High Country Performing Arts Space, The Appalachian Theatre, Reopens Doors

A historic gem has been brought back to life in the High Country. Today, The Appalachian Theatre opens its doors to the public after an 8-year, $10-million effort to renovate the Boone landmark.

The space will be a hub for the performing arts and film. WFDD's Bethany Chafin spoke with Appalachian State University Theatre Professor and Vice-Chair of the Appalachian Theatre Board, Keith Martin.

Interview Highlights

On opening day in 1938:

There was a five-part program. It started with a welcome and an introduction, greetings, and a dedication. Then they showed a cartoon feature. It was Walt Disney's special Technicolor production of Mickey and Minnie Mouse appearing in The Brave Little Tailor. Then they had a newsreel of current news events. Then they had what they called a novelty reel. And this one was how Charlie McCarthy dolls are made. And then it finally got to the feature film which was Bobby Breen starring in Breaking The Ice with the world's youngest ice skater, Irene Dare. They did not have movies on Sunday in deference to the faith community, and the matinee prices were 10 cents and the evening prices were 10 and 20 cents, depending on location.

On what the theatre looked like in the 1930s:

It was the very first Art Deco building in the High Country area of western North Carolina, so there are all these wonderful architectural flourishes that were very popular in the 30s and 40s. It was a very narrow entranceway and then it fanned out into a theatre. The interesting thing for me is the fact that for 999 patrons, they only had two bathrooms which each had two stalls: the ladies' powder room on the mezzanine and the men's smoking lounge on the mezzanine ... but it was [a] very small lobby area, and then it fanned out into the much larger theatre.

On opening a business like this at the end of the Great Depression:

People thought it was too big, but then they grew into it and sold it out. Keep in mind this is before the era of television. You still have radio as your main entertainment, but you would come many times a week to the theatre. It was the thing to do. Keep in mind that it was adjacent to the campus, and right now it's literally on the edge of the Appalachian State University campus, which was then Appalachian State Teacher's College. So you had the students, you had the faculty, you had the staff, you had the people in town, you also had the folks from the surrounding areas who would come to see the movie theatre. ... Plus, newsreels were the primary means of communicating current events in the day.

On recent efforts to renovate the theatre:

It's been an eight-year effort. We started on December 7th of 2011 in a public meeting at the library for the Save the Appalachian Theatre Task Force. I sat across from Doc Watson who would play there as a young boy and was anxious to see the theatre renovated, restored. It began a process of eight years, about $10 million was raised, and the efforts involved about 500 volunteers.

On what visitors will see today:

It'll be familiar to the longtime residents. They'll see many of the Art Deco features from the 1938 design replicated in all their glory. The facade and the original marquee are back in place, replicated of course. But the lobby has been greatly expanded. It includes areas that formerly occupied in 1938 the Appalachian Soda Shop, the Dacus Radio Shop, Lillian May Beauty Shop. Above the lobby were areas that once were doctor's offices and exam rooms, even a rental apartment. So, that's now been completely gutted, and it's a 1,700-square-foot community room that can be used for everything from receptions to smaller performing art events, film screenings, lectures, sit-down dinners, the works. Backstage is the biggest difference for me. There's an expanded stage area, ample dressing rooms, loading dock, assembly areas, service elevator, orchestra pit, and technical production systems that just didn't exist back in the 1930s ... it's just beautiful.