I’ll admit it. My life could use a little more culture and a little less Penn every now and then. But with bars and booze within five blocks of my house, it's hard to find time for the finer things in life, ya know? But it's a new year and resolution number 12 is to culturize (yes, it’s a verb now), even if it means venturing out of the Penn bubble. And I’ll be starting my cultural transformation with America's oldest theater, the 200-year-old Walnut Street Theatre.
Since its founding in 1809, the playhouse, which started out hosting equestrian acts (as in horses being paraded around with ribbons in their tails), has been able to preserve its historic roots while contributing to the contemporary art scene. As a national landmark and a pioneer in performance art, the theater's history is commendable, albeit a bit bizarre. One of the theatre’s stagehands in the 1800s even fixed in his will that his skull be separated from his body and used to represent the skull in Hamlet. Creepy. Nonetheless, high rollers like Jack Lemon, Katharine Hepburn, Jane Fonda and Bill Cosby have graced its stage, and with more than 56,000 season ticket holders, the Walnut Street Theatre Company has the highest subscription count in the world.
Needless to say, people kinda dig it. If you want to be part of the hype, check out Walnut’s upcoming productions: O Captain, My Captain: Waltman’s Lincoln, through Feb. 8, A Streetcar Named Desire through March 1 and Born Yesterday, a political comedy, from March 10-April 26. And if you want to get really involved, the theater also offers acting classes for adults as well as professional apprenticeships. Donation of bones after death not required. Visit www.walnutstreettheatre.org for more information.
The Walnut Street Theatre 825 Walnut St. (215) 574-3550
