Abbeville Opera House – Abbeville, South Carolina

The Abbeville Opera House opened in 1908 as a venue for audiences in western South Carolina to see the touring vaudeville, minstrel, and burlesque troupes which performed on “the circuit” between New York and Atlanta. The auditorium, stage, fly loft, and cat walk were said to be the “equal in beauty of architecture and modern conveniences of any in the state.” All in all, the Opera House established Abbeville County as the cultural center of the Upstate.

In time the building became a movie theater, but eventually it closed altogether. Fortunately, the late 1960s saw efforts to revive live theater in Abbeville and restore the beautiful old Opera House. Little by little, money was raised, restoration work progressed, and in 1978, the Opera House once again had a summer theater season.

Today Abbeville’s Opera House is fully restored to its turn-of-the-century splendor with two modern concessions to comfort – air conditioning and rocking chairs! The curtain is raised and lowered using the same rope-pulled rigging system as in 1908, making it the only “hemp house” remaining in South Carolina.

At the turn of the century, vaudeville was in its heyday, and so was Abbeville’s Opera House. The hall hosted musicals, Broadway shows, the Ziegfeld Follies, and famous entertainers of the day such as Jimmy Durante and Fannie Brice.

In the early days of motion pictures, Opera House audiences enjoyed a unique mix of live theater and movies. As more and more motion pictures were released, live road shows began to disappear. But early motion pictures carried full crews of musicians and sound-effects men. They were impressive and still carried the awe of “live” show business.

In 1927, The Jazz Singer was the first “talkie” to come to Abbeville. Soon afterwards, the theater converted to movies only. Business boomed through the 1930s and 40s, but changes in ownership, the economy, and a lack of public demand forced the house to close in the 1950s.

It wasn’t long before theater lovers in Abbeville organized a community theater group and began to raise funds for the restoration of the Opera House. Thornton Wilder’s Our Town was the first show produced after the restoration was completed in 1968.

Today, the Opera House attracts more than 20,000 visitors to Abbeville during its winter and summer seasons. Located on the town square across from the courthouse, the Opera House is open weekdays from 8:30 AM to 5 PM for self-guided tours.

Mark Clark, an Abbeville native currently living in Winnsboro, remembers when his high school senior class presented the play, You Can’t Take It With You, at the opera house in 1982. He was cast in the small role of Wilbur C. Henderson, an I.R.S. agent sent to collect back taxes from a character who doesn’t believe in paying them. “I was nervous,” Mark says, “but once I got in front of the bright lights, I couldn’t see the audience so I relaxed and performed my part. The experience gave me a healthy respect for Broadway actors who always have to get it right on the live stage.”

Visit the Abbeville Opera House’s website here.