The History of Marblehead Little Theatre
The Beginning
In the 1940s and early 1950s, Marblehead was a popular summer stock theater destination hosting the North Shore Players at The Marblehead Playhouse through 1953 and The Marblehead Summer Theater through 1955. Productions included major titles and personalities including Sarah Churchill, Lucille Ball, Burt Lahr, Ava Gabor, Veronica Lake, Basil Rathbone. Richard Rogers personally supervised the Marblehead Playhouse production of “On Your Toes” in 1953.
Shows were performed in the High School auditorium under agreement with the Marblehead School Committee. The relationship with the School Department was not always a smooth one in spite of the clear economic benefit to the town. At the end of the 1955 season, Marblehead Summer Theater producer Lee Falk told the School Department they would not be able return the next year unless the HS auditorium was air conditioned. The Chamber of Commerce submitted a warrant to town meeting for up to $2500 to be repaid by the theater company through rentals, but the warrant was defeated and professional summer stock theater in Marblehead ended.
The desire and demand for quality live theater in Marblehead remained strong.
In the fall of 1954, Mrs. Henry (Terry) Hale became the chair of the Marblehead Woman’s Club drama committee. Eight women of the drama committee performed the one act play ‘The Charm Racquet’ for the Woman’s Club on the occasion of their annual meeting in May of 1955 at the Old North Church Parish Hall.
It soon became evident that a much larger group was needed and so, husbands, sons, daughters, and friends were invited to an organizational meeting in September 1955. Terry Hale continued to lead the new group as it first president through its formative first three years. The newly formed Little Theatre group presented it first production, the three-act play, Moss Hart’s ‘Light Up the Sky’ at the Woman’s Club Guest Night. The show opened on January 18, 1956, at the Marblehead Junior High School Auditorium.
And so Marblehead Little Theater (MLT) was born and now over six decades later has proven to be one of the oldest community theatre groups in New England as well as one of the few to have continually produced shows each year.
Throughout the fifties, MLT held its main productions at the High School using the proscenium stage. Productions in 1950s included the plays ‘Goodby, My Fancy’, ‘Mister Angel’, ‘Dial M for Murder’, ‘Pursuit of Happiness’ and ‘Solid Gold Cadillac.’
As the group gained recognition, they were asked to perform at churches and charity functions including a number of one act plays suitable for these occasions.
The 1960s
In the sixties, MLT offer its audiences plays including, ‘The Bell, Book and Candle’, ‘Ways and Means’, ‘Monkey Paw’ and ‘Rise and Shine’ which was also performed at the VA Hospital in Brockton.
MLT ventured into the new theatre of the absurd with then avant garde ‘Zoo Story’ and ‘The Bald Soprano’ in March 1962. MLT ended 1962 with a critically acclaimed presentation of ‘The Crucible’ performed at Salem State.
1963 was a big year for MLT. MLT was invited to present three plays (‘The Man in the Bowler Hat’, ‘The Men Who Lived Too Soon’ and ‘Young Ben Franklins’s Fight’) at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston during the month of February. The vibrant group also presented in February ‘The Man in the Dog Suit’ in the High School auditorium, and was invited to participate in the Marblehead Arts Festival, performing two one act plays on an outdoor stage in July. The year ended with a production of ‘Cat on a Hot Tin Roof’ in November at Salem State.
But the biggest leap so far was made in the mid sixties with the decision to plunge in and do a musical. They got their feet wet by presenting “The Fantasticks” with a cast of seven, minimal scenery and an orchestra consisting of a pianist, a harpist, and a percussionist. The show received such an enthusiastic reception that they were inspired to stage a full scale musical “Pajama Game” in November of 1965. The cast of forty came from all over the North Shore with membership drawn from Salem, Swampscott, Peabody, Danvers, Beverly and Hamilton. This was a big production with 18 musical numbers, singing and dancing, many set changes and most of all, a full orchestra which was presented at Salem State College̓s large auditorium and was a sell-out. Since then, MLT has presented at least one musical production each year which has become the hallmark of the group. MLT produced ‘Anything Goes ‘ and ‘the Most Happy Fella’ in the late 60’s in the Lynn Memorial Auditorium.
The sixties saw MLT̓s entrance into the New England Theatre Conference Annual Community Theatre Drama Festival competition, the start of an annual scholarship awarded by MLT to a graduation high School student who had participated in theater during high school and had contributed to Marblehead Little Theatre.
The 1970s
In 1970, MLT revived ‘The Fantasticks’ and became a traveling group taking shows to Beverly for a benefit performance for the North Shore Community College, and touring to Endicott College, Arlington, Concord, and the Essex Agricultural and Technical Institute in Danvers.
Early in the 70s MLT performed in Marblehead at the High School and St Michaels with notable performances of ‘Don’t Drink the Water’, Exit the Body’, ‘Mousetrap’ and ‘The Man Who Came to Dinner’.
MLT incorporated officially as a “non-profit organization for the encouragement of interest in dramatic arts through educational programs, workshops, and the presentation of dramatic and musical productions” in March of 1973. The initial corporate Board of Directors included Ron Leger III as President and included Cecil Weinstein, Geneviev Elwell, Philip Frasca, Marcia Hunkins, Judith Clark, Timothy Smilth, John Waymouth and Michael Armento.
In 1973, the Board of Selectmen granted the newly incorporated MLT permission to perform for the first time in Marblehead’s historic Abbot Hall. Abbot Hall became the setting for many musicals produced in the seventies with the initial staging of ‘Kiss Me Kate’ followed ‘A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum’, superb performances of ‘Man of La Mancha’, ‘Fiddler on the Roof̓, ‘Brigadoon’, ‘Camelot, productions for children of ‘The Red Shoes’ and ‘Aladdin and the Wonderful Lamp’, and numerous plays including ‘The Potting Shed’, ‘Witness for the Prosecution’ and ‘A Touch of the Poet’.
Perhaps the most memorable performance of the seventies at Abbot Hall was October 16, 1975, opening night of the bicentennial show of ‘1776′. There were parties before and after the performance hosted by the Marblehead Bicentennial Commission in the Selectman̓s Meeting Room with the original Willard painting of the “Spirit of ‘76̓ as a most appropriate and inspiring backdrop. In the final moments of the play, the bells of Abbot Hall pealed and the lights dimmed leaving hardly a dry eye in the house. As one local reviewer wrote, “this is community theater -at its best”.
In 1977, MLT took top honors at the New England Theatre Conference Drama Festival with its acclaimed production of “The Love Course”.
The 1980s
In the eighties, MLT began staging their productions at the new Nelson Aldrich Performing Arts Center at Marblehead High School with a seating capacity of 766 and a stage to rival the best of Boston̓s professional theaters. The professionalism and quality of the two major musicals staged yearly greatly enhanced the growing reputation of MLT as a high caliber community theatre. Audiences flocked to see such productions as ‘The Music Man’, ‘A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum’, and ‘Company’.
The 1990s
During the nineties, the desire to do smaller plays in addition to our yearly big musicals resulted in the production of an original play ‘One Civilized Person’ in 1995 as a part of the Marblehead Festival of Arts. Later, productions of ‘Exit the Body’, ‘The Cemetery Club’ and ‘Bullshot Crummond’ were all staged at Tower School in Marblehead.
Large Scale musical productions in the ninety’s included ‘The Wizard of Oz’ and ‘The King and I’ staged at the Aldrich Performing Arts Center. Playing to sold out audiences reaffirmed that MLT has provided an outlet for creative expression for people in all walks of life and ages. MLT produced top notch entertainment while contributing to the economic development, quality of life and community pride.
In April 1999, a proclamation attesting to the contributions of Marblehead Little Theatre was signed by the Board of Selectmen in recognition of MLT̓s 44 years of bringing quality theater to the residents of the North Shore.
During the nineties, MLT’s major project led by Ginny Morton and Doug Hill was obtaining a home of their own to stage small productions, conduct workshops, and provide space to store and build sets, to rehearse, as well as store props and costumes. The old brick Firehouse on School Street vacant since 1997 has been the object of our dream to have at long last after 44 years, a home of our own.
During the triumphant production of “The King and I” in the Fall of 1999, the Marblehead Board of Selectmen awarded the School Street Firehouse to Marblehead Little Theatre.
The New Millennium
With the beginning of 2000, MLT was facing new dynamics and responsibilities with the acquisition of the old brick fire house on School Street as our new home. An architect was hired and work began on the renovations needed to convert the building to a functional theater space. Stabilizing the building became the priority. A new roof and new windows were installed, the exterior brick work was spot pointed, a temporary heater installed along with a fire sprinkler system. Fund raising began in earnest to bring the building up to code and create a black box theater.
On the performance front, ‘Love Letters’ was staged at the Marblehead Art’s Association’s historic Hooper Mansion in celebration of Valentine’s Day. In conjunction with the Marblehead’s 350th Anniversary, a play writing contest with a historic theme was held and the winner was ‘Agnes’ Bargain’ by Raymond Smith which was performed as a stage reading at the Festival of Arts. The big musical for 2000 was Meredith Willson’s splendid ‘The Music Man’ with a cast of 76 marching through River City, Iowa performing the rousing ‘76 Trombones Led the Big Parade’.
The next year saw us once again at the Hooper Mansion with a performance of ‘The Love Course’ which was later taken to competition at Brandeis University where it received nominations for Best Actor, Best Supporting Actor and Lighting. The annual play competition winner ‘A Mother in My Head’ by Chris King was performed during the Festival of Arts.
The fall musical for 2001 was ‘The Sound of Music’, the first of many directed by Henry Dembowski. The von Trapp children were double cast and the production proved to be a delight for our audiences.
In the succeeding years, MLT has continued to thrive. Henry Dembowski led the group as President as well as directed such wonderful productions of ‘Oliver, the Musical’, ‘Fiddler on the Roof”, ’Peter Pan’ (the biggest money maker in MLT’s history), and ‘Beauty and the Beast’ (the biggest budget in MLT’s history).
In addition, a Board of Trustees was established under the leadership of Charles Gessner to oversee the renovations of the firehouse as well as undertake the important role of fund-raising. The results were that the fire house received an occupancy permit for the first floor in 2006.
A major milestone for MLT was achieved with the gala opening of ‘Our Town’ directed by John Fogle at the brick firehouse on School Street. With Dixie Land music playing and spotlights in the sky, the sold out house was testimony to all the dedicated efforts of so many in making this dream come true. In 2007, New England was again the setting with our spring production of ‘On Golden Pond directed by John Fogle once again. With the new terrace with the inscribed bricks in place, our audiences could readily see the progress that we ongoing at the fire house.
Other new programs were just as exciting. Under the skilled leadership of Ginny Morton and later with Lynda Johnson, Children’s Classes in Theater began and proved to be a rousing success with very professional presentations by the students at the completion of each session. In addition, the Friday Films at the Firehouse became a weekly tradition with each month’s theme of classic films delighting our loyal audiences who marveled at the 10’ x 12’ screen, nine speakers and the joy of sharing a movie experience.
The decade also brought to MLT acclaimed productions of ‘Cinderella’, ‘Gypsy’, ‘Annie Get Your Gun’ and ‘Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat’. The musical ‘Once on this Island’ was stage at the new Firehouse Theatre, directed by Steve Black.
The 2010s
With the addition of an elevator and completion of the vestibule, full occupancy was granted to MLT in 2011. During the decade of the 2010s, MLT began to more fully utilize the Firehouse by staging an average of 5 main stage, 4 children’s and 3 special productions each year. During this decade, the team of Anne Lucas and Betty Lautner began scripting and producing wonderful composer themed summer revues each year.
Major musicals during 2010s included ‘Hairspray’, ‘Hair’, ‘The 25th Annual Putman County Spelling Bee’, ‘Willy Wonka’, ‘Spring Awakening’, ‘Legally Blond’, ‘The Drowsy Chaperone’, ‘Godspell: the Revival’, ‘Les Misarables’, ‘Into the Woods’, ‘Next to Normal’, ‘Violet’, ‘Billy Elliot, the Musical’, ‘Little Shop of Horrors’, ‘Rock of Ages’, ‘American Idiot’, ‘1776′ ‘Cabaret’, ‘Jesus Christ Superstar’ and ‘Mamma Mia’.
Major plays during the 2010s included ‘One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest’, ‘{Proof}’, ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’, ‘Rabbit Hole’, ‘The Odd Couple’, ‘Inherit the Wind’, ‘The Tempest’, ‘It’s a Wonderful Life, the Radio Play’, ‘Noises Off’, ‘Macbeth’, ‘Diary of Anne Frank’, ‘Romeo and Juliet’, ‘The Miracle Worker’, ‘August Osage County’, ‘12 Angry Men’, ‘Much Ado About nothing’, ‘The Importance of Being Earnest’, ‘Letters From War’, “From Silence’, ‘The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night’, ‘Recovery’ and ‘Deathtrap’.
The 2020s
The new decade began with the worldwide disruption form Covid 19. At MLT the hilarious production of ‘Young Frankenstein’ opened the first weekend in March and was forced to close before its second weekend. The theatre remained closed to audiences for all of 2020 and into 2021. But Covid could stop MLT’s creative flow.
Artist Jeremy Barnett brought art outdoors by creating two art projects for the School Street facade of the Firehouse, one of his own inspiration and the second a mosaic of canvasses created by local children. Over the summer, MLT went virtual hosting on-line sing alongs, a forum series, ‘The Great American Songbook – a Virtual Revue’, a new serialized play ‘Through the Big Times and Back’, ‘Spoon River Anthologies in 3 Episodes’, and 14 weeks of small group in person children’s theatre classes.
We expect the pandemic to wind down this spring and summer and anticipate MLT will be back presenting one or possibly two productions for live audiences in the Fall of 2021.
History of the Firehouse Theatre Renovation Project
