Coming up at the New Haven Museum: 'Preserving a Sense of Time and Place'

The New Haven Museum will hold a presentation by Richard Fosbrink, executive director of the Theatre Historical Society of America: “Preserving a Sense of Time and Place,” at 5:30 p.m. May 11, according to a release.

 

The event is free is being offered in conjunction with the NHM exhibition, “The Nation’s Greatest Hits: 100 Years of New Haven’s Shubert Theatre,” the release said.

 

"Preservation Month 2016 highlights the “This Place Matters” national campaign, which encourages people to celebrate the places that are meaningful to them and to their communities (see savingplaces.org or #ThisPlaceMatters)," the release said.

 

"Fosbrink notes that New Haven’s preservation of the Shubert Theatre is a perfect example of how to help maintain a community’s cultural identity and sense of place," the release said.

 

“Old theatres such as the Shubert evoke powerful memories with deep meaning in people’s lives,” Fosbrink said, in the release.

 

"We are at a tipping point, according to Fosbrink. Of the nearly 18,000 historic theatres documented by the Theatre Historical Society of America, only about 4,000 are still operating, with thousands of others sitting idle and on the path to obsolescence. But while connecting with the emotional side of theatre preservation is important, the practicality of a solid business plan is crucial yet sometimes overlooked, often with disappointing outcomes. He notes there were a number of theatres rehabbed in the 1980s that have since gone under, in part to unsustainable planning."

 

 

Also on the release:

 

Celebrating the “Golden Age of Theatre,” the New Haven Museum’s “The Nation’s Greatest Hits: 100 Years of New Haven’s Shubert Theatre” exhibition spotlights both the fully polished and the merely promising stars, composers, playwrights, and others who brought glamour, drama, music, and laughter to the Shubert Theatre, and New Haven, for an entire century. The exhibition is drawn from the Shubert New Haven Archives, and is organized in partnership with the Shubert Theatre.

 

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