Highlights Archives
Encore! Book Launch Event in Menomonie
Experience the grandeur of Wisconsin's restored performance spaces at the book launch for Encore!: The Renaissance of Wisconsin Opera Houses at the historic Mabel Tainter Theater in Menomonie on Friday, October 16. Join author Brian Leahy Doyle and photographer Mark Fay for a book signing, an exhibition of Fay's lavish photographs from the book, and light refreshments from 6 to 8 p.m. The event is free and open to the public.
Chronicling the History of 10 Wisconsin Opera Houses
Encore! chronicles the history of 10 Wisconsin opera houses and theaters, including the Mabel Tainter, from their heydays as live performance spaces, through the periods when many of these stages went dark, to the restoration of these architectural gems prompted by concerned community members. Featuring the striking photography of Mark Fay, Encore! captures the essence of these great structures, from the austerely handsome to the magnificently ornate.
A remarkable number of Wisconsin towns and cities were home to an opera house in the late 1800s and early 1900s, including Shullsburg, Oshkosh, Menomonie, Milwaukee, Stoughton, Independence, Green Lake, Mineral Point, Baraboo and Viroqua. These theaters played host to some of the biggest names in theater and vaudeville — luminaries such as Marion Anderson, the Barrymores, Sarah Bernhard and Enrico Caruso — but also served as spaces for community events.
From Near Ruin to Renaissance
With the advent of other forms of popular entertainment such as movies, radio and television, many of these opera houses and theaters fell into disrepair. Faced with losing their community's opera house, local citizens have worked to restore the architectural gems featured in this book. All but one of the theaters featured is again staging performances.
An Excerpt from the Book
"During the 19th century, the Fox River valley of northeastern Wisconsin was not the only part of the state where the lumber industry prospered. Business was also booming 200 miles to the west, along Wisconsin's northwestern boundary with Minnesota. It was there that Andrew Tainter earned a fortune in lumber — money he used to build the Mabel Tainter Memorial Theater in Menomonie in 1890. Today the theater is recognized by the League of Historic American Theatres as one of the top 10 historic theaters in the United States."
— Brian Leahy Doyle
:: Posted October 15, 2009
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