Miles Davis, Judy Collins, Chet Atkins, Tony Bennett, Gordon Lightfoot, Ben Vereen, Emmy Lou Harris, The Chieftains, Doc Watson, Garrison Keillor, Alison Krauss and Union Station and Gregory Hines. In March, 2006 the United Arts Council passed the deed of ownership and responsibility for the historic structure to a new non-profit organization, the Carolina Theatre of Greensboro, Inc.
Gallery Theatre, Ahoskie
Built in 1906 on Ahoskie's Main Street, the building now known as the Gallery Theatre was originally a storefront community theater referred to as a "nickelodeon." By 1918, the building expanded to accommodate the growing population of Ahoskie, as well as the growing popularity of movies and railroad circuit performers including dog acts, jugglers and comedians. The theater also served as a town meeting space. In 1928, the space was expanded and reopened as the New Richard Theatre, which featured an impressive pipe organ that in the hands of an expert player provided the soundtrack to still-silent films. Live performances continued and as "talking pictures" came along, a sound system was installed.
The Theatre's modern rebirth began in 1965, when the Women's Division of the Ahoskie Chamber of Commerce envisioned a legitimate theater and civic auditorium that would host visiting artists as well as provide a training ground for aspiring artists and actors. After cleaning and repairs, the space was leased as the Gallery Theatre, Inc., and volunteers began producing plays, sponsoring art exhibitions and hosting other cultural events. In 1982, the building became the official property of the Gallery Theatre, Inc., and, with financial help from the National Endowment for the Arts, extensive renovations began, ending in 1988 with a completely modernized structure. Today, the theater hosts four Gallery-produced shows each season along with a five-week youth summer workshop that gives participants training in acting, music, dance, choreography, stage management and other components of producing a stage show. A new "Gallery One-Eleven" facility offers theater arts classes as well as presenting exhibitions of the works of local and regional visual artists. The theater also permits local organizations to sponsor productions, fundraisers and cultural and gospel events.
Hayti Heritage Center, Durham
Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, St. Joseph's AME Church grew from humble beginnings when Edian Markham, an African American Methodist Episcopal Missionary and former slave, came into Durham in 1868 to establish a church. Built on property called Hayti, it was a "brush arbor" church, consisting of little more than four posts, a roof made of branches and a dirt floor. Worshippers sat on boxes, chairs, homemade stools, or on the bare ground. As winter approached, Markham and his small congregation built a log structure called Union Bethel AME Church. The church was rebuilt two more times over the next 20 years and in 1891 was replaced by a brick structure that bore the name of St. Joseph's AME Church. As more and more blacks acquired land in the area, a residential neighborhood and thriving business district, once known as the "Black Wall Street," grew up around the church. Notable guest speakers over the years included Booker T. Washington, Langston Hughes, W.E.B. DuBois and Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
By the 1970s, however, the "urban renewal" movement resulted in the demolition of much of this once-prosperous area and the congregation moved to a new church home. The original church structure remained and became the catalyst for the formation of the St. Joseph's Historic Foundation (SJHF), incorporated in 1975, which preserved the old sanctuary and adapted it for cultural and civic events. Keeping alive the heritage of the old Hayti community, SJHF also promotes the understanding and appreciation of the African American experience and its contributions to world culture.
The Foundation is dedicated to presenting quality cultural arts programs related to the African American experience, promoting cross-cultural understanding between isolated communities and fostering intercultural support. It features the country's leading African American artists, theater productions and programs focusing on history and tradition, as well as ceremonial, social, sacred and contemporary works. With the 450-seat St. Joseph's Performance Hall, two classrooms/artists' studios, a dance studio and two-level Lydia Moore Merrick Gallery, its core programs include the Bull Durham Blues Festival, the Black Diaspora Film Festival, Heritage Arts for Youth Residency Programs, ArtsQuest Summer Camp, a Jazz, Rhythm and Blues and Gospel concert series and a historic preservation and archival collection.
Temple Theater, Sanford
Built in 1925, the Temple Theater has been the entertainment center of Lee County for decades. Located only half a block from Sanford's railroad station, it was a frequent stop for Vaudeville stars and shows of the era. As Vaudeville declined, the Temple hosted road shows of the 1930s, including burlesque acts, before becoming a movie theater. During the sixties, the Sanford Little Theatre and The Footlight Players used the Temple for their community productions, but by 1965 the theater closed its doors for what would amount to 15 years. The theater's rebirth began in 1981 when Robert Ingram, Jr., the son of the theater's original owner, donated the building to the citizens of Lee County. The building was designated a National Historic Site in 1983 and given a large challenge grant by the North Carolina Legislature. Lee County citizens and businesses matched the grant, and along with a generous grant from the Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation, the gutted and vandalized shell of Temple Theatre was refurbished and brought up to modern standards of comfort. It reopened in 1984 as a non-profit organization.
Today, the Temple serves as a cultural center for Lee County and the surrounding region. It hosts professional and children's theater productions, as well as touring groups and special events that have included The North Carolina Shakespeare Festival, the Red Clay Ramblers, The Kingston Trio and the Glenn Miller and Count Basie orchestras. The Temple Theatre Company produces eight main stage productions per season, ranging from musicals to thought-provoking dramas.
Thalian Hall, Wilmington
Listed on the National Register for Historic Places, Thalian Hall has served as the Wilmington area's political as well as cultural center. Built in 1858, it housed the town government, the library and an "Opera House" seating 1,000 people, which constituted ten percent of the city's population at the time. Leased from 1860 to 1932 by private entrepreneurs who brought in road shows and star attractions, Thalian Hall was in almost constant use as a place of amusement during the Civil War. Artists appearing in the Hall in the 19th and early 20th centuries included Lillian Russell, Buffalo Bill Cody, John Phillip Sousa, Joseph Jefferson, Maurice Barrymore and Sir Henry Lauder. Between engagements, the Hall hosted local events including amateur concerts, recitals, meetings, graduations, exhibitions and even roller-skating. Thalian Hall went through several renovations in the early 1900s and changed its name from the "Opera House" to the "Academy of Music." By 1930 the great days of touring road shows were over and the Hall was used much less frequently, although local activities, including amateur theater presentations, continued to take place there.
In the years that followed, community support staved off calls for the building's demolition and in 1963, Thalian Hall Center for the Performing Arts, Inc. was established as a non-profit organization for the preservation and operation of Thalian Hall. After a small fire in the auditorium in 1973, the Hall was restored to its original appearance. After reopening in 1975, it enjoyed a dramatic increase in use by professional artists and community groups, along with an equivalent rise in audience attendance. A Thalian Hall Renovation and Expansion Project began in 1985 and an expanded Thalian Hall/ City Hall complex reopened on March 2, 1990.
Turnage Theater, Washington
The Turnage Theater opened in 1913 as the "New Theater," a Vaudeville house in downtown Washington. In addition to showing silent films, it featured local talent as well as national headliners including Red Skelton, Mutt and Jeff and Roy Rogers and Trigger. With the advent of "talkies," as well as growing numbers of cars and growing complaints about the noise they created, a second "state of the art" theater, the Palace, was built in a quieter location in 1930. Opened as a movie theater, the Palace was designed with an orchestra pit and stage as insurance in the event that films didn't "catch on." With those concerns going unrealized, both theaters remained centers of entertainment for Washington and Beaufort County over the next five decades. Following the death of the theaters' original owner, Collier "Cat" Turnage, in 1963, as well as his replacement, Bill Butler, in 1978, the Palace showed its last film in 1979 and both theaters fell silent after 66 years of operation.
The Turnage Theaters Foundation, Inc. emerged in the 1990s with the mission of saving the two theaters. The group secured sufficient funding to stabilize the structures and install a replica of the original marquee. In 2007, the renovated Turnage Theater reopened as a performing arts center serving downtown Washington, Beaufort County and all of Eastern North Carolina. It remains a key part of downtown redevelopment efforts.