• Tuesday, July 24, 2007, during optional fee-paid ramble.
• Sam S. Shubert Memorial Theatre, New Haven, CT

Executive Director Victoria Nolan discusses the history of Yale Rep and how this converted church, among the first American regional repertory theatres, both as an operating and philosophical model, has influenced the American theatre.

Bushnell staff discuss the vision that built the Rev. Horace Bushnell Memorial Hall, and how that vision made imperative the construction of the Belding Theater and support structures as well as the restoration of the renamed Mortensen Hall.

Mayor Thomas M. Menino welcomes LHAT to Boston, then explains why his administration spearheaded the Boston Historic Theatres Charrette and the Midtown Cultural District zoning plan. Boston Landmarks Commission Executive Director, representatives of the Redevelopment Authority, and others will illuminate the processes associated with the extraordionary successes of these initiatives.

Breakfast buffet and networking with your peers about anything you think is worth your time!

Former LHAT Board President David Fleming leads a panel of managers, former managers, and board leaders of The Music Hall to discuss the process that has gotten it to where it has launched a major capital campaign and begun restoration in a small seaside industrial community.

The Somerville Theatre is a thriving movie theatre in a small working class suburb. Owners or managers tell us how it avoided the fate of its 13 lost peers?

Architect Craig Morrison, author of the 2005 Norton/Library of Congress Visual Sourcebook Theaters, explains how the theatres we are visiting fit into the architectural and cultural history of the New World. 

Take in the rich history of America's Revolution. The Freedom Trail is a 2.5 mile red-brick walking trail that leads you to 16 nationally significant historic sites, every one an authentic American treasure. Preserved and dedicated by the citizens of Boston in 1958, when the wrecking ball threatened, the Freedom Trail today is a unique collection of museums, churches, meeting houses, burying grounds, parks, a ship, and historic markers that tell the story of the American Revolution and beyond. It's fun, it's entertaining, it's really interesting ­ it's American Revolutionary history but not the same old story....  

Tools and Techniques (Concurrent workshops)

• Friday, July 27, 2007
• The Colonial Theatre

The reopening of Thomas Lamb's masterpiece had a very challenging path that was successfully navigated by its champions, including the developer/operator, design team, and the City of Boston. Representatives from all of these parties will describe and discuss the rehabilitation process, including its motivations, its challenges, and ultimately, its opportunities.

Boston grew up around transportation -- the wharfs and the isthmus to the mainland -- and reflects the ethics and morals of its founders.  It's early cultural landscape reflected the tension between vernacular entertainment for the sailors and farmers, and cultural enrichment for members of New England society.  Join Sarah D. Kelly, Executive Director of Boston Preservation Alliance, and other Bostonians as they show you the landmark buildings and historical sites in the old downtown and relate the efforts to preserve and adaptively reuse, as well as develop the city anew. The tour ends at the Cutler Majestic Theatre in time for the LHAT annual meeting.  

The Massachusetts Cultural Facilities Fund will distribute $250 million over the next 5 years for capital investment because that investment is critical to a robust economy.  Hear how key leaders evolved from enemies or agnostics into staunch, long-term supporters, from Dan Hunter, Executive Director of Massachusetts Advocates for the Arts, Sciences and Humanities, and other engineers of that transformation. 

The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, houses one of the Americas' finest collections in a dynamically designed campus of historic buildings, the oldest of which was designed by Guy Lowell and opened in 1909.  The MFA collection was first organized in its original Copley Square building in 1876, making it among the oldest professionally curated collections in the US.  You will experience a one-hour guided tour of the art collections in the historic galleries, and be given a timed ticket to the Edward Hopper special exhibit in the West Wing galleries designed by I. M. Pei.  You may view all exhibits, visit the rotunda and colonnade, and partake of the restaurants and gift shops until museum closing time.