Page 28 - Summer 2022 inLEAGUE with 46th National Conference Program

America’s “Oldest” Theatres

The following post from the LHAT-CHAT is being reprinted with permission from Brett Hodges,
Board Development Chair at the Lobero Theatre in Santa Barbara, CA. While this list has not
been independently verified by LHAT, we are impressed with Brett’s research and appreciate
his sharing these findings. If you think your “oldest” theatre has mistakenly been left off the list,
please let Brett know. And remember, historic theatres don’t get old, they simply get more
grand.

POSTED TO THE LHAT-CHAT 6/12/22
Apparently one of the most frequently asked questions of the League of Historic American Theaters (LHAT)
is “What are America’s oldest performing arts theaters?” If only there were a simple answer. Creating lists of
the oldest performing arts theaters is
much more challenging than it might
first appear. In reality, there are many
possible “Top 10” lists, depending on the
filtering criteria used. This is something
I’ve learned while doing research for the
upcoming 150th anniversary (2023) of the
Lobero Theatre in Santa Barbara, Califor-
nia.
A little personal background, I’m a
Lobero Theatre Foundation board mem-
ber and am not a theater professional
or data scientist. My initial goal was to
document and archive all of the events
which have taken place on the Lobe-
ro stage since its opening in 1872 (an
“official” opening took place in 1873).
But as a diversion from this ongoing task
(current list is at 16,000+ performances), I
decided to try to determine the Lobero’s
provenance as one of America’s oldest 1872 Lobero Theatre, Santa Barbara
theaters.

The League of Historic American Theaters (LHAT) Historic Theatre Inventory seemed like a logical place to start,
and indeed it is a terrifically comprehensive resource. For my research, I used LHAT’s lists of both member and
non-member theaters, as well as other sources such as: Theatre Communications Group (TCG) members; Amer-
ican Association of Community Theatre (AACT); Wikipedia Theaters by State; and a number of theater history
books. All research was based on publicly available online and print resources. I corresponded with a number
of theaters, but did not ask for primary source material to verify founding dates, years closed etc. At times and
if available, I did use digital newspaper resources like newspapers.com to try to determine if a theater was in
operation during certain years, but digitized newspapers are obviously not available for all locations and years.
Defining performing arts

Performing arts are traditionally defined as theater, dance and music which are performed on a stage in front
of an audience. However, this strict definition doesn’t do justice to the wide variety of events which have tradi-
tionally taken place on the stages of America’s pre-1900 theaters.

Most of America’s theaters began as opera houses - offering melodramas, minstrel acts, vaudeville, classical
music and even the occasional opera. But opera houses have also been venues for temperance and suffrage
lectures, community meetings and political rallies, service organization conferences, gymnastic exhibitions, and
even seances. (story continues on page 30)

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