© Mark Hertzberg (2024)
The public celebration of the restoration of Hillside Theater at Taliesin will be June 8, Frank Lloyd Wright’s 157th birthday. The event is sponsored by the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation and Taliesin Preservation, following the multi-year, $867,000 project. Funding was made possible by a Save America’s Treasures grant from the National Park Service and matching funds raised from corporations and donors. According to Taliesin Preservation, “preservation was divided into three phases: elimination of water infiltration, rehabilitation of the basement, and restoration of the Hillside Theater.”
I had the opportunity to photograph the theater in mid May. Let’s open the doors to the theater and take a look.
Our first impression, of course, is of “compression…”
…and then, “release…”
Mr. and Mrs. Wright and their guests sat in the seats to the right.
From Wright’s “An Autobiography:” When I was a small child I used to lie awake listening to the strains of the Sonata Pathetique—Father playing it on the Steinway square downstairs in the Baptist minister’s house at Weymouth. It takes me back to boyhood again when I hear it now.” [FLLW: Collected Writings, v. 4, p. 147.]
The Buddha statues will be put back in their original places flanking the stage.
Acknowledgements: Thank you to Taliesin Preservation for facilitating my access to the theater, and to Taliesin historian Keiran Murphy for her explanation of the wood panel with the score from “Pathetique.”
Links:
Taliesin Preservation on the theater restoration:
https://www.taliesinpreservation.org/hillside-theater-preservation/
Keiran Murphy’s website:
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Wright in Racine 
As a former film projectionist in the Theatre, I’d be curious to know if you got into the projection booth, and if anything substantial was accomplished, there.
Rod Anderson
Korydon1@gmail.com
I was on that level, but I do not know whether anything was done there. I was concentrating on the seating area and the stage. I’m sorry that I can’t be more helpful on that score.
Nice photography, Mark. I visited 20 years ago and I appreciate your update. The theater looks great and ready for the next performance!