By Parker Anderson

The art of live drama and performing plays goes back to the days of the ancient Greeks but the noble art of theater has seen much change and evolution over time. For instance, plays, such as those of Shakespeare, used to run 3 to 4 hours, some longer. Today audiences don't seem to have the tolerance to sit that long. Today's average theatrical performance runs two hours or so. 

In the past, it was considered perfectly acceptable for high class people, including reigning monarchs, to attend theatrical entertainments, but it was not socially acceptable to become involved with such productions. On a social level, actors were considered to be lower than prostitutes throughout most of the Middle Ages and well into the 19th century. This attitude began to die out in the late 1800's, although some pockets of it still existed into the early 20th century. Consequently, while kings and queens praised and enjoyed the works of Shakespeare, Ben Jonson, Christopher Marlowe and their contemporaries, the actors who performed before them were considered to be debased debauchees. 

The manner of performance scheduling has changed as well. Today, here in Prescott, audiences who attend plays performed by the Prescott Fine Arts Association and Sharlot Hall Museum's Blue Rose Theater generally have a choice of 6 consecutive performance dates to choose from for each show. Multiple night runs are almost universal in theater today. Professional shows in places like Phoenix often have two or three week runs. On Broadway in New York City, plays traditionally run indefinitely until box office proceeds start slacking off. 

But, it wasn't always this way. In the 19th and early 20th centuries plays usually ran for a single performance only. This was especially true of professional traveling troupes, but it was done with locally produced plays too. A single performance seems hard to imagine today, it was must be remembered that people did not have as many choices for nightlife as they have today. If people wanted an evening out in 1900, they generally went to the same places at the same time. If they didn't want to attend a show, they simply stayed home. One performance was considered sufficient-people either attended or not. 

Professional traveling troupes still exist today but in the era prior to motion pictures, television and radio; they were even more common. There were two kinds of professional drama troupes in the 19th and early 20th centuries. One specialized in a specific play and toured the nation with that play alone. For example, when a popular show closed on Broadway, the producers would license a troupe to circulate throughout the country with this same play, performing for local audiences. After the Elks Opera House opened in 1905, quite a number of these "Broadway troupes" came to Prescott and played here, including such then-famous shows as Augustus Thomas's Arizona and George M. Cohan's Little Johnny Jones. The advent of travel and tourism to New York City in later years did much to weaken this kind of troupe although they still exist and play in many larger cities of the West. 

The other kinds of traveling drama troupe in those days were repertory troupes. Such troupes still exist, but their output is a bit less impressive than it used to be. 
In the early 20th century, repertory troupes had a large variety of different plays committed to memory and could do any one of them at the drop of a hat. 

For example, in 1908, a repertory troupe was engaged for a 2 week booking at the Elks Opera House in Prescott. The troupe, called the Earl-Burgess Company, performed no less than 14 different plays flawlessly. On Saturdays, they performed a matinee of one play in the afternoon and put on a different play in the evening. 

Similarly, the Ethel Tucker Stock Company performed 7 different plays within a 5-day period including matinees at the Elk's Opera House in 1905. These were not isolated incidents and yes, the memorization of such enormous mountains of dialogue seems staggering. But, it must be remembered that this is what they did for a living. They didn't have day jobs like local Prescott actors do. They didn't have home lives much to speak of to occupy their time. They hit the road because they felt the calling of the footlights and it is a distinct calling to this day. They rehearsed by day and performed by night. Memorization was their life and livelihood. Repertory troupes today may still have a few different plays committed to memory but the quantity of their output has lessened in recent times. 

There were professional traveling Vaudeville troupes as well but they are a different story. Theater has enriched the lives of millions worldwide and is a distinct part of Prescott's cultural identity. See a play tonight! 

(Parker Anderson is an active member of the Sharlot Hall Museum's Blue Rose Theatre) 



Sharlot Hall Museum Photograph Call Number: (pb148f16i11). Reuse only by permission. 
The paths of the professional drama troupe and the Elks Theatre frequently crossed in the early part of the 20th century. Last Wednesday the Theatre quietly celebrated its 97th anniversary. The Sharlot Hall Museum has recently received from the author the beginnings of a log of activities at the Theatre from 1905 to the present.