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Thalian Hall
Internet photo: thalianhall.org
The living history of Thalian Hall
Story By Abby Cavenaugh
Since its opening in 1858, downtown Wilmington’s Thalian Hall has hosted countless theatre productions, concerts, city government meetings, and other parties and events.
Thalian Hall has the unique honor of being Wilmington’s City Hall, as well as its entertainment hub.
It remains the only surviving theatre designed by one of America’s most prominent 19th-century theatre architects, John Montague Trimble. At that time, Wilmington was the largest city in the state and was “experiencing unparalleled growth and prosperity,” according to the history of Thalian Hall provided by Tony Rivenbark, executive and artistic director for the Thalian Hall Center for the Performing Arts.
Thalian Hall offcially opened on October 12, 1858, with “The Honey Moon,” a popular romantic drama produced by the G.F. Marchant Stock Company of Charleston, S.C. One of the highlights of the evening was the unrolling of a painted stage curtain, which is still on display in the theatre’s lobby.
Somewhat surprisingly, Thalian Hall remained in use throughout the Civil War, hosting 254 separate productions in 1864 alone. From 1860 until 1936, the theatre was leased by private entrepreneurs, the most famous of which was John T. Ford, formerly of Ford’s Theatre in Washington D.C.
Throughout the 19th and early 20th centuries, some big names performed at Thalian Hall, including Lillian Russell, Buffalo Bill Cody, John Phillip Sousa, Joseph
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Jefferson and Maurice Barrymore, as well as lectures given by Oscar Wilde, William Jennings Bryan, and Booker T. Washington. When it wasn’t hosting world-famous entertainers and leaders, Thalian Hall was home to community concerts, amateur drama productions, recitals, meetings, graduations, exhibitions, and even roller-skating.
The building underwent several ownership and name changes over the years, before the name was changed to “Thalian Hall” in 1936.
More than once, the future of the building has been in question, but says Rivenbark, “In each case through the lobbying efforts of prominent individuals, civic organizations, members of the Thalian Association, and the City of Wilmington, [we] undertook the necessary repairs for its preservation.”
In 1963, a special commission, now known as the Thalian Hall Center for the Performing Arts, Inc. (THCPA), was chartered to restore and manage the theatre. Following a small fre in the auditorium in 1973, the theatre was restored to its turn-of-the-century appearance. After reopening in 1975, Thalian Hall saw a dramatic growth in the number of entertainers and productions utilizing the facility.
A plan to renovate and restore the theatre was overwhelmingly approved by the citizens of Wilmington in 1985. Under the direction of the city and THCPA, construction began in 1988, and the expanded Thalian Hall/City Hall complex reopened on March 2, 1990.
In the decades since, area arts groups, civic organizations and educational institutions often use Thalian Hall, providing a range of performances in music, theatre, and dance.
The complex is owned by the city of Wilmington and it continues to serve as City Hall and the offces of Wilmington’s city government.
Thalian Hall operates year-
Thalian’s treasure trove of architecture
In 2010, Thalian Hall underwent an extensive interior renovation and restoration to return the interior of the grand theatre to its original look. Some of the architectural and artistic details are shown here.
Main theatre seating area
Period chandelier
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The man behind Thalian’s modern success
Photo courtesy of Tony Rivenbark
Story By Abby Cavenaugh
Since the 1960s, one man has been synonymous with Wilmington’s Thalian Hall Center for the Performing Arts.
Tony Rivenbark was born and raised in Warsaw, and made his Thalian Hall debut soon after graduating from James Kenan High School.
“I did my frst show on the Thalian Hall Stage in the fall of 1966 after graduating from JKHS in the spring,” he says.
He earned a B.A. in History and Theatre from the University of North Carolina Wilmington. He completed graduate work at UNC-Chapel Hill, where his thesis focused on a history of the James Adams Floating Theatre.
Following graduate school he moved to New York City, where he became the assistant to noted artist and sculptor Dorothy Gillespie.
In the summers of 1977 and 1978, he directed The Liberty Cart, an outdoor drama in Kenansville.
In 1979, he became the frst executive director of the Thalian Hall Center for the Performing Arts, a position he has held ever since. Rivenbark was instrumental in the design and development of the expansion and renovation of Thalian Hall completed in 1990 at a cost of $5 million. In 2010, he also spearheaded a second renovation and restoration, at a cost of $3 million.
In addition to his administrative and promotional duties with Thalian Hall, Rivenbark remains an actor and often appears in productions at Thalian Hall.
This year, he will continue his run as Ebenezer Scrooge in Thalian’s production of “A Christmas Carol.” He’s performed the role for the past six years at Thalian, and at the Harwich Theatre on Cape Cod in 2008.
This adaptation of Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol” moves the timeless story of Christmas redemption from London to a Depression-era “Hooverville” on the outskirts of St. Louis. “A Christmas Carol” will be performed Thursdays through Sundays, Dec. 12-22. Showtimes are 7:30 p.m. and 3 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays. To date, Rivenbark has appeared in over 200 theatrical productions. In addition to “A Christmas Carol,” he’s also set to appear as the Senator in “La Cage Aux Folles,” which will run Dec. 30 through Jan. 18. He has been the producer of Thalian Hall’s Pied Piper Theatre for Children for 30 years and is also Photo by Abby Cavenaugh the founder of Thalian Hall’s Cube Theatre, which stages productions in the Ruth and Bucky Stein Theatre inside Thalian. Not only is Rivenbark a theatre director and actor, he’s also an author and historian. His recent book of vintage photographs of Thalian Hall, “Images of Thalian Hall,” has been published by Arcadian Press, and is available at Thalian Hall and on its website. Over the past four decades, he’s also amassed numerous awards for his work at Thalian Hall. He re-
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Internet photo: thalianhall.org
ceived the Lower Cape Fear Historic Society Cup in 1996 for his research on Thalian Hall and the Thalian Hall Archives Collection. He was also awarded Wilmington’s Lifetime Achievement for the Arts Award in 2004.
Rivenbark is a past member of the Board of the League of Historic American Theatre (LHAT) and was the second recipient of the LHAT Individual Award 2005. He was also honored in 2014 by the Wilmington Star News as the recipient of the 2014 Enduring Contribution to Wilmington Theatre Award.
“ As to my life in Thalian Hall, no day is ever like another,” Rivenbark says. “It has one of the most interesting histories of any theatre in America, and it is held with such affection by so many people. I would like the think that I have added to that affection.”
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