The Stiefel Theatre (originally the Fox–Watson Theater) is a

performing arts The performing arts are arts such as music, dance, and drama which are performed for an audience. They are different from the visual arts, which involve the use of paint, canvas or various materials to create physical or static art objects. P ...

venue in

Salina, Kansas Salina is a city in and the county seat of Saline County, Kansas, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 46,889. In the early 1800s, the Kanza tribal land reached eastward from the middle of the Kansas Territory. In 1858 ...

. Opened in 1931, it was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

in 1988 as the "Fox–Watson Theater Building".

History

The Fox–Watson Theatre was opened in late February 1931 by Winfield W. Watson, a local businessman and banker. He led the campaign and donated the land, to bring a movie house to Salina.

Fox West Coast Theatres Fox Theatres was a large chain of movie theaters in the United States dating from the 1920s either built by Fox Film studio owner William Fox, or subsequently merged in 1929 by Fox with the West Coast Theatres chain, to form the Fox West C ...

built the art deco style movie house at a cost of .

Boller Brothers Boller Brothers, often written Boller Bros., was an architectural firm based in Kansas City, Missouri which specialized in theater design in the Midwestern United States during the first half of the 20th century. Carl Heinrich Boller (1868–194 ...

, an architectural firm out of

Kansas City, Missouri Kansas City, Missouri, abbreviated KC or KCMO, is the largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri by List of cities in Missouri, population and area. The city lies within Jackson County, Missouri, Jackson, Clay County, Missouri, Clay, and Pl ...

, designed the structure. The opening feature was ''

Not Exactly Gentlemen ''Not Exactly Gentlemen'' is a 1931 American Pre-Code Hollywood, pre-Code Western (genre), Western film directed by Benjamin Stoloff and written by Dudley Nichols and William Conselman. It is based on the 1917 novel ''Over the Border'' by Herma ...

'' featuring

Fay Wray Vina Fay Wray (September 15, 1907 – August 8, 2004) was a Canadian-American actress best known for starring as Ann Darrow in the 1933 film ''King Kong''. Through an acting career that spanned nearly six decades, Wray attained international r ...

. The theater was closed in August 1987 by then owners Dickinson Theaters, because competition from Dickinson's mall theaters made the downtown location unprofitable. Dickinson gave the theater to the city in 1989. It was restored by a non-profit group over several years and reopened as Stiefel Theatre for the Performing Arts on March 8, 2003. Its mission is to "enrich, educate and entertain", and the programming goal is to "offer a broad base of quality entertainment in a variety of genres that will appeal to a large demographic". It houses the Salina Symphony.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fox-Watson Theater Building Theatres completed in 1931 Art Deco architecture in Kansas Art Deco cinemas and movie theaters Buildings and structures in Saline County, Kansas Salina, Kansas Tourist attractions in Saline County, Kansas Theatres on the National Register of Historic Places in Kansas National Register of Historic Places in Saline County, Kansas