There was a time when going to a theater was as much about the place as the performance. They were spectacular halls of entertainment, and the Twin Cities had some of the best in New England and beyond.

Music Hall in Lewiston was particularly admired, both for its splendor and for the quality of its presentations. A 1938 interview with Arthur G. Staples in the Lewiston Evening Journal recalled Lewiston’s pride in this hall on the upper floor of what is now the city’s District Court building on Lisbon Street.

“Lewiston boasted so that Portland could hear, for Portland had nothing but a barn-like structure in which plays were given” Staples said. Staples, who was a noted newsman and editor in Lewiston for many decades, remembered that the first performance he saw at Music Hall was “Hazel Kirke” starring Georgia Cayven. She was born in Bath and was a top Broadway actress of the late 1800s.

“Music Hall was as grand to Maine as the Metropolitan to New York,” Staples recalled.

It was said that the great actor Edwin Booth (brother of Lincoln’s assassin, John Wilkes Booth) once played at Central Hall, Staples said. Central Hall was on the top floor of a building at the head of Lisbon Street on the east corner.

Another theatrical venue more than a century ago was the Parlor Theater. It stood behind the site of what was to become the Empire Theater. This Greek-revival style opera house was bought in later years by the W.S. Libbey mill, which was adjacent to it. The mill used it as a dye house and for storage.

The Parlor Theater was believed by some to be part of Island Park, an amusement park complex above the Great Falls. Others say it was built between 1880 and 1890 as an independent enterprise. Appearances by “Buffalo Bill” Cody and P.T. Barnum are said to have taken place there, but facts are hard to come by.

The Mystic Theatre came along when Kora Temple Shrine outgrew its first quarters on Lisbon Street south of Ash Street and on the west side, Staples recalled. It hosted dances and played silent movies, and it was said to have the best projector in the vicinity.

The Empire Theatre was built on Main Street, Lewiston, near the canal in 1903. Staples remembers the spectacular opening night when “patrons attended in full evening dress, bejeweled and resplendent.” The opening night’s play was “The Yankee Consul” with Raymond Hitchcock, a reigning Broadway star who brought his own orchestra.

Another news story from the year the Empire Theatre was built described its ornate style.

“The theatre has a seating capacity of about fifteen hundred,” the article said. “There are 592 seats on the ground floor, 367 in the balcony and 500 in the family circle.” Also described are the eight box seats with seating for 44 people.

“The carpets are red except in the ladies’ room, which is handsomely carpeted in green and has furnishings to harmonize,” the news story reported.

“The stage is large and well arranged, there are 12 dressing rooms at the right of the stage, all of which are supplied with the most modern conveniences, including electric lights and running water.”

It was not many years ago that the Empire Theatre closed, and many area residents will recall the structure much as it was described in 1903. It was demolished just a few years ago.

These were some of the venues known to the residents of Lewiston and Auburn in the past 100 years. Among other L-A theaters of the past were the Auburn Theater at Court and Turner streets, the Strand and the Priscilla Theaters in Lewiston, and the Community Theater in New Auburn. The Auburn Theater and the Strand were torn down decades ago. The Priscilla and Community Theaters live on with different uses of the buildings.

The Ritz Theatre on Maple Street is probably the only remaining example of those theaters of the past that still presents entertainment. It has undergone extensive modern renovation in the past 21 years as the home of The Public Theatre, L-A’s professional theatre.

Today we have television, DVDs and the Internet which bring the world’s top movies and musical performances right into our homes. It’s easy to enjoy the best productions in the living room, but the days of entering grand theaters with anticipation of the shows on stage and screen are much different now. Few of those wonderful theaters are lucky enough to get the revival they deserve.

Dave Sargent is a freelance writer and a native of Auburn. He can be reached by sending email to [email protected].