RiverStage Community Theatre will make use of their newly designed, 80-seat performance venue at 310 Washington Hall in New Richmond for their April show, the Pulitzer Prize-winning drama, “Talley’s Folly”.

310 Washington Hall, named after the building number and the street it sits upon in the village of New Richmond, was built around 1887 by German immigrant Johann Zumvoerde as a dry goods store with upper-level apartments. To locals it has long been best-known as AP Appliance, the furniture and appliance store that occupied it for many decades. The building once sat along the “Atlantic and Pacific Highway” (U.S. Route 52), before the new stretch of 52 was built to bypass the village.

Following the closure of AP Appliance, the retail section of the building fell vacant for decades.

Bob Baker, RiverStage Artistic Director–who shopped there as a child with his mother–had the then-empty space recalled to his mind by board member Linda Shuck. Last spring, he learned the building was for sale. But purchasing the building was just the beginning of the work needed done. Successive owners since AP Appliance had each attempted, and in part accomplished, certain renovations. A new roof and select interior improvements had been made. But there was still much to be done.

An owl, bats and pigeons had made the upper level their home. Windows individually worth $2,000 each had been broken out and remained missing. Yet, Baker proved a good fit to the project he had taken on, “Having already been involved in opening two theater spaces in Alabama [Baker’s primary residence] gave me some instinct as to what and how to lay out the inside for events…theatre, reunions or weddings.”

Under Baker’s oversight, the storefront, long under protective plywood, was finally restored and uncovered in August of 2016, and October of this year saw the opening of the building’s west wing as Washington Hall Antiques & Interiors.
Baker hopes future visitors will find the interior renovation speaks of, “Rustic Victorian, with just a touch of glamour.” He reminds patrons that Washington Hall is, “130 years old [and] has been ravaged by some huge floods, some interesting alterations and demolitions…some vast amounts of neglect. Thankfully, it was built to withstand time and the elements.”

As for the intricacies of repurposing areas of the former retail-space into an antiques showroom and performance venue so that “Talley’s Folly” might open there, Baker looked to RiverStage board member Tom Dean to manage the challenging aspects of stage and lighting.

Dean, for whom “Talley’s Folly” is a longtime passion project, decided state-of-the-art LED energy-saving lighting would be used, and controlled via a laptop with a communication protocol called “DMX” (digital multiplex).

The majority of prior RiverStage productions have been performed at the Market Street School Auditorium, essentially an old school gym/stage combination. As such, quips Dean, “The challenges of outfitting a non-theatre space to present plays and musicals is not new to us.” At 310 Washington Hall, “The ceiling height of 12 feet limits the height of the stage to 16 inches, but with that elevation everyone should be able to see what’s happening on stage.”

“Buildings get repurposed all the time,” counsels Dean, “It is a challenge to create a performance space where once washers and dryers were sold. [Yet] the interior style of the building is warm and inviting. We hope many theatre fans will choose to attend as we christen 310 Washington Hall.”

Washington Hall Antiques & Interiors is online at 310washingtonhall.com, with hours Thursday through Sunday, 12-5pm. RiverStage performs “Talley’s Folly” April 7, 8, and 13, 14, 15 at 7pm, with an April 9th, 2:30pm matinee.

Tickets online at showclix.com or by phone 513-543-9149, riverstagenewrichmond.org.