 |
3/1/2008 - Concord, NH
With help from the New Hampshire Grange and others, the leaders of
a project that began in Vermont have identified more than 30 town
halls and other sites in New Hampshire with painted theater
drapery. Preservation advocates in towns that include Bradford,
Franklin, and Colebrook have been working on reviving these
reminders of a time when every small town was visited by traveling
troupes of players, opera companies, vaudeville performers, and
itinerant musicians.
Between 1880 and 1940, curtains such as these were produced in
other states, but it seems that the great majority were discarded
as they became worn and dirty, and as tastes changed. Fortunately,
in Vermont many curtains were simply bundled up with baling twine,
or stashed in ceiling crawl spaces, or shoved under the stage.
Christine Hadsel, director of Curtains Without Borders, and the
leader of Vermont's statewide initiative, said that by bringing
the curtains back into use we rejuvenate small town performance and
meeting spaces. "We have seen an increase of local theater and
the re-use of town halls for town meeting," connected with
drapery restoration, she said.
Fadesel and others are eager to launch a statewide theater drapery
preservation effort in New Hampshire.
|
 |