Doll House Theatre
476 Stevens Avenue,
Deering,
ME
04103
476 Stevens Avenue,
Deering,
ME
04103
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Additional Info
Previous Names: Hoegg's Opera House, Deering Theatre
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Hoegg’s Opera House was an old neighborhood theatre in Deering, to the northwest of of Portland, ME. It was opened in 1895. By 1934 it had been renamed Deering Theatre. On October 16, 1948 it was taken over by M.A. Morabito and went over to screening art house movies and was renamed Doll House Theatre. It was closed in 1951. It became home to the Lyric Theater Troup of Portland Players and became a live playhouse, keeping the Doll House Theatre name. After the end of the 1971 season it was destroyed by fire.
Contributed by
Ron Salters
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Recent comments (view all 6 comments)
The Theatre Historical Society archive has the MGM Theatre Report for the Deering; it’s Card # 363. Address is Stevens Avenue. There is an exterior photo taken Feb. 20, 1941. Condition is Poor. The report says that it opened in 1900, was showing MGM movies, and had 354 seats.
The CinemaData Project says that the Deering Th. lasted at least until 1951.
According to this web page the Deering Theatre was in the building at the corner of Stevens Avenue and Brentwood Street. From the caption of the very small photo it at appears to have been on the northwest corner. The Deering Theatre was in operation by 1934, in which year the operators placed a courtesy ad in Deering High School’s yearbook.
An earlier house called the Deering Theatre operated on Congress Street in downtown Portland, but I don’t believe there was ever any connection between the two. The neighborhood house in Deering Center might have originated as the 400-seat, second-floor theater listed in the 1901-1902 Cahn Guide as the Hoegg Opera House, which itself might also have been the facility called Hoegg Hall or Hoegg’s Hall which was mentioned in several publications of the 1900s. The building suffered a major fire in 1905 and was rebuilt.
Yes, it had old antecedents- the MGM agent reported that it opened about 1900, so it would have been a stage theater at first.
Below history credit Portland Maine History 1786 to Present Facebook page.
Hoegg Hall/Opera House was built in 1895 at the north corner of Brentwood and Stevens Ave by canned goods pioneer, Daniel Warren Hoegg. It changed names to Deering Theatre, later Dollhouse, and was home the Portland Players and the Lyric Theatre. It was destroyed by fire in 1971.
This house was still listed as Hoegg’s Opera House in the 1909-1910 Cahn guide.
The October 16, 1948 issue of Boxoffice said that when M. A. Moriabto took over the Deering Theatre he changed policy to art house fare and renamed the theater the Doll House. (The surname Moriabto does not appear to exist. Google’s AI suggests that this was most likely a typo for the Italian surname Morabito.)
The final chapter in the theater’s history is covered at the web site of Portland’s Lyric Music Theatre company. It says in part: “The group moved to a vacant movie theater on Stevens Avenue in Portland. The theater, known as the Doll House, and formerly Hoegg Hall, became the first permanent home for the Lyric Theater troupe and many successful shows were produced. At the close of the 1971 season, disaster struck when an explosion and fire destroyed the Doll House and its contents. Costumes, lights, flats, drapes, and the entire music and script library were lost.” The first photo on the linked page shows the Doll House during the period when it housed the Lyric Music Theatre.