On Jan. 25, four Georgia theaters will open their doors for a chance to explore behind-the-scenes of the historic landmarks. The inaugural self-led path travels in order through the GEM Theatre in Calhoun, the DeSoto Theatre in Rome, the century-old Canton Theatre and the Earl and Rachel Smith Strand Theatre in downtown Marietta.
With tickets starting at $40, visitors will join in self-guided tours throughout the day with a $15 lunch voucher to use in downtown Rome and a closing reception in Marietta.
It’s a rare opportunity to get up close and personal with four historic buildings and community anchors. Each location will have docents to provide information, but event organizers and theater owners want people to really explore each space.
“I’m excited for people not just to see but to touch and to smell and to feel,” Strand Theatre Executive Director Andy Gaines said. Sometimes it’s just about feeling a part of something that’s bigger than yourself and that’s a really special thing, and that’s something theater can do.”
The expedition will be hosted by the Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation and the Fox Theatre’s community partnership initiative, Fox Gives. Together, the organizations aim to breathe new life into the state’s historic theaters.
Each of the four northwest Georgia theaters has previously received grants from Fox Gives, and all are members of the statewide booking consortium Georgia Presenters. The destinations all represent Fox Gives success stories, too: they’re preserved historic properties with a good base of patrons and volunteerism.
Since it was founded in 2008, Fox Gives has been dedicated to the preservation of theaters across the state. The organization has given $4.2 million in grant funding to help repair and maintain the buildings. According to Director of Community Partnerships Leigh Burns, that funding comes from the Fox Theatre’s own background.
The Fox Theatre first opened in 1929, but in the 1970s, its decline and threat of demolition led to a major “Save the Fox” campaign throughout the city. The work the Fox Theatre did to make it onto the National Register of Historic Places and preserve the iconic landmark runs through its work today.
“When I go to meet with these theaters across the state, I always say to them, there’s really nothing we haven’t been through,” Burns said. “Imminent demolition, fires, a global pandemic and neglect, decaying cities around them, we’ve been through all those things.”
Burns said Fox Gives is a chance to “pay it forward”. But the help isn’t just financial. The community partnerships head said that while these theaters have received grant funding, assistance also comes through promotion and community involvement.
That’s where a tour came in. The goal is to get people to engage with the histories of their local landmarks, often informal anchors of the downtown community. The theaters are home to movies, shows, and events like proms and graduations. Burns said they’re full of “stored memory.”
On one level, that makes preservation efforts easier.
Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation President and CEO W. Wright Mitchell said it’s different to engage people with a popular community destination’s preservation compared to the preservation of a private or civic property. People have more experience with the space — it’s easier to get them on board.
“It’s a community gathering spot, yeah, open to all and, you know, a place that typically has kind of the warmth associated with it and good memories of everyone’s childhood plays and shows and movies,” Mitchell said. “So I do think it appeals to a wider base of folks.”
Mitchell emphasized theaters were the lifeblood of communities in the 1940s before the advent of television and radio entertainment kept people at home. As at-home entertainment has grown more popular, theaters have lost some of their dominance.
“A lot of them suffered from that,” Mitchell said.
It makes preservation that much more vital, especially for theaters like the DeSoto in Rome, which played the first “talkies” in the South. The spaces are tied together by history and community.
“In the heart of the city, you always have the major historic landmarks, the courthouse, the City Hall, the theater, the school,” Burns said. “Without those landmarks, you lose that cohesiveness of the city.”
Strand Theatre director Gaines echoed Burns when talking about the Strand Theatre in Marietta. Its preservation was a dual effort to galvanize the community and also be a “cornerstone of economic development.”
Today, the theater has an estimated $4 million impact on its local economy — while operating on a budget half that size. It puts on 175 performances a year and rents out space for private events.
The Marietta Theatre is a bonafide success story, and Gaines hopes it can serve as a guide for other theaters.
“We can be a hub of entertainment and preservation but also an example, hopefully, of what other communities can do when they galvanize,” Gaines said. “To make a hub, a space where all are welcome to have a great night.”
Burns said one of Fox Gives’ goals for the weekend ahead is for visitors to take away a so-called “preservation ethic” and volunteerism push. She said about half the theaters in the state are run on volunteer work, and that effort needs to be kept up.
“It’s a lot of people generationally taking up the role of doing things,” Burns said.
She recalled the number of people who work as ushers or retired theater professionals who now man the lighting systems. Without them, the community hubs wouldn’t exist. Burns hopes people will see the theater as a place for them to get involved or just enjoy a night.
“I do think what sells the theater sometimes is the beauty of it, the experience of it, the shared memory, the positivity of it,” Burns said.
Tour tickets can be purchased at Georgiatrust.org. Tours begin at 9:30 a.m. on Jan. 25 at the GEM Theatre and finish at 4 p.m. at the Earl and Rachel Smith Strand Theatre.
