Avalon Theatre
shark: if we stop swimming we die.” He says the Avalon Foundation has continually expanded since it was founded in 1994, to the point where it now the largest arts organization on the Eastern Shore. Each year, it sponsors diverse events that include the Plein Air Easton, the Easton Farmers’ Market, Fourth of July fireworks, live simulcasts of Metropolitan Opera performances, outdoor concerts and stage camps for children. But since its beginning, the Foundation has been most closely identified with the old red-brick theatre at the corner of Dover and Harrison and the live entertainment it brings to the region. “The Avalon Foundation has a responsibility to make sure this building is here for future generations,” Bond says. “It is part of our mission. People think of us as an arts organization, but we think of ourselves as a community development organization that uses arts and culture as our tools.”
A narrow stairway leads down to the “green room” where the performers wait to be called up on stage. It opens to a lounge with dressing rooms and showers. One side of the lounge is dominated by the space used as the Mid-Shore Community Television (MCTV) studio, the Foundation’s public access television station. Another corridor doubles as the sound and video recording and editing studio. Bond leads the way into the rest of the basement area where the reconstruction of the restrooms will take place. Heavy excavation equipment will be used to knock out walls and dig up floors to double their size. Bond says that all of the work being done is being carefully planned to make sure the theatre does not go dark for an extended period or interrupt the more than 150 events scheduled in the 400-seat theatre throughout the year. “With music bookings, the more you do it, the more opportunity you get, and if you stop doing it, you stop getting the calls from the agents. We’re like a
Dick Cooper is a Pulitzer Prizewinning journalist and photographer. An eBook anthology of his writings for the Tidewater Times and other publications, East of the Chesapeake: Skipjacks, Flyboys and Sailors, True Tales of the Eastern Shore, i s available at Ama zon. com. He and his wife, Pat, live in St. Michaels. He can be reached at dickcooper28@gmail.com. 38