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Open Air Theater for Thaddeus P. Giddings
Purcell and Elmslie
Anoka, Minnesota 1915
Parabiographies entry, Volume for 1910
Text by William Gray Purcell
for 1915 [Commission List 277]
Job Date (in Parabiography): February, 1915
ANOKA OPEN AIR THEATER, Anoka, Minnesota
Thaddeus Philander Giddings decided to do something in the way of creative entertainment for his town during the summer, and a Greek theatre of concrete, built into a natural hollow in the bank along the shores of the Rum River was the answer. Most of the work was done by the citizens, and there is nothing especially exciting about the enterprise, except the matter of covering it against rain. Trying to work out this problem with Giddings gave me some idea of how the canvas awnings of the Coliseum of ancient Rome might have been swung from the masts about which there has never been a really satisfactory explanation.
The way we did it was as follows: Strips of canvas a yard wide and long enough to reach from the back of the theater to a point back of the stage, a distance of twenty yards, were fitted with galvanized metal rings on both edges, spaced thirty-six inches apart with a slight slope toward the stage. Alternate widths were set over and under so that they lapped a couple of inches at the outside of the edge of the circle at the back of the seats, and of course, as they converged the lap was very much thicker. In some placed there were even three thicknesses of canvas over the stage, one above the other. This was practical because as the water ran down these canvas troughs there got to be more and more of it so that the tendency for leakage and the danger of water spilling over became greater, and this generous overlap at the low point gave more protection where needed. The water poured out of the ends of the canvas and into the river. Of course, it was not assured that this would afford protection in a very severe storm, as there was no way of holding these long widths of canvas in a strong wind. When not in use awning cords attached to the lower corners, and run through the rings, enabled the canvas to be quickly drawn back when it naturally gathered in neat folds over the back row of seats.
The theater was a great community asset for four or five years, as long as Giddings stayed with it and planned the program, but as soon as he withdrew his direction for more important enterprises like National Music Camp, of Interlocken, Michigan, of which he was the co-founder, the Anoka Theater back-slid into gatherings of no particular creative significance.
Collection: William Gray Purcell Papers, Northwest Architectural Archives, University of Minnesota [AR:B4d1.9]
