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Utah History Encyclopedia

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Utah History Encyclopedia THEATER IN UTAH Opera poster photograph for "The Bohemian Girl" Theater in Utah has its beginnings in the Mormon Church and its support of innocent amusement for its people. From this support came the building of the Salt Lake Theater, one of the best theaters of its time in the West, and the growth of amateur dramatic companies in almost every town and settlement. In the twentieth century much of the theatrical activity in Utah has centered around the state′s universities, with the development of Pioneer Memorial Theatre at the University of Utah and the Utah Shakespearean Festival at Southern Utah University. Even before the Latter-day Saints migrated to Utah, they staged plays and elaborate pageants in Nauvoo, Illinois, in the early 1840s. Brigham Young himself played a Peruvian high priest in the play Pizarro staged there. As soon as the Mormons felt comfortably settled in Salt Lake City, they again turned to drama for entertainment. In the fall of 1850 the Deseret Musical and Dramatic Association, which included the Nauvoo Brass Band, was formed. Performances were held at the Bowery on the temple block. The first bill included a drama, "Robert Macaire, or the Two Murderers," dancing, and a farce entitled "Dead Shot." In 1852 the Musical and Dramatic Association reorganized as the Deseret Dramatic Association, with Brigham Young as an honorary member. The Social Hall was erected and served as a principal place of amusement from 1852 to 1857. Built of adobe with a shingle roof, the Social Hall has been called the first Little Theatre in America and Brigham Young has been considered by some to be the father of the Little Theatre movement. The Social Hall′s stage measured twenty by 1 of 8 forty feet, tallow candles served as footlights, and there were dressing rooms off and under the stage. A bust of Shakespeare was placed above the stage. The orchestra of the Social Hall was directed by Domenico Ballo, formerly bandmaster at West Point. Smaller towns soon began to emulate the activities of the Social Hall. With the arrival of Johnston′s Army in 1857, activities at the Social Hall ceased. The soldiers at Camp Floyd, however, soon organized a theater. The Camp Floyd Theatre, built of pine boards and canvas, accommodated 200 people. The Germania Singing Club also opened a social hall at Camp Floyd and put on performances in German. In 1859 a new company, the Mechanics′ Dramatic Association, was formed in Salt Lake City. Harry Bowring offered the first floor of his new home for the theatre, which became known as Bowring′s Theater. The theater was located on 100 South between 300 and 400 East. Brigham Young soon decided that the Saints should have a first-class theatre, and excavations on the corner of 100 South and State streets began in July 1861. The Salt Lake Theatre, finished in March 1862, was the largest structure yet built by the Saints and cost $100,000. William H. Folsom was the architect of the exterior, which was Doric in style. E.L.T. Harrison, an architect from London and recent convert, modeled much of the interior after the London Drury Lane Theatre. Building supplies came from the now-disbanding Camp Floyd and the wreckage of government wagons on the trail. The theater was dedicated with a prayer by Daniel H. Wells, and an address by Brigham Young. Over 1,500 people crowded the theater for the opening, and many continued to come for later performances. Dubbed the "Cathedral in the Desert," the theater became a neutral ground for Mormons and non-Mormons, although it was controlled by the Mormons. Early performers at the theater included Thomas A. Lyne, Mr. and Mrs. Selden Irwin, George Pauncefort, and Julia Dean, with their stock companies. Brigham Young even allowed ten of his daughters to appear onstage. His daughter Alice later married Hiram B. Clawson, the first manager of the theater (along with John T. Caine). Great actors of the time began to come to Salt Lake City because of the quality of the theater and the sophistication of the audiences. Maude Adams, a Salt Lake native who went on to star as Peter Pan on Broadway, was a 2 of 8 particular favorite. With the coming of the railroad, Utah was placed on the national theatrical circuit, and the Salt Lake Theatre became increasingly secularized as New York booking agencies virtually controlled its attractions. Church leaders became uneasy with the loss of local standards and control. The theatre kept up with the latest technological advancements, though they were costly. Some 385 oil lamps lit the theater until 1872 when they were replaced by gas. Then, with the coming of electricity, the Railway Company furnished the theater with six lamps on each side of the building. For a time, the Salt Lake Theatre′s prominence was challenged by the Walker Opera House. Built in 1882, it was located on the south side of 200 South Street between Main and West Temple streets. To settle the dispute between the two theaters, the New York booking agencies agreed to divide bookings evenly. In 1891 the Walker Opera House burned down. Amateur dramatic groups also flourished throughout the state. The Amateur Dramatic Company of Provo was organized in 1861. The Mutual Improvement Association of the LDS Church sponsored amateur programs in the 1870s and 1880s. The Salt Lake Dramatic Company, with Lorenzo Snow (later LDS Church president) as its president, was active in the 1870s, and the Home Dramatic Company performed from 1880 to 1894. By the 1890s theater was so popular and taken so seriously that the Deseret News, Salt Lake Tribune, and Salt Lake Herald all had a special theater page devoted to coverage of the professional theaters in Salt Lake. But Salt Lake City still had no permanent dramatic company. A major force in the development of drama in Utah arrived in 1892-- Maud May Babcock. Babcock was hired as an instructor in elocution and physical culture at the University of Utah and quickly set about putting together a sustained program in dramatics. Besides her work at the university, she also had students at Brigham Young Academy and at Salt Lake public schools. Under her direction, the newly formed University Dramatic Club put on its first play in December 1897. With no theater at the university, the club used LDS ward halls and later the Salt Lake Theatre for its annual performances. It also began to present performances throughout the state and in parts of Idaho. 3 of 8 The training received in the University Club went home with some of its students to the smaller communities of Utah. Other club alumni went back to perform with the University Club players, while still others went on to professional companies. Blanche Kendall Thomas, for example, became a New York actress, performing in Ben Hur. Dramatic activity at the university heightened. The French and German classes began to produce plays in the original languages. The Order of the Gleam, a women′s literary organization, and the Scribblers′ Club, a men′s literary club, sponsored contests for original plays, which were later staged. The freshman class began to stage an annual production, and the Music Department began presenting operas at the Salt Lake Theatre. Besides the Salt Lake Theatre, other important theaters in the early years of the century were the Colonial, the Garrick, the Grand, the Orpheum, the Empress, and the Princess. The Grand Theater, in downtown Salt Lake City, presented stock and variety shows. Later it was renamed the Hippodrome and was used as a sports arena before it was destroyed by fire in the 1920s. The Empress, later called the Uptown, was built in 1911 at 53 South Main Street. Top-quality vaudeville was introduced to Utah with the opening of the Orpheum Theatre at 132 South State on Christmas Day 1905. Designed by C.M. Neuhausen, the theater was opulently decorated and became a center for legitimate theater in Salt Lake City for many years. Despite the number of professional theaters, there was no professional community troupe, a deficit Maud May Babcock longed to correct. In the summer of 1915 she formed the Utah Players Stock Company, which performed in the Utah Theatre. Though much fanfare attended the opening night performance with the LDS Church authorities, the governor, and the mayor present, the venture failed financially and the company disbanded. The University of Utah still did not have a theater on campus for its dramatic activities. In 1916 the assembly room of the Museum Building was made into a small theater, and play-production classes were organized for teaching directing and acting. Babcock still wanted to foster a university/community theater, and so she and her Varsity Players used the old Social Hall as a Little Theatre for the university from 1918 until 1921, when the city condemned it as unsafe. Moroni Olsen, a former student of Babcock′s who had also studied in the 4 of 8 East, formed the Moroni Olsen Players in the fall of 1923; it became the only successful repertory company in the western United States in the 1920s. For seven years the company toured Utah, Idaho, Washington, Oregon, Wyoming, California, and Canada putting on plays including Pygmalion and The Taming of the Shrew for schools, organizations, and communities. When the Great Depression dried up financial resources, the company disbanded and Olsen went to Hollywood, where he acted in such films as Annie Oakley with Barbara Stanwyck. Particularly after World War I, the growth in popularity of motion pictures led to the failure of many legitimate theaters.
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