SHELBURNE — The town has adopted a new name for a not-so-new theater.
The Selectboard gave its blessing Monday for the theater inside Memorial Hall at 51 Bridge St. to be named “the Shelburne Falls Theater at Memorial Hall.” The Memorial Hall Association, which manages the theater, hopes that naming it will help with marketing.
“Nobody knows that there is a theater in Shelburne Memorial Hall,” Jim Kessler, president of the Memorial Hall Association, told the Selectboard. “People who have been there know that it’s there, but there are people who have been in town their whole life that have never been there.”
Kessler said that when the association was doing planning and research for the renovations that are now underway at the theater, members were told that many people were unaware that the town hall has a theater inside it. He hopes that giving it a proper name will help the theater be more recognizable.
“There’s only one Shelburne Falls,” Kessler said. “Shelburne Falls has wonderful name recognition, and what we’d like to do is to call the theater ‘Shelburne Falls Theater at Memorial Hall.’ … That would be a great way for us to let people know there is a theater at Shelburne Falls, but also promote the theater when we go online and do things like that.”
Selectboard members did not take a formal vote, but all said they are supportive of giving the theater a name for marketing materials and offered the association their blessing.
“I definitely think it would help identify the location better than the way it is now,” Shelburne Town Administrator Terry Narkewicz said.
This will be the first time the theater has had a name in the 127 years since the first performance was held in December 1898, according to the Memorial Hall Association.
Kessler told the Selectboard that work to renovate the hall has been moving along smoothly, and Phase 2 should be wrapping up shortly.
“We have been working on our project to renovate the theater and it’s coming along, I think, really, really well,” Kessler said. “The seats are going in this week and they look great. The ceiling has been repaired and repainted. … I think people are going to be very pleased with how it ultimately has come out.”
Renovations have included painting the walls, replacing the seats with cushioned ones and other improvements to the theater-goer experience, Selectboard member Andrew Baker said. In the next phase of theater renovations, the association hopes to install a green room, an upstairs bathroom and an accessible lift for the stage, as well as make improvements to lighting and acoustics.
“There’s really a lot more to do. What we’ve accomplished now is a major upgrade in the audience experience; what’s still ahead of us is to upgrade the theater for the 21st-century performer,” Baker said.
This current phase of renovations has been supported by a Massachusetts Cultural Council grant, matched by the town of Shelburne, as well as private donors. Phase 1 of the renovations included replacing the elevator, supported by federal funds. Kessler said as Phase 2 wraps up, the association will begin planning and fundraising for the next phase.
“There’s a lot more work that needs to be done on the theater before we’re done, but we’ve made a tremendous, tremendous start at chipping away at that and raising money to move on to the next phase,” Kessler said.
The Memorial Hall Association is planning a ribbon-cutting ceremony and reopening of the theater on Sunday, Oct. 19.
