Orpheum Theatre

Patsy on December 24, 2007 at 1:19 pm

In the photo I doubt that these are the original doors..too bad they changed them out, imo.

jkirsch on November 3, 2005 at 4:19 am

I found the Sioux Falls Argus Leader news clippings that talk about the Oct. 1913 opening of this theater. The historic plaque also says 1913, and a history book about Minnehaha County pictures the building, showing the 1913 date, too.

On October 2, 1913, the grand opening of the Orpheum Theatre was a full
dress affair with box and dress circle patrons paying the unheard price of $5 per
seat. First Nighters were entertained with a concert by the Orpheum Orchestra,
four vaudeville acts, screen projections of Pathe News, and short subjects from
the Orthoscope, the latest in silent film equipment.
Brothers John and Frank Solari built the 1000-seat Orpheum, and planned it to
be a state of the art theater for the staging of vaudeville. A railroad spur led to
the theatre back door, which enabled performers to unload their animals, props,
instruments, and wardrobe trunks.
In the early 1920s repertory theater became popular at the Orpheum. Stock
companies performed the current play for one week; at the same time they
rehearsed a second play to be performed the following week. “Talkies,” movies
with sound, and the sale of the Orpheum to a competitor, led to its temporary closing in
1927.
The Orpheum was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1983.

Community Playhouse went under, there was a dark year or two before a new group, Sioux Empire Community Theater (SECT) began producing three shows a season, the third being the 2005-06 season.