Rebirth of History

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On February 1, 2018, Duluth’s NorShor Theatre began a new life of indie arts and Broadway shows when the Duluth Playhouse opened its production of “Mamma Mia!” on a stage that has been silent for decades.

Anticipation was high for the revival of the downtown Duluth historic building, and the gala first night of “Mamma Mia” sold out, with the remaining tickets

going fast.

While the NorShor’s newest incarnation will place the space into the cutting edge of modern productions and fine arts, this block of the city has long been a gathering place for those who perform and those who flock to the performances.

Let’s go to the beginning, before the building became the NorShor.

The year was 1910, and Duluth was riding an economic high with mining, logging and shipping all on the rise. The city at the western tip of Lake Superior was nearing 100,000 people and boasted the most millionaires per capita of any burg in the United States.

1910 was also the year that the entertainment-hungry city got a new stage thanks to one of those millionaires, Guilford Hartley, an investor in a variety of businesses, including logging, and a former state representative. That year Guilford opened the Orpheum Theatre as a vaudeville house to host national talents, including Mary Pickford, Charlie Chaplin, the Marx Brothers, W.C. Fields, Jack Benny and Cab Calloway. It abutted the sites of two previous opera houses, one built in 1883 and the second in 1869, and both of which succumbed to fires.

“It was a beautiful vaudeville house, with gold trimmed box seats and all,” says Christine Gradl Seitz, executive and artistic director of the Duluth Playhouse.

But as vaudeville declined in the mid-1920s, so went the Orpheum. By 1934, it closed except for sporadic attempts at live theater or movies. In 1940, the Minnesota Amusement Company leased the space for a major renovation, including a complete reversal of the interior layout, and the building was reborn as the lavishly art-deco NorShor Theatre.

Designed by the noted architectural firm of Liebenberg and Kaplan, who dreamed up many famous movie palaces throughout the Midwest, including the Uptown in Minneapolis, it was the center of Duluth’s downtown.

The NorShor opened in 1941, the year the United States entered World War II, and the first film shown was “Caught in the Draft,” a Bob Hope-Dorothy Lamour film in which Hope reluctantly joins the Navy.

In more recent history, many Duluthians remember the theater fondly for great movies, date nights and the 6-weeks-of-Saturdays ticket packs sold at Duluth schools.

The theater’s 1,500 seats were usually filled during the ’40s and ’50s, but the 1960s brought television and theatergoing changes. After a long decline, the NorShor Theatre staggered to a close in 1982, which is when a quixotic rescuer of historic buildings in Duluth, emergency-room physician Eric Ringsred and his wife Deborah Ringsred, purchased it from the Minnesota Amusement Company. Finding the resources to rehab it proved daunting, and the venerable venue would bump through a number of operators with big ideas.

The flamboyant Harlan Quist, a children’s book author and arts aficionado, bought the space in 1990, but his aspiration to bring in world-class dance and theatre troupes faltered on the rocks of a declining economy and an increasingly decrepit building. Ill health dealt the coup de grace, and the building defaulted to his creditors, Eric and Duluth builder Arno Kahn.

In 1997, a still-beloved revival came about when Rick Boo, Chris Mackey and Jay Koski leased the space and hosted an exciting local music scene, foreign films and performance experiments like the neo-burlesque Café Lulu. Musicians networked there and the nationally known band Low played the stage. Suddenly Duluth again had an entertainment heart.

The NorShor in the 1990s and early 2000s, though decrepit, had hosted the new Homegrown Music Festival, now an annual weeklong spring festival of more than 200 local bands spread across the city. It also hosted an unforgettably hilarious run of “Phantom of the NorShor” by local comedy troupe Colder by the Lake … after which some cast members succumbed to a weird fungal pneumonia. Nevertheless, Julie

Ahasay, a well-known Duluth director, actor and theater teacher, recalls, “One of my best theater memories is working in that space with Colder by the Lake. The place is stuffed with memories and is the heart of our downtown.”

This go-round ended not long after the turn of the 21st century, but it had ignited the city’s passion for the aged queen of downtown. A new arts district was growing up around it – the thriving Historic Arts and Theatre (HART) district – so it grated when it became a down-at-the-heels stripper bar. Still, the dream of the NorShor as the star of the blossoming district grew.

“It has been painful all these years to see the NorShor sit empty, unused and unloved,” Julie says. “Watching this restoration become a reality is like seeing an old friend finally getting the care and recognition it deserves.”

After years of tussling, a solution was found. The city, through the Duluth Economic Development Authority, bought the NorShor and the Temple Opera buildings in 2010.

 The Playhouse interest in the NorShor started in 2008, explains Christine Gradl Seitz.

The organization was outgrowing its home at The Depot. “Our shows were selling to capacity. The Depot was always going to be a home to the Playhouse, but we needed to accommodate our patron base and support the big Broadway musicals that are selling out. We were restricted with what we could produce at The Depot.

The NorShor Theatre seemed appealing, but the Playhouse knew it needed partners; the NorShor had been an albatross for a dozen entities.

The 2010 purchase sparked the coming together of a team for successful restoration and operations.

Sherman Associates, a Minneapolis-based development firm would be able to access new market and historic tax credits, and aid the pitch for state bonding. The Sherman family has ties in Duluth stretching back to 1915, and the company, which has developed several Duluth residential and commercial properties, owns the neighboring Greysolon Plaza (the old Hotel Duluth) and built the Sheraton hotel and condominiums down the street from the NorShor. In June 2016, Sherman Associates took the keys and launched the long-awaited full restoration of the historic building.

At the beginning of 2018, the Playhouse took the reins for operations and will administer its many uses. After seven years, ownership of the NorShor transfers to the Playhouse.

The NorShor is being restored as a historic building with all the old wall art intact and rebuilding of the main stage, orchestra pit and all.

Julie sings the praises of the rebuilt space as a dedicated performing arts venue. “It’s a much bigger house than The Depot theater is, but the stage still feels close to the audience, which for the kinds of shows I’ve directed is so important.”

She describes great infrastructure to support performance: beautiful dressing rooms, costume shop, scene shop, light-filled rehearsal and classroom spaces for the Playhouse’s extensive theater education programs. She notes, “The careful planning and consideration for all the aspects of creating theater honors the craft.”

Christine sees the renovated space being available for individual and community gatherings as well as productions and art events.

“The NorShor will be a welcoming environment for business meetings, parties, private receptions, weddings and more.”  

Looking to future uses, she invites community organizations to view the building and think of possibilities, from the main stage to the lounges. The Lyric Opera of the North (or LOON) company, is one group considering the space for its productions. The Mezzanine Lounge will return to being a music venue.

A new feature at the NorShor, says Christine, will be Lights on Duluth – a marketing area at the skywalk entrance. “This will be a free space for artists of all kinds to promote their work. You can host activities and promote what it is that you do, whether it’s an art show, poetry reading, jewelry or pottery exhibition – almost like a mini-popup. … It’s a great way to support the indie art spirit in the region.”

But the primary user of the new NorShor will be the Playhouse, starting with “Mamma Mia!” directed by Michael Ferrel with Shad Olsen and Jen Burleigh-Bentz as the leads. The main stage will be booked with the musicals and plays  that have made the Playhouse such a success. “Lend Me a Tenor” opens in April, followed by “Our Town” in May and “The Music Man” in July.

Christine foresees touring shows and local companies, offering opera to comedy, sharing the historic stage.

The NorShor revival has excited those involved with the HART district – restaurateurs, brewers, gallery owners, artists and craftspeople with studios and shops. “It’s going to be the heart of the city, not just the heart of the HART,” says Tami LaPole Edmunds, co-owner of the nearby shop Art in the Alley, and one driver behind the HART district. “This is what cities all over the country are doing to revitalize their downtowns. People who remember seeing ‘Bambi’ there 60 years ago will want to go, people who remember listening to music there 20 years ago, and young millennials who’ll be creating their own memories.”

The theater’s opening may bring more people to other performances, like Renegade Theater on the Teatro stage at Zeitgeist across the street.

“I think the NorShor as a new venue will greatly enhance the already enlivened downtown theater district,” agrees local actor Jody Kujawa. “Even working in the Playhouse box office, I have noticed a surge of people who have never seen local theater, calling to buy tickets for the inaugural production. … It will provide a gateway for many people who have avoided the local arts, letting them know that they are welcome, that the arts are accessible and that there is something for every living body to enjoy, no matter their tastes.” ”

Plans are still taking shape, but the future looks bright at last for this beloved gem.

Renovation by the numbers

$2.6 million

The city of Duluth’s purchase price for the NorShor Temple Block.

$26 million

The target cost of NorShor and annex building renovations (sans stage curtains, etc.). Sherman Associates committed $1.5 million of its own and secured $13 million in federal historic and new market tax credits. The city of Duluth netted a $7.1 million state bonding bill in 2014. TKDA Architects oversaw the design, and Johnson Wilson Constructors led construction.

$4.5 million

The Duluth Playhouse’s fundraising commitment to the project to cover the costs of the furnishings, lights, sound equipment, box office and other operation needs. Its NorShor Theatre Arts Center Capital Campaign, chaired by F.I. Salter President Sandy Hoff, has raised more than $1 million. Under the Take a Seat campaign, every $1,000 donation allows a donor to have an engraved plaque on one of the new plush seats. Light the Marquee connects donations to each light in the refreshed marquee. See norshortheatre.com for details.

The Duluth Playhouse

A Long History on Stage

The Duluth Playhouse has been around almost as long as the building that is home to its newest stages.

In 1914, a small group of Duluth women gathered to start a local chapter of the National Drama League that they called “The Little Theater.” The group performed the U.S. premiere of Bernard Shaw’s “Dark Lady of the Sonnets” in a former Christian Science building on the corner of Ninth Avenue East and East First Street.

This was the modest beginning of what became the Duluth Playhouse, one of the oldest operating community theaters in the country.

Christine Gradl Seitz joined as executive and artistic director 17 years ago and, in that time, “We’ve witnessed, really, astounding growth,” she says.

When she started, the Duluth Playhouse produced one season of about seven shows a year. Now, besides its productions, it operates a children’s theater complemented with theater education programs in The Depot. It started The Underground Theatre there, too, “to present smaller, more intimate shows, more off the beaten track,” Christine says. Both the children’s theater operations and The Underground will remain at The Depot, though the Playhouse offices and box office will move into the NorShor space.

“We’ve grown from a one season to a three-season operation,” says Christine. The Playhouse employs 12 full-time staff members and five to 10 part-time workers, depending on production needs. “Actors, directors, designers, stage managers, musicians, choreographers are all part of our team. … The artistry in Duluth is far superior to any community I had the pleasure to work with.”

The history of the next steps for the Duluth Playhouse and the NorShor is embraced by all involved.

“When I stand on the new NorShor stage, I think the same thoughts I entertained 21 years ago, when I first performed improv comedy at the NorShor,” says actor Jody Kujawa, the lead in the upcoming “Lend Me a Tenor.”

“I felt I was now a part of history. A part of local history as well as American history. I was playing the same venue people like the Marx Brothers once played. As a comedy nerd, that was a big moment. I feel that this theater will open up a new history that will leave a legacy Duluth, my fellow artists, as well as myself can be proud to have left behind.”

Duluth artist Ann Klefstad has many public sculptures in the city, the latest being a memorial to a beloved Lakeside cat, The Great Catsby.