|
GTC Mission
Promoting Performing Arts through education and experience while
maintaining the historic Germantown Theatre Centre as a neighborhood, community and regional asset.
The use of the
Germantown Theatre Centre is open to every conceivable group, from weekday seminars or professional-caliber performers to
non-profit local community organizations.
GTC History
The Germantown Theatre Guild was formed when Dr. John Minehart
suggested to his wife, actress/director, Violet Minehart, she could start her own local company. Living in the historic colonial
dwelling known as Mehl House, Violet took stock of the stone barn at the rear of the property and decided to add onto the
structure, converting it from a carriage house to an intimate theatre, with a balcony and full basement for scenery, prop
and costume storage and a dressing area.
The original barn had some unique features: a fireplace in the loft above,
and a false wall, likely used by the owners in conjunction with a tunnel running from the main house to hide fugitive slaves.
The Germantown Quaker community were among the first Americans to outlaw slavery and to actively foster its abolition everywhere.
This effort became known as the Underground Railroad, leading to freedom in Canada.
Once Violet Minehart began the
Germantown Theatre Guild, she made the old barn come alive with theatrical exuberance and innovation. When the novel picture
and sound broadcast media, television was born, the Germantown Theatre Guild was the site of the first televised live stage
production and the first televised Shakespeare production. In keeping with the old barn's legacy helping bring an end to slavery,
the Germantown Theatre Guild was the first theatre in the United States to produce a play with an integrated cast.
The
Germantown Theatre Guild continued as a family enterprise in the latter 20th Century under the direction of John & Violet's
daughter, Katherine (Kitty) Minehart.
Under Kitty's stewardship, the Guild produced local theatre and trained young
people in theatre arts for many years. She has been honored for her leadership and philanthropic endeavors in Germantown by
local, state and national organizations.
In continuous use for almost 80 years, the Germantown Theatre Centre is today
home to Fresh Visions Youth Theatre Company, under the direction of Bruce Robinson, who was recruited, trained and mentored
in his youth by Kitty Minehart.
|
