Gaslight Theatre

The Gaslight Theatre was a short-lived theater company which staged productions on the 2nd floor of the Alabama Heating & Roofing Company building at 313½ 20th Street North during the Summer of 1950, and reappeared for one performance in 1954.

Charles Miller and David Ryan came into town to produce a season of plays that first year, but did not have enough support to return for a follow-up. In 1954 Bill Chesnutt hired Ryan to return and direct a season at 2309 3rd Avenue North, but, just before opening night, city building inspector Myron Sasser found several thousand dollars in needed repairs before he could permit public occupancy. The issue was appealed, and another inspector, H. E. Hagood, provided a much more lenient report, but the Board of Appeals upheld Sasser's interpretation of the code.

The company staged one performance of "East Lynne" at Temple Beth-El while the company looked for a new home. Negotations between Chesnutt and Old Stable Club owner Hugh Dubose broke down, forcing him to abandon his efforts.

References

• Haarbauer, Donald Ward (1973) A critical history of the non-academic theatre in Birmingham, Alabama. Ph.D. dissertation. University of Wisconsin.