Thalian Hall Welcomes New Generations
Thalian Hall
Built in 1858 and listed on the National Register for Historic Places, Wilmington's Thalian Hall is welcoming the public again after a major renovation.
Improvements to the 550-seat theater include a new orchestra pit with hydraulic lift (increasing the stage depth to 45 feet), preservation and enhancement of the auditorium, restoration of the proscenium arch and decorative stenciling, new floors and carpeting, new listening devices for the hearing impaired, and the addition of a grand chandelier.
"When you stand on the stage, you feel the curves of this building, how the balconies open up and embrace you," says Tony Rivenbark, who has served as executive director of Thalian Hall Center for Performing Arts for 32 years. He made his first stage appearance at Thalian Hall in 1966. "I cannot tell you how many major performing artists have walked on to that stage, seen it for the first time and said, 'I feel so welcome here.' That same feeling is here, but it's just in prettier clothes, and it's gotten more beautiful. It's like an old family home - each generation has added to it, dressed it up a little more, and made it a little finer."
Thalian Hall has always served as the Wilmington area's political and cultural center, originally housing the town government, the library and an opera house seating 1,000 people, which constituted 10 percent of the city's population in 1856. Leased from 1860 to 1932 by private entrepreneurs who brought in road shows and star attractions, Thalian Hall was in almost constant use as a place of amusement during the Civil War. Artists appearing in the hall in the 19th and early 20th centuries included Lillian Russell, Buffalo Bill Cody, John Phillip Sousa, Joseph Jefferson, Maurice Barrymore and Sir Henry Lauder. Between engagements, the hall hosted local events including amateur concerts, recitals, meetings, graduations, exhibitions and even roller skating.
Thalian Hall went through several renovations in the early 1900s and changed its name from the Opera House to the Academy of Music. By 1930 the great days of touring road shows were over, and the hall was used much less frequently, although local activities, including amateur theater presentations continued to take place there.
In the years that followed, community support staved off calls for the building's demolition, and in 1963, Thalian Hall Center for the Performing Arts was established as a nonprofit organization for the preservation and operation of Thalian Hall. After a small fire in the auditorium in 1973, the hall was restored to its original appearance. Reopening in 1975, it enjoyed a dramatic increase in use by professional artists and community groups, along with an equivalent rise in audience attendance. A Thalian Hall Renovation and Expansion Project began in 1985, and an expanded Thalian Hall/City Hall complex reopened on March 2, 1990.
"Thalian Hall is always caught in the act of becoming," Rivernbark says. "When will it be finished? Probably never. As long as it continues to serve the community, serve the artists and serve the people of Wilmington, it will always need to be reinvigorated and reinvested in. I'm glad that we've had the support of the community and the city to do that once again."
For more information or to order tickets, visit their website or call (910) 632-2285 or (800) 523-2820.
Tony Rivenbark, Executive Director, Thalian Hall Center for Performing Arts describes the facility's renovation and grand reopening plans in this video.