Theatre in the Commonwealth

William Wirt writes to Thomas Cooper, a noted professional actor, regarding hiring a room for Cooper’s theatre troupe’s performance in Richmond:

Autograph letter, signed, from William Wirt to Thomas Abthorpe Cooper. 19 May 1816.

I have made inquiry and find that there is a room at the Bell Tavern of the description you mention, which Mr. Brooks the keeper of the tavern has promised that you may have—it has the length & breadth you mentioned. You say nothing of the pitch of the room, which it occurs to me may be a matter of some consequence in a plan of benches to be raised in theatre style—the pitch of this room is a little upwards of twelve feet—I have seen large companies in it on similar occasions... as to the temper of the people, never fear it—You will find them in as coming a temper as you would wish—We have, it is true some hysterical ladies whose nerves may be shaken a little by such an exhibition—This is very natural and, perhaps, amiable –But I am much mistaking if you will not find torrents eager to catch at the offer and liking it more the nearer it approaches to theatrical representation.

At right: Last Night but Two of M’lle Marietta Ravel…This , Thursday Evening, May 25th, 1865, Will Be Presented , John Brougham’s Laughable Burlesque in 2 Acts Entitled “Po-ca-hon-tas; or, The Gentle Savage.” Playbill for Glenn’s Theatre. [Norfolk, VA: Glenn’s Theatre, 1865].

William B. Wood was a player and theatre manager. At right, a collection of playbills by William B. Wood for theatres in Alexandria, Fredericksburg, and Washington DC. Ca. 1835.

The Barter Theatre

The Barter Theatre was the brainchild of Robert Porterfield, an actor and native of southwest Virginia. In 1933, in the midst of the Depression, Porterfield and his company of actors opened the theatre in Abingdon, charging playgoers 35 cents for admission or the equivalent in food—hence the name Barter Theatre. Playwrights meanwhile were paid their royalties with Virginia hams.

Over the years, such well-known actors as Gregory Peck, Patricia Neal, Ernest Borgnine, Hume Cronyn, and Kevin Spacey have performed at the theatre early in their careers. In 1946, the Barter Theatre became the State Theatre of Virginia.

The cast for the 1947-48 production of Twelfth Night included Ernest Borgnine.

At right: Photograph of the Barter Theatre award luncheon for Henry Fonda. Town Hall Club, New York City, 1948.
From the Papers of Alfred Dickinson Barksdale.

The Blackfriars Playhouse

Virginia’s newest theatre, The Blackfriars Playhouse, in Staunton, houses a professional theatre company called Shenandoah Shakespeare. The playhouse, which replicates Shakespeare’s indoor theatre of the same name in London, opened in September 2001. In the future, Shenandoah Shakespeare plans to construct an outdoor theatre similar to Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre. The company’s unique and lively performances successfully recreate the theatrical ambiance of seventeenth-century England.