WHEN WE WERE NORMAL
A Historical Augmented Reality Walking Tour
Theater to Learn, Theater for Fun
LOCATION: QUAD ENTRANCE - SOUTH WALL
Theater programs and performances have been a staple of Fitchburg State since its inception. By 1911, the Fitchburg Normal School’s Practical Arts Building (now Percival Hall) included a 700-seat auditorium equipped with a film projector in addition to a stage and dressing rooms. Principal John Thompson even argued for the value of the dramatic arts in the education of teachers.
“For many years each class has presented a play, usually with two casts and given on two different dates. The trying out for parts and the acting of them in the final rendition of the play has proved a valuable experience for nearly one-third the students in each class. The value of this work for the teacher is very great…”
Going to the theater was one of the most popular forms of entertainment in Fitchburg. The first theater, the Whitney Opera House, opened on October 20th, 1880 on the corner of Main and Prichard. The Main Street theater opened the next year and could hold a crowd of 1,000 people. Dramas became so popular that at Whalom Park (a now defunct amusement park), a 3,000 seat theater was built in 1901 and quickly became its star attraction. Even before Fitchburg had theaters, a stage version of Uncle Tom’s Cabin by Mann’s Dramatic Company showed in the town house in 1854.
Others in Fitchburg shared Principal Thompson’s enthusiasm for teaching the dramatic arts. The High Tor Repertory Summer Theater was designed to teach young men and women about acting and performance. Opened in the summer of 1962 by Eugene S. Casassa, High Tor was built out of a 200-year-old barn in the woods behind Ashby West Road. The company performed a rigorous ten plays per season, with plays running for a single week. During their 23-year operation, they enacted versions of famous plays like The Marriage Proposal, A Doll’s House, and Ten Little Indians.
As cinemas became more and more popular, theaters began to either cease production of dramas or close altogether. Several community theaters in town still performed plays with amateur dramatic player. One group, the Stratton Players (formed as Amateur Workshop Inc.) operated out of a small house on Main Street. This house burnt down in July 2011, but the troupe remains in Fitchburg today.
The last remaining theater is the Fitchburg Theater which operated until the late 1980’s. Located across from the old City Hall, it had a brief life as a porn theater during the 1970’s. Fitchburg State is currently renovating the theater and surrounding buildings to revitalize the city’s downtown core and commit itself again to the value of the dramatic arts.