June 29th, 2010 The Moore Theater in Seattle
Seattle, Washington, is a theater town. With at least 125 companies operating in the area, Seattle has the greatest ratio of theaters to person than just about any other city in the nation — from the Actors Theatre of Orcas Island to the Young Americans Theater Company. The area even has its own organization, known as Theatre Puget Sound , formed thirteen years ago in 1997 to promote a healthy theater community and to strengthen that community through various resources and programs, working hard to raise theatre visibility of the region to local, national, and even international levels. The honor of the oldest theater in Seattle, though, goes to The Moore Theater .
The Moore Theater, just blocks away from the Pike Place Market and some of the top Seattle hotels , was built in 1907 on the corner of 2nd Avenue and Virginia, establishing that area as the film and theater district of the city. The architecture of this building may be simple on the outside, but the inside retains an opulence that confirms its reputation as one of the nation’s most beautiful theaters. There’s a grand lobby containing marble, onyx, stained glass, carved wood and mosaic floors. A fresco of the Muses of Drama and Music is on the ceiling, with rose and gold colors. On opening night, in 1907, 2,500 people attended a performance of a play titled “The Alaskan,” which was a comic opera written and produced locally. Later, the play moved on to Broadway for a short run.
Over the years, the Moore Theater’s fortunes waxed and waned; it hosted the Orpheum vaudeville circuit, presenting performers from across America and Europe. During the 50s and 60s, the theater was the place for travel films, boxing matches, and special events. Still struggling in 1974, the venue was placed on the National Registry of Historic Places and local film lovers remodeled and reopened the building as the Moore Egyptian Theater, and it became a place to show foreign and revival movie theaters and became the first home to the first Seattle International Film Festival .
Today, the oldest theater in Seattle is a place for community events, such as lectures and meetings, local performances as well as touring comedians and musicians. For those who love theater and architecture, the Moore is well worth a look.
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