Theater profile The Fulton

The Fulton Theater located at center stage in Lancaster county PA. it is one of the oldest theaters in PA and on the eastern coast. The Fulton Theater is located at 12 North Prince St. Lancaster, PA. Recently the theater celebrated a birthday of 156 years of historic performances and public service. The theater has been called the grand old lady of Prince Street as its common names besides of course the historic Fulton.
The Fulton Theater originally was built as to be a meeting hall and has over the years been carved and transferred into how and what stands today. Originally Christopher Hager built the building to serve as a community center, believe it or not a weird fact the theater was actually built on the foundation of Lancaster’s pre-Revolutionary jail where a gang massacred all of the remaining Conestoga Indians. This massicutre as ironic as it may be actually served as a plot for one of Americas originally theater performances.
After a big over hall renovation the grand opening took place on October 2nd 1873, with a performance of the Othello. This originally play was performed solely to the benefit of needy children that had been displaced because of the civil war. After another renovation was completed by local builders and artisans in 103 the addition of the Peanut gallery was completed adding space and box seats.
Due the addition of the big screens and movie showings the Fulton was close and near to shuting its doors to good, however took a gamble and stayed open hoping to draw in new audiances and bigger crowds. In 1931, Ethel Barrymore appeared in a play called The Love Duel, and the Drama Club of Lancaster presented an amateur production of George Kelly’s The Torch Bearers. However wasn’t very susscefull making the Fulton a second rate theater compared to those showing movies on a big screen.
After being declared a second rate theater the Fulton’s heart beat was almost a stop until a article published in the New York theater playbill served as fire to light the envision to a grand re opening. In 1957, new management repositioned the theatre as an art movie house, with occasional stage performances. In 1969, a community theatre group, Actors Company of Pennsylvania, began presenting musicals and plays.
Then sadly another theater recession hit the Fulton causing them to contiousnly rent the stage to community groups to get by. These community groups tried to keep the theater going by making and producing plays of their own.
The year 1989 one I like because I was born that year also saved the theater. The Fulton was voted to restore the theater to its original Victorian style. Then on October 14, 1995 the doors officially reopened and the theater glowed.
Since The Fulton Opera House is one of only eight theatres in the United States recognized as a National Historic Landmark, and is considered to be the nation's oldest continuously operating theatre.
Many actors and actresses have set foot on the Fulton’s vast stage to name a few the Barrymore family, Sarah Bernhardt, W. C. Fields, Alfred Lunt, Al Jolson, and Irene Dunne, Mark Twain, a young actress named Helen Brown, Marcel Marceau and hundreds more. The Fulton is a nonprofit theater , and serves over 100,000 people annually through all programs.