State Theatre

View of the auditorium from the orchestra level.

View of the auditorium from the orchestra level.

The State Theatre in Stoughton, Massachusetts opened on December 8, 1927. It was built on the site of Atwood’s Market, a local shopping center that was destroyed by a fire earlier that year. The Interstate Theatre Corporation purchased the lot and hired the Boston architecture firm of Funk and Wilcox, who were mostly known for designing apartment buildings, to design the theater. John P. Curley, a Boston contractor, constructed the 1,100 seat atmospheric theater for $100,000, or $1.4 million when adjusted for inflation.

Funk and Wilcox also designed the Franklin Park Theatre in Dorchester, MA.

Funk and Wilcox also designed the Franklin Park Theatre in Dorchester, MA.

The opening day kicked off with a performance by Ed Andrews and his Nautical Garden Orchestra, followed by “Revue Les Arts,” a vaudeville comedy review. The main attraction was a showing of the silent film “Smile, Brother, Smile,” starring Jack Mulhall, Dorothy Mackaill and E.J. Ratcliffe. A newsreel and two other vaudeville acts capped off the festivities. John Kenne, the State’s organist, played the Estey Pipe Organ throughout the day.

The auditorium ceiling was painted a flat black during the remodel in 1970.

The auditorium ceiling was painted a flat black during the remodel in 1970.

By 1940, the theater was renamed the Interstate State Theatre, and had been converted into a talking motion picture house. The nearby Stoughton High School held class plays and graduations at the State. The theater was modernized in 1970 — the box seats and some of the atmospheric ornamentation in the auditorium were removed and covered with red drapes, and modern seats were installed on the orchestra level. The theater then became the Stoughton Cinema.

The lobby pf the State Theatre.

The lobby of the State Theatre.

By the 1990s the theater had been renamed once again and was known as the Stoughton Cinema Pub, a second run movie house that served beer. The theater closed just six days short of its 80th birthday on December 2, 2007. The final production was a live performance of “A Christmas Carol“ by local theater troupe The Little Theatre of Stoughton, who had been performing at the theater since 1999. According to Mike Harmen, the manager at the time of the theater’s closing, it cost close to $3,000 a month to heat the auditorium in the winter, and it was the cost of utilities that caused the theater to close.

View of the auditorium from the balcony.

View of the auditorium from the balcony.

The Friends of the State Theatre was formed shortly after the theater closed, intending to restore and reopen the theater as a performing arts center. To that end, they have signed a 20-year lease and were awarded non-profit status in February 2013. They have received grants from the town of Stoughton and the state of Massachusetts, and around $700,000 in donations from private donors and businesses. The Friends aim to raise between $2.5 and $3 million to restore the theater.

Some of the projection equipment remains in the projector room.

Some of the projection equipment remains in the projector room.

 

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Franklin Park Theatre Dorchester, MA

Franklin Park Theatre Dorchester, MA

Help me pick the next blog post on After the Final Curtain! Cast a vote for the theater you’d like to see next on the site, and whichever has the most votes by Thursday 6/19 will be featured in a blog post on Friday 6/20!

View from the balcony of the Adams Theatre.

View from the balcony of the Adams Theatre.

View from the balcony of the Russell Theatre.

View from the balcony of the Russell Theatre.

Everett Square Theatre Boston, MA

Everett Square Theatre Boston, MA

View from the balcony of the Logan Theatre in Philadelphia, PA

View from the balcony of the Logan Theatre in Philadelphia, PA

Thanks for voting! The Russell Theatre is the winner! 

Shapshot: Liberty Theatre

Introducing: the Snapshot Series  – Occasionally in my travels I come across a theater that I can’t find a lot of information on, or that I only have a chance to photograph for an hour or two. They’re still beautiful and fascinating, so they definitely have a place on After the Final Curtain.

View from the back of the auditorium.

View from the back of the auditorium.

The Liberty Theatre opened in 1922 in Dorchester, MA. It was operated by New England Theatres and showed primarily silent films. The 898-seat theater was in poor shape by 1941 and was later sold to ATC Theatres. In 1949, the Liberty was remodeled and reopened as an art house theater, but ended up closing in the 1950s. It was used as a household appliance warehouse in the 1960’s and later as a church until 1977, when it was converted to a warehouse for storage.

The lobby of the Liberty Theatre.

The lobby of the Liberty Theatre.

The Liberty Theatre was demolished in early 2013.

A lot of the original decor survived the theater's transformations over the years.

Much of the theater had been demolished before I had the chance to photograph it.

A close up of the proscenium arch.

A close up of the proscenium arch.

A close up of some of the remaining plasterwork in the lobby.

A close up of some of the remaining plasterwork in the lobby.

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© Matthew Lambros and After the Final Curtain, 2013. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Matthew Lambros and After the Final Curtain with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

Q&A with Kathy McKean, Managing Director of MIFA Victory Theatre

main floor, victory theatre

The main level of the auditorium.

I recently spoke with Kathy McKean – the Managing Director of the Massachusetts International Festival of the Arts. MIFA owns and is renovating the Victory Theatre in Holyoke, MA. 

1. What is MIFA?

“MIFA is a Holyoke based International Festival that brings world-class events to Holyoke and the Pioneer Valley. MIFA’s 2011 Season included Hal Holbrook in ‘Mark Twain Tonight’ and Silent Film Night The Last Command. Other presentations in Holyoke have been Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre in ‘Love’s Labour’s Lost’, contemporary Irish Dance in ‘Irish Cream’, Eddie Palmieri in Concert, a series of French Dance, Enchanted Circle Theatre in ‘Sojourners Truth’ and Mikhail Baryshnikov 2004 World Tour. MIFA is a vehicle for community restoration and historic and architectural preservation and is renovating and reopening the historic Victory Theatre, a 1600 hundred-seat Broadway style theater in downtown Holyoke. The iconic theater will be returned to its original use as a live theater house for Holyoke, the Valley and the Northeast.”

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Orpheum Theatre

  Want to see the Orpheum for yourself? I’m hosting a photography workshop at the theater this fall. 

View of the Orpheum Theatre auditorium from the balcony.

View of the Orpheum Theatre auditorium from the balcony.

The Orpheum Theatre opened on April 15, 1912  —  the same day the Titanic sank. Located on Water Street in New Bedford, Massachusetts, it was part of a Beaux-Arts building that was built in 1910 by a French-Canadian group known as Le Club des Francs-Tireurs (The French Sharpshooters Club).  The building’s official name is La Salle Francs Tireurs, or French Sharpshooters Hall.

Local architect Louis Destremps —  known for his work on the Notre Dame De Lourdes church in Fall River, Massachusetts — designed the building, which included the theater, a ballroom, a shooting range, a gymnasium, retail space and various office and meeting spaces. The Ballroom and Theater served as revenue for the club.

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