Charleston: Dock Street Theatre

[Mike Buckley]

This thread is less about photography and more for people who enjoy learning interesting details about a point of interest.

Charleston's Dock Street Theater, which opened in 1736, is hailed as the first building in America constructed exclusively for the purpose of presenting theater. The first opera presented in America also took place in it. (An earlier performance of an opera took place in New Orleans, which was not part of the U.S. at the time because it was under Spanish rule.)

The theater's website explains that the theater was probably destroyed in a massive fire in 1740 that devastated the French Quarter. The Planter's Hotel was built on its grounds in 1809 and it contained a theater. After the Civil War (1861-1865), the hotel fell into disrepair and was slated for demolition. Instead, it was given to the city and was repaired as a federal project to provide badly needed jobs during the Great Depression. During that repair the current theater was built within the hotel. The dark wood displayed in the photos below is black cypress, which is native to the area. The theater reopened in 1937.

A three-year overhaul took place beginning in 2007 when modern theater technology for the performances and modern conveniences for the audience were added. The third grand re-opening took place in March 2010. The Dock Street Theater, which is actually on Queen Street because the street name was changed, presents over 100 performances each year to about 50,000 audience members.

A plaque in the theater memorializes DuBose Heyward, who was a playwright-in-residence at the theater. He later went on to write the novel, Porgy. After his wife turned it into a play, he then partnered as the librettist with composer Ira Gershwin to create the famous Porgy and Bess, often considered the first American opera.

My wife and I were allowed interior access only to the upper level of the theater because the stage was being prepared for a poetry reading to take place that evening. (We didn't attend.) Photos #1 and #5 were captured by my wife and post-processed by me.


Photo 1: Exterior Balcony



Photo 2: Courtyard Homage to the Performing Arts



Photo 3: Advertising the 2015-16 Season



Photo 4: Preparing the Stage (displays about two-thirds of it)



Photo 5: Seating



Photo 6: Box Seats and Stage Lights

[Shadowman]

Nice backstory and captures.

[Manfred M]

It looks like a really interesting place to visit and you are quite lucky that you were able to freely photography there. We went to the Met Opera in NYC for a tour a few years ago and cameras were definitely not allowed (which was too bad, as it was a very, very interesting place).

Thanks for the write up too. Very interesting history. It looks like you had a great trip to that part of the USA.