It is a special day at Priscilla Beach Theatre (PBT). The barn restoration structural work has been officially completed by Colonial Barn Restoration, Inc. of Bolton, Massachusetts! While much remains to be done by overall project general contractor Kelleher Fine Builders, Inc. of Kingston, Massachusetts, finalizing the structural work is an important milestone in PBT's restoration. Now in their 78th year, PBT is the oldest barn theatre still in operation in the United States. The restoration will be completed in time for next summer's performance season - "Fiddler on the Roof," and "Chicago" are already scheduled. My most recent blog post on the restoration is at this link, or, you can type "Priscilla Beach" in the search box in the right column of this blog.
The box office, main entrance, and restroom complex are taking final shape now.
The box office and main entrance.
Although this area on the northeast wall will house the new restroom complex, it also serves a dual purpose of containing the building's new structural steel anchor system.
This is some serious steel bracing but, wait until you see what it is attached to both inside and out.
The steelwork is anchored into poured concrete more than four feet deep into the ground which will keep the entire structure firmly and forever connected to both itself and to the planet.
On the inside, the steel coming up from the lower left in this image is the same piece of steel that outside forms the bracing and is connected to the concrete footing/foundation as shown in the previous three images.
This view is from downstage center - you can see the two steel beams spanning the width of the theatre. I'm neither an engineer nor an architect but, for a barn that has already stood for 135+ years with just a wood structure, all this steel work seems mighty substantial.
The building-spanning beams are actually a steel sandwich with additional wood beams in between the outer steel layers.
Otherwise, back to woodwork, here's the view of the stage.
And the view from upstage right outward to the audience area. You may note that the production staff mezzanine at the rear has been finished also. And speaking of the mezzanine, here's a great tidbit of information........
This dark brown beam at upper right is beneath the mezzanine just inside the main entrance door. Although the beam is no longer a structural support, Priscilla Beach Theatre Owner and Guardian Bob Malone wanted it be retained and told me that it portrays a unique feature of connecting the theatre to its full past. Former owner Dr. Franklin Trask (who passed away in 2003 at age 96) was the owner and founder in 1937 of the Priscilla Beach Theatre with his wife Agnes. He would sometimes visit the theatre even after selling it in 1962. Dr. Trask's story is that the marks on that beam were from the horses chewing on it back in the days when it was a functioning farm with livestock!
Just for fun to wrap up this post, here's a GIF showing some of the construction evolution during the summer. I couldn't get rid of that black band at the bottom since the images weren't all the same size. Live and learn.
Put Priscilla Beach Theatre on your calendar for next summer - you will be WOWED by their productions of "Fiddler on the Roof" and "Chicago" as the premier performances in the newly restored Priscilla Beach Theatre.
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