Renovated Theater Mirrors Original Building

When the first opened, tickets were only a dime for children and a quarter for adults.

The theater was built in 1926 by Wendell Welch. It was called the Strand Theater, and it opened the next year with performances of the comedies All Around the Frying Pan and Smile Awhile.

The Strand was open for 20 years where Boob Brasfield entertained residents with a vaudeville mixture of comedy, dancing and slapstick. But in March 1948, a fire struck, destroying the theater and the business next door—Gordon Beauty Shop.

Welch rebuilt the facility to its larger, current size, and seven months later, the Dallas Theater opened. On opening night, the theater showed Easter Parade with Judy Garland and Fred Astaire.

In 1965, just shy of 20 years later, the theater shut its doors, and the building was rented out as office space. And in 1999, the bought the theater from Dean and Judy Hardy, which they renovated and turned back into a civic and cultural arts center. City officials used the theater’s original blueprints and drawings to recreate the facility.

“There was no performing arts venue at the time,” Dallas Mayor Boyd Austin said. “It’s still the only public venue.”

The city hired Alpharetta-based Schneider Wright Inc., as the project’s architect. The facility now has state-of-the-art lighting, seating for 550 people and an expanded area behind the stage to allow for more room for performance functions.

The theater now is home to the Main Street Players and the Main Street Kids, the youth theater troupe. There are currently two shows scheduled for March—Peter Pan and WellStar Auxiliary’s Spring Fashion Show and Silent Auction Fundraiser. In April, comedian James Gregory will take the theater’s stage.

The Dallas Theater also is being featured on the big screen. Last year, the movie starring Dolly Parton, Kris Kristofferson and Queen Latifah . The movie is currently being shown at in Hiram.