ATTLEBORO – Proceeds from the “Staging a Comeback” exhibit at the Attleboro Arts Museum were one thing, said those behind it, but it was the benefit of renewed community conversation about restoring the old building that really provided a boost.
The nostalgia evoked by the display that ran from mid-April through the end of May inspired many words of support from those who remembered The Union Theatre as it once was, said Jennifer Keating, director of Illuminate Creative and Theatrical Arts Co., a theater arts group leading the charge to bring it back to its former glory.
Keating said hopefully those words will now translate into further backing for the effort, which has had received significant support getting it to $800,000, but now needs to go to the next level. Increased costs for the work are a big reason for that, she said.
According to Keating, inspiration and momentum have been rejuvenated as the topic of the theater and its future has been brought up again.
She said they’re feeling empowered to talk about the mission again after the jolt from the museum display.
Keating and Illuminate are running their “wake the sleeping beauty” fundraising campaign to generate enough funds for a phased renovation of the old theater on Union Street in the downtown area, which will one day be a hub for performances and classes by the arts group and others. Find more at www.illuminateartsco.com/
The show at the Attleboro Arts Museum featured artifacts, posters, and even seats from the theater, and then artists created their own works inspired by those artifacts and photos of the theater’s interior. For example, there were both Lord of the Rings and Wizard of Oz paintings based on movie posters brought out of storage. She said the posters are gorgeous and their own work of art from a different era. Speaking of history, a Lord of the Rings release poster featured an “America Online Keyword” at the bottom.
Once a place for Vaudeville acts, the Union Theatre was later operated as a cinema before its closure 25 years ago.
Mim Brooks Fawcett, executive director and chief curator for the museum, said they sold about a half-dozen pieces of art, a healthy number, but it was the qualitative impact of the exhibit rather than the quantitative that was the most inspiring. So many people who visited had such fond memories of Attleboro’s 100-year-old theater, she said.
Keating said phase one electrical, accessibility, roof, and first-floor work on the project will allow them to start hosting events in the theater again to generate revenue that would help fund phase two work on the balcony. Actual work, once it starts, is projected to take about four to six months.
The revised estimate on the project recently climbed by another $300,000 or so, she said, to about $1.7 million, due to a host of factors.
Keating’s personal favorite display centered on the theater’s old popcorn machine, including a statement piece featuring hand-dyed popcorn kernels.
