The Dock Street Theatre is a theater in the historic French Quarter neighborhood of downtown

Charleston, South Carolina Charleston is the List of municipalities in South Carolina, most populous city in the U.S. state of South Carolina. The city lies just south of the geographical midpoint of South Carolina's coastline on Charleston Harbor, an inlet of the Atla ...

History

The structure, which was built as a hotel in 1809 and converted to a theater in 1935, occupies the site of the first building in the

Thirteen Colonies The Thirteen Colonies were the British colonies on the Atlantic coast of North America which broke away from the British Crown in the American Revolutionary War (1775–1783), and joined to form the United States of America. The Thirteen C ...

designed for use as a theater. It has been on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

since 1973. On February 12, 1736 the original Dock Street Theatre opened with a performance of George Farquhar's play '' The Recruiting Officer''. Built on the corner of Church Street and Dock Street (now known as Queen Street), the Historic Dock Street Theatre was the first building in America built exclusively to be used for theatrical performances. ''Flora'', the first opera performance in America, took place at the Historic Dock Street Theatre.

1740 Rebuilding

The original Dock Street Theatre was probably destroyed by the Great Fire of 1740 which destroyed many of the buildings in Charleston's French Quarter. In 1809, the current building was built on the site as the Planter's Hotel and in 1835 the wrought iron balcony and sandstone columns of the Church Street facade were added. A number of notable persons worked and patronized the Planter's Hotel including the noted 19th Century actor Junius Brutus Booth (father of actors Edwin and

John Wilkes Booth John Wilkes Booth (May 10, 1838April 26, 1865) was an American stage actor who Assassination of Abraham Lincoln, assassinated United States president Abraham Lincoln at Ford's Theatre in Washington, D.C., on April 14, 1865. A member of the p ...

). African-American Civil War naval hero and U.S. Congressman Robert Smalls, who stole a steamboat in the harbor and sailed it out past the Confederate held

Fort Sumter Fort Sumter is a historical Coastal defense and fortification#Sea forts, sea fort located near Charleston, South Carolina. Constructed on an artificial island at the entrance of Charleston Harbor in 1829, the fort was built in response to the W ...

and turned it over to the blockading Union Fleet, served as a waiter in the hotel's dining room before the war. Charleston's famed Planter's Punch was first introduced here. Dock-street-theatre-interior-sc1

1935 Renovations

After the Civil War, the Planter's Hotel fell into disrepair and was slated for demolition. However, in 1935, at the height of the

Great Depression The Great Depression was a severe global economic downturn from 1929 to 1939. The period was characterized by high rates of unemployment and poverty, drastic reductions in industrial production and international trade, and widespread bank and ...

, after Milton Pearlstine made the property available to the City of Charleston and at the urging of Mayor Burnet Maybank and other notable citizens, the original building became a

Works Progress Administration The Works Progress Administration (WPA; from 1935 to 1939, then known as the Work Projects Administration from 1939 to 1943) was an American New Deal agency that employed millions of jobseekers (mostly men who were not formally educated) to car ...

project. At that time, the present theatre was constructed within the shell of the Planter's Hotel. The hotel's grand foyer became the grand foyer of the theatre, and the hotel's dining room now serves as the box-office lobby. Douglas Ellington served as the architectural advisor for the project; Charleston architects Simons & Lapham then supervised the daily work while Ellington was in Washington, D.C. The woodwork and mantels of the second floor drawing room were salvaged from the Radcliffe-King Mansion (circa 1799), which stood at the corner of George and Meeting streets and was razed to build the College of Charleston gymnasium, another WPA project. Modeled on 18th century London playhouses by Charleston architect and pioneering preservationist Albert Simons, the present Dock Street Theatre's stage house and auditorium were built in the hotel's courtyard. The local carpenters, who were put to work as a part of this Depression-era relief effort, used locally grown and milled native black cypress for the wooden interior. Following this $350,000 renovation, The Historic Dock Street Theatre's second grand opening took place on November 26, 1937. Notables in the audience included author

DuBose Heyward Edwin DuBose Heyward (August 31, 1885 – June 16, 1940) was an American author best known for his 1925 novel '' Porgy''. He and his wife Dorothy, a playwright, adapted it as a 1927 play of the same name. The couple worked with composer Georg ...

('' Porgy''), who was named writer-in-residence.

2010 Renovations

The Historic Dock Street Theatre reopened for the third time on March 18, 2010 after a three-year, $19 million renovation by the City of Charleston. This extensive full-scale renovation brought the historic theatre into the 21st century with state-of-the-art lighting and sound, modern heating and air conditioning, and new restrooms and seating. In addition the theatre was made seismically secure and fully handicapped accessible. Extensive sound-proofing was added to ensure that outside noises no longer intruded on performances inside. Now owned and managed by the City of Charleston, The Historic Dock Street Theatre is home to many of the City's cultural institutions including Spoleto Festival USA. Charleston Stage, which became the resident professional theatre at the Dock Street Theatre in 1978, produces over 120 performances each season and plays to more than 40,000 patrons annually. In addition more than 15,000 South Carolina students enjoy special school day performances offered by Charleston Stage each year at the Historic Dock Street Theatre.

References

Notes Bibliography *Edgar, Walter (2006) ''The South Carolina Encyclopedia'' p. 269.

External links