Renaissance Theatre
Our Mission:
To create dynamic theater for the citizens of the North Alabama area, to promote the performing arts at all levels, to teach and to share all of our talents and to challenge all to participate.
History:
Our beautiful little theatre (seating only 85!) is located in the historically important Lincoln Mill Village Commissary Building, and was built in 1927 to accommodate the needs of the Lincoln Mill workers.
In its heyday, the Commissary Building housed a café, beauty parlor, barber shop and dry goods store. Mill Stories, written by Robert Riddle Baker, tells the stories of this period.
The upstairs (where we are now located) served as a gymnasium for the Lincoln School next door and was also a movie theatre and social center for the Lincoln Village community.
During World War II, the mill employed over 1,700 people, providing most of them with company housing. Beset by constant strikes from the mid-1930's on, the Lincoln Mill closed in 1955. A large portion of the mill burned in 1979. Most of the company housing is now demolished and cleared, leaving only streets that seem to go nowhere.
To the south of Lincoln Elementary School is a large area of company housing now privately owned. On rare occasions houses are available for those wishing to invest in the survival of this historically important area.
Bob Baker successfully obtained financing through SouthTrust Bank and purchased the historic Lincoln Center on October 26, 2000. Renaissance Theatre now has a permanent home! The ground level of the building now contains the Lincoln Center Antiques shop, Alpha Estate Sales & Auctions and the Alpha Theatre Stage. The upper level contains the Renaissance Theatre.
