The Tabor Grand Opera House, which opened in 1881 in Denver. - 1908 photo by Louis McClure
The Library of Congress and W.W. Norton & Co. recently published, "Theaters," the third volume in the Norton/Library of Congress Visual Sourcebooks in Architecture, Design and Engineering series. Compiled by architect Craig Morrison, "Theaters" joins "Barns" by George Washington University professor John Vlach and "Canals" by National Park Service architecture and engineering scholar Robert Kapsch.
"Theaters," a 352-page hardcover book with nearly 1,200 images – all on an accompanying CD-ROM – takes the reader on a visual journey from the early playhouses to modern movie houses as theaters developed in colonial America, on the Western frontier and in cities from coast to coast.
This first comprehensive study of American theaters plumbs the great holdings of the Library of Congress, highlighting a wide range of theater forms – from raucous music halls to popular vaudeville, from circus to grand opera and drama, from world's fairs to Coney Island and from nickelodeons to glorious picture palaces.
Packed with archival photographs and plans, "Theaters" includes special "interludes" of theater photography by such renowned artists as Walker Evans, Ben Shahn, Dorothea Lange, Marion Post Wolcott and Gordon Parks. "Theaters" also includes the Library's complete collection of drawings by Anthony F. Dumas, published in its entirety for the first time.
This 1856 illustration from Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper showed massive capacity (1,288 seats) of the Bowery (Thalia) Theatre, New York.
A program was held on Dec. 6 to celebrate the book's publication. The program featured an illustrated overview of the book by the author; a performance by Ted van Griethuysen of the Shakespeare Theatre Company; a musical performance by Genevieve Williams featuring songs composed by Cole Porter, George and Ira Gershwin, Howard Dietz and Irving Berlin; and a performance by the noted Russian pianist Svetlana Potanina of compositions by Sergei Rachmaninoff and Robert Schumann.
In addition to a display of original manuscripts from the Music Division, the distinguished architect Rafael Viñoly presented a gift to the Library of his original designs for America theaters and performing arts centers, including the Kennedy Center.
The program was made possible by the Art and Architecture Committee of the James Madison Council, the Center for Architecture, Design and Engineering in the Library of Congress, the Music Division, the Publishing Office, the Shakespeare Theatre Company and W. W. Norton & Co.
The "Theaters"
program is accessible online at www.loc.gov/today/cyberlc/.
"Theaters," "Canals" and "Barns" are each available for $75 in bookstores
nationwide and through the Library's Sales Shop, Washington, D.C. 20540-4985.
Credit card orders are taken at (888) 682-3557. Online orders can be
placed at www.loc.gov/shop/.
Left, these unique eliptical stairs were one of the elegant features of New York's Metropolitan Opera House, opened in 1883. - Jack E. Boucher; center, the interior of the 1871 Springer Opera House, Columbus, Ga., in a 1980 photo; right, Boston's grand Hollis Street Theatre, built in 1885, featured these elaborate box tiers.
