Take a tour of the Devon Theater, to reopen Friday in Mayfair 4
The Devon Theater in Mayfair has seen a renaissance. It reopens this Friday.
By Christopher Wink
The Devon hasn’t gotten this much attention in generations. Perhaps neither has Mayfair.
But now that the Frankford Avenue institution has made the long transition back to prominence, opening this weekend as the Devon Center for Performing Arts. It will mark another measure in the long transition from 1946 first-run movie theater to adult-film movieplex in the 1970s to second-run theater and to abandoned eyesore.
After a gala and private screening on Friday, with a possible appearance by Mayor Michael Nutter, the Devon opens on Saturday with a sold-out performance of Nunsense, a musical comedy.
“We’re in an Irish-Catholic neighborhood,” said Michael Pickering, the Devon’s artistic director. “Nunsense was a no-brainer.”
But don’t be fooled by the Devon’s location, far from the glitz of Center City’s Avenue of the Arts or the established arts scene of Old City. The Northeast is about to get its first professional performing arts center, by way of a decidedly working-class neighborhood.
The Devon is an all-union house, including its paid, professional actors, some from Philadelphia’s growing dramatic community. Still, its long-term strategy for success in the Northeast is heavy on community.
Read more, see video and other photos after the jump.
