The Wilmington morning star., 1947-10-26
Present Italians Look
On Interesting History
OF Past Is Play-Y Years

On the eve of the great economic depres-
sion when c~arefree America was indulging
itself in the best that Eugene ONeill, Max
well Anderson, Elmer Rice, and George S.
kaufman had written in the countryS rise to
mature drama, about rs followers of the
theatre gathered at the home of Mr.. and Mrs.
Walter Sprunt on Greenvi1le Sound to pro-
pose the origin of a little theatre in Whining
ton.
Mrs. Harmon Rorison, Mrs. Cyrus Hogue,
and Mrs. Sam Washburn who were to play
energetic parts in keeping the little theatre
on its feet in the next 18 years, revealed
their usual foresight that evening by pre-
senting a three part program.
The program included Edward Hardin,
Mrs. Hogue, Mrs. Washburn, and Mrs. Robert
E. Calder in Thursday Evening; the reading
of "a Minuet," by Mrs. Rorison; and Miss
Emma Williamson and Robert DeRossett, in
"a One Word Play"
1.-THE enthusiasm writes Mrs. Washburn,
twas so great that it was decided to make it
a civic organization and DR.. Hubert C. Heff-
ne~ of the Carolina Playmakers was invited
down to help organize. 1t was the Carolina
Playmakers who suggested remaining the
Little Theatre Guild, THE Thalians."
So on March Is, 1929, ITALIAN muse of
comedy, once more lived in the civic Life OF
Wilmington. Actually, the Thalian associa-
TONS history went back some al years, when
in 1888 a group of theatre enthusiasts had
organized a dramatic circle here. Inspiration
for the first ITALIAN organization appears to
have waned after the first decade OF its
existence, only to be revived in 1914, again
iii the 1905 and still again in 1916.
According to one stage enthusiast of long
standing, during the interval before the 1929
reorganization, the local thespians were
known as the paint and Powder club.
By the time the modern thespians came
about, amateur ramatics had suffered the
ravages of time and the misfortunes OF lack
of funds, inspiration, and headquarters.
Which brings about the interesting fact
that the Thalians, although still homeless
came into existence because worthy Col.
James Innes, a fighter in the French and
Indian war, 1854, took time out from battle
one night to draw up a will in which he left
the property on Princess between Third and
ing.
PERPETUAL LEASE
Just how the Thalians got into the be-
quest is not exactly clear, but in 1888 they
took up headquarters in the lines Academy,
and when the building was to be torn down
in the 1850s, were assured that half of the
new ITALIAN Hall was to be their theatre.
In other words the Thalians through lines
benignity has secured a perpetual lease.
Doubtlessly, the builders of the ITALIAN
Hall would put on a Hamlet return engage
ment, if they were aware that their child of
culture, the ITALIAN Association were still
homeless and that the latest reason for the
lack of shelter was that the city fathers had
concerned lnal1an Hall or the Academy OF
Music as it was known a decade ago.
Although the Academy of Music was in
repair that is, balconies were not falling
down, when the most recent ITALIAN associa-
ton organized, the group presented its first
offering in 1929 in st. James Parish House.
This momentous date of eviva was repre-
sented by the presentation of French Flower
girls Emma Williamson, Beverly Northrop,
Helen Reilly, and Margaret deRosset), who
in charming purple and green costumes
wendell their way from the stage through
the great hall, tossing violets to the audience.
Plays for the evening included two one-act
presentations of Spot Cash" and "Twel,s
Pound Look" by James M. Barrie.
Actors for the occasion were Robert
Strange, Robert deRosset, Mary Hardin, Ed
ward Hardin. Rena Nelson MacRae, Hattie
Taylor Schiller, and Chadbourn Bolles.
So successful were spot Cash" and
Twelve Pound Look" that the group added
"a One-Word Play and GA Cup of Tea"
and took off for Tarboro, where they ap-
peared in the Cheshire Memorial Parish
house. Critics of the day wrote, The pro-
duction was enthusiastically received and the
players accorded a storm of applause from
the audience captivated by the splendid
acting"
The association opened its second season
with three one-act plays, including Society
Notes" "In the Zone" by Eugene O'Neiil,
and The Boor," by Anton Tchekov."