Clemens Center
Mandeville Hall: 200
The Clemens Center is a concert and theater center in Elmira, New York. It is named after Samuel Clemens, whose pen name was Mark Twain and was often resident in Elmira when writing his books. The Clemens Center partners with local educators through the Mary Tripp Marks School-Time Series to allow students to experience live theater.
Usage
According to its official website, more than 100,000 Twin Tiers residents attend more than 100 professional and community performances in its facilities each year.[1] It is run by a board of Trustees and more than 200 volunteers contribute nearly 10,000 hours each year working as ushers, concession operators, ticket takers, receptionists and Board/Committee members.[1]
It is home to the Orchestra of the Southern Finger Lakes, where it performs the majority of its concerts.[2]
History
The Powers Theater opened on December 21, 1925 as a 2,500 seat vaudeville and silent film house. Described as "the largest and most magnificent theater between New York and Buffalo," it contained a Marr and Colton theater organ, and featured extensive murals, opera boxes and chandeliers.[1]
In 1946 when the Chemung River overflowed its banks, the theater was flooded causing extensive damage. It was flooded again in 1972 in the aftermath of Hurricane Agnes that so devastated the region. Soon after, the building was targeted for demolition to accommodate a new highway.[1]
The Clemens Center organization was formed in 1975 to obtain and manage funding to save and preserve the theater. The theater reopened with its first performances coming in the Fall of 1977. This was mostly due to a citizens group which raised $750,000 to save the facility. The funds were used to make alterations that reduced the theater's seating capacity by almost 600 seats and upgraded the stage lighting and audio systems.[1]
In 1987, the 2,500-square foot Mandeville Hall was added as an intimate, multi-use "black box" theater suitable for drama, recitals, community functions, lectures and seminars.
In 1995, a Facilities Master Plan was created to guide the organization in maintaining and improving the facilities.[1] 1999 saw completion of the first phase, which included renovating and expanding the lobby space to include amenities such as restrooms, an elevator, concessions and a coat check. The second phase, completed in 2008, saw the restoration and expansion of the Powers Theater.
The Clemens Center also leases space to various community performing arts organizations in the area.
References
- ^ a b c d e f "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2012-01-26. Retrieved 2012-02-12.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) - ^ "Orchestra of the Southern Finger Lakes". Orchestra of the Southern Finger Lakes. Retrieved 2015-12-31.
External links
- Official website
- v
- t
- e
- The Gilded Age: A Tale of Today
- The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
- The Prince and the Pauper
- Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
- A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court
- The American Claimant
- Tom Sawyer Abroad
- Pudd'nhead Wilson
- Tom Sawyer, Detective
- Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc
- A Double Barrelled Detective Story
- A Horse's Tale
- The Mysterious Stranger
- Hellfire Hotchkiss
- "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County"
- "Cannibalism in the Cars"
- "A Literary Nightmare"
- "A Murder, a Mystery, and a Marriage"
- "The Great Revolution in Pitcairn"
- "1601"
- "The Stolen White Elephant"
- "Luck"
- "The Million Pound Bank Note"
- "A Double Barrelled Detective Story"
- "Those Extraordinary Twins"
- "The Man That Corrupted Hadleyburg"
- "A Dog's Tale"
- "Extracts from Adam's Diary"
- "The War Prayer"
- "Eve's Diary"
- "Extract from Captain Stormfield's Visit to Heaven"
- "My Platonic Sweetheart"
- "Advice for Good Little Girls"
- Mark Twain's (Burlesque) Autobiography and First Romance
- Sketches New and Old
- Mark Twain's Library of Humor
- Merry Tales
- The £1,000,000 Bank Note and Other New Stories
- The $30,000 Bequest and Other Stories
- "The Awful German Language"
- "On the Decay of the Art of Lying"
- "Advice to Youth"
- How to Tell a Story and Other Essays
- "Concerning the Jews"
- "To the Person Sitting in Darkness"
- "Edmund Burke on Croker and Tammany"
- "What Is Man?"
- "The United States of Lyncherdom"
- "Fenimore Cooper's Literary Offenses"
- Letters from the Earth
- Territorial Enterprise letters
- Letters from Hawaii
- The Innocents Abroad
- Roughing It
- Old Times on the Mississippi
- A Tramp Abroad
- Life on the Mississippi
- Following the Equator
- Is Shakespeare Dead?
- Autobiography of Mark Twain (Chapters from My Autobiography)
- King Leopold's Soliloquy
- The Private History of a Campaign That Failed
- Christian Science
- "Some Thoughts on the Science of Onanism"
- "Votes for Women"
and events
- Mark Twain Prize for American Humor
- Mark Twain Tonight!
- The Adventures of Mark Twain (1944)
- The Adventures of Mark Twain (1985)
- Mark Twain (2001 documentary)
- Twain and Shaw Do Lunch (2011 play)
- Mark Twain: The Musical
- Olivia Langdon Clemens (wife)
- Susy Clemens (daughter)
- Clara Clemens (daughter)
- Jean Clemens (daughter)
- John M. Clemens (father)
- Jane Lampton Clemens (mother)
- Orion Clemens (brother)