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The Barter Theatre wasn’t part
of Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s
New Deal, but it did start in
the Depression and it certainly
was a good deal. Theater
for the price of farm produce
was the idea of Robert Porterfield, a forward-thinking
young actor from southwest
Virginia.
He left New York with a company
of professional actors and on
June 10, 1933 Porterfield opened
the Barter Theatre in Abingdon.
The actors were put up in a
nearby house and the patrons
paid with vegetables, eggs,
milk, fruit and meat--the
equivalent of 40 cents. By the
end of the first season the
company had made $4.35 and
collectively gained over 300
pounds!
While Shakespeare was never paid
ham for Hamlet, playwrights Noel
Coward, Tennessee Williams and
Thornton Wilder did accept
Virginia hams as royalty
payments. George Barnard Shaw,
a vegetarian, was paid spinach
for the right to stage his play.
Only Philadelphia’s Walnut
Street Theater is older than the
Barter Theatre. The latter was
built between 1831 and 1833 to
serve the congregation of the
Sinking Spring Presbyterian
Church. The church used the
building for a year. It then
became a temperance hall and was
converted to a theater. When
Porterfield acquired it, he
heard that the 1875 Empire
Theater in
New York
was scheduled for demolition.
He had one weekend to carry away
its interior furnishings and
equipment---with the help of
volunteers he managed to save
$75,000 of theatrical property.
His acquisitions included the
theater seats, lighting
fixtures, carpeting, large
gold-framed paintings and red
wall tapestries. The Empire
lighting, designed and installed
by Thomas Edison, was used at
the Barter until the mid-1970s.
Portraits from the Empire
include those of Dennis King,
Maude Adams and Katherine
Cornell. The large painting of
Robert Porterfield was done in
1973 by Hans Clausing.
On the theater’s second
floor is a collection of
photographs of the celebrated
actors who have performed at the
Barter Theatre. The list of
alumni include Gregory Peck,
Patricia Neal, Ernest Borgnine,
Hume Cronyn, Ned Beatty, Kevin
Spacey, Larry Linville and many
others. In 1946 Barter was
designated the state theater of
Virginia. It is the oldest
continuously operating theater
of its kind in the country.
A variety of theatrical
experiences are presented:
Barter Theatre does theater in
the grand tradition; Barter
Stage II offers exploratory
theater and Barter’s First Light
Theatre presents performances
for young people. Staged
readings of new works take place
at Early Stages on selected
Monday nights. On the first and
last Thursday evening
performance of each play, there
is an after-theater discussion
between the audience and the
company. For a current schedule
or ticket information call (800)
368-3240 or (540) 628-3991.
Across the street is another
venerable institution,
Camberley’s Martha
Washington Inn. The inn
dates back to 1832, when the
center portion was built for
Brigadier General Francis
Preston, his wife and their nine
children. Their living room is
now the inn’s main lobby. The
grand staircase and parlors are
remarkably untouched. In 1858,
the house became the Martha
Washington
College for young girls. During
the Civil War the students acted
as nurses while the grounds
served as training barracks for
the Washington Mounted Rifles.
After one skirmish the college
became a makeshift hospital for
wounded from both North and
South. The college closed in
1932.
For the next 50 years the
property served as a hotel under
different managements. In 1984
it was acquired by the
Virginia-based United Company
and underwent an $8 million
restoration. Faithfully
preserved, the 61 guest rooms
retain antique pieces to
complement the decor including
four-poster canopied beds in
many rooms. Lodging
Hospitality magazine rates
this as the 37th most successful
resort hotel in the country. In
October 1995, the inn became
part of the Camberley Hotel
Company. Even if you don’t stay
overnight at this Four-Star,
Four-Diamond inn, stop in for a
pre-theater cocktail or dine in
one of the inn’s fine
restaurants. One of the most
striking pieces of period
furniture is the 16-foot-long
Art Deco silver table,
discovered in a dusty basement
and now in the center of the
main dining room. The
carved-glass tabletop rests on
internally illuminated silver
pedestals. For information on
lodging, or to make dinner
reservations call (800) 555-8000
or (540) 628-3161.
Directions:
From I-81 take Exit 17, Cummings
Street, into Abington. Follow
Cummings Street one-half mile to
the intersection of Main Street
(first traffic light) and turn
right. Camberley’s Martha
Washington Inn is one-quarter
mile on the right and Barter
Theatre is across the street on
the left.
Copyright Jane
Ockershausen From
the Virginia One-Day Trip Book
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