Vermont’s Historic Theater Curtains Program June 15

ALBANY — Christine Hadsel, director of Curtains Without Borders, worked with Albany community members in 2004 to restore the two historic theater curtains in the Albany Town Hall. On Wednesday, June 15, at 7 p.m., the Albany Public Library welcomes her back to the Town Hall, to give a talk about these curtains, their history, their artists, and the stories they tell.

Between 1880 and World War II, painted theater curtains were artistic features of most New England villages and towns. In Vermont, painted curtains graced stages in town and grange halls, opera houses, and community theaters. A culture of local variety shows and traveling, professional talent flourished in front of those curtains in some very remote Vermont communities. In a tour of some of the 177 curtains in Vermont, Christine Hadsel provides a glimpse into the world of talented and often sophisticated artists who were part of the rural cultural scene, illustrating the rich cultural history of small-town Vermont before World War I.

This talk is free, open to the public, and accessible to those with disabilities. For more information, contact Kristin Urie at (802) 755-6107 or albanypubliclibraryvt@gmail.com.

Vermont’s Historic Theater Curtains is a Vermont Humanities program hosted by Albany Public Library.