In 2018, I visited the Scottish Rite theater in Salina, Kansas. It was on my return trip from Santa Fe, New Mexico, to Minneapolis, Minnesota. Although I had documented the Salina collection before, I want to see the current condition of the deteriorating drops.
The Salina Scottish Rite theater was part of a 1920s Masonic building boom. Many Scottish Rite theaters with existing scenery collections enlarged their facilities and purchased new collections, trading in their old scenery for credit on a new purchase. These used scenery collections were then resold to other Scottish Rite theaters for a fraction of the original cost. In other cases, the Masons brokered their own used scenery deal, transferring scenery from one theater to another. That was the case with the 1908 McAlester scenery collection. The Salina Masons purchased the used scenery collection from the McAlester Scottish Rite. The collection was originally painted at the Sosman & Landis Studio. Here is the cathedral setting; one of the more complex scenes. For more information about Scottish Rite scenery and theaters, visit www.drypigment.com and use the keyword search function
Scenery by Sosman & Landis, 1908Scenery by Sosman & Landis, 1908Scenery by Sosman & Landis with original shipping label for McAlester, OklahomaScenery by Sosman & Landis, 1908Scenery by Sosman & Landis, 1908Scenery by Sosman & Landis, 1908Scenery by Sosman & Landis, 1908
Author: waszut_barrett@me.com
Wendy Rae Waszut-Barrett, PhD, is an author, artist, and historian, specializing in painted settings for opera houses, vaudeville theaters, social halls, cinemas, and other entertainment venues. For over thirty years, her passion has remained the preservation of theatrical heritage, restoration of historic backdrops, and the training of scenic artists in lost painting techniques. In addition to evaluating, restoring, and replicating historic scenes, Waszut-Barrett also writes about forgotten scenic art techniques and theatre manufacturers. Recent publications include the The Santa Fe Scottish Rite Temple: Freemasonry, Architecture and Theatre (Museum of New Mexico Press, 2018), as well as articles for Theatre Historical Society of America’s Marquee, InitiativeTheatre Museum Berlin’s Die Vierte Wand, and various Masonic publications such as Scottish Rite Journal, Heredom and Plumbline. Dr. Waszut-Barrett is the founder and president of Historic Stage Services, LLC, a company specializing in historic stages and how to make them work for today’s needs. Although her primary focus remains on the past, she continues to work as a contemporary scene designer for theatre and opera.
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