This installation was made specifically for Thalian Hall, a Wilmington NC theater built in 1858. The Hall was named after Thalia, the muse of comedy. But she is sad today, reflecting on some the people who have come and gone upon her stage since 1858. Perhaps a little bit of their essence still lingers, and mixes with the viewer’s own…
Audio
Anna Moffo sings Rachmaninoff’s Vocalise, and Graham Hamilton performs an excerpt from Hamlet.
The people who have appeared in Thalian Hall and in this video are:
Frederick Douglass, Lecture, 8/2/1872
William Frederick Cody, Combination Show, 10/25/1875
Oscar Wilde, Lecture, 1/7/1897
Loie Fuller, Dance Performance, 2/18/1897
Maxine Elliott, The Gilded Fool, 4/14/1898
Joseph Jefferson, Jr., Rip Van Winkle, 3/8/1905
Lillian Russell, The First Night, 1/6/1910
Booker T. Washington, Lecture, 11/3/1910
Anna Held, Variety Show, 9/24/1913
Lillian Gish, Birth of a Nation Screening, 3/1-15/1916
Marian Anderson, Vocal Concert, 4/27/1925