The Lincoln Theatre, also known as Little Theatre on Lincoln Street, is a historic performance space at 1 Lincoln Street in
New Haven, Connecticut
New Haven is a city of the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is located on New Haven Harbor on the northern shore of Long Island Sound. With a population of 135,081 as determined by the 2020 United States census, 2020 U.S. census, New Haven is List ...
. Built in 1924, it is the only known survivor in the state of the
Little Theatre Movement
As the new medium of cinema was beginning to replace theater as a source of large-scale spectacle, the Little Theatre Movement developed in the United States around 1912. The Little Theatre Movement served to provide experimental centers for the ...
of 1911-1933.
[ and ] The building 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 1984.
[ After a major rehabilitation in the 2010s, the theater was reopened, and is now known as the ACES Little Theatre.
]
Description and history
The Lincoln Theatre is located on a densely built residential block on Lincoln Street, a short dead end off Trumbull Street, about three blocks north of the New Haven Green
The New Haven Green is a privately owned park and recreation area located in the downtown New Haven, downtown district of the city of New Haven, Connecticut, United States. It comprises the central square of the nine-square settlement plan of t ...
. It is a multipart construction, with a gable-roofed entry and auditorium at its north end, with rear sections devoted to the backstage and dressing room areas. A modern glass-and-stone addition extends to the left side of the original building.Little Theatre Movement
As the new medium of cinema was beginning to replace theater as a source of large-scale spectacle, the Little Theatre Movement developed in the United States around 1912. The Little Theatre Movement served to provide experimental centers for the ...
organizations in the state. It was in active use by that organization until 1935, mainly under the creative auspices of Jack Crawford, an English professor at Yale University
Yale University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Stat ...
. In 1935 it was taken over by the Federal Theater Project, a Works Progress Administration
The Works Progress Administration (WPA; from 1935 to 1939, then known as the Work Projects Administration from 1939 to 1943) was an American New Deal agency that employed millions of jobseekers (mostly men who were not formally educated) to car ...
program supporting the creative arts, which ended in 1939. It was used for commercial theatrical productions until 1945, when it was converted into a film theater, showing foreign and art films. Robert Spodick owned Lincoln theatre at this time and other movie theatres in the New Haven area including the York Square Cinemas which had a large mural photograph of the Lincoln theatre in their auditorium. The Lincoln theatre closed in 1982.ACES Educational Center for the Arts
ACES Educational Center for the Arts (ECA), is an American public arts magnet high school, located at 55 Audubon Street in New Haven, Connecticut, United States.
The school is primarily located in the former Congregation Mishkan Israel synag ...
, a local educational organization and public arts magnet school. It was used mainly for its events (private and occasionally public) until 2012, when it underwent a major rehabilitation and upgrade, which preserved elements of its Art Deco
Art Deco, short for the French (), is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design that first Art Deco in Paris, appeared in Paris in the 1910s just before World War I and flourished in the United States and Europe during the 1920 ...
interior.
See also
*
References
{{National Register of Historic Places
Theatres on the National Register of Historic Places in Connecticut
Theatres completed in 1924
Buildings and structures in New Haven, Connecticut
National Register of Historic Places in New Haven, Connecticut