By HARRIET PROTHRO PENROD
It opened in 1925 at the corner of Louisiana Avenue and Crockett Street in the heart of downtown Shreveport and — thankfully, in all of its glory — is still standing (and operating) today as a reminder of what our city once was and continues to be.
The flagship theater of the Saenger Brothers, it is the official theater of our state and listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It closed in the mid-1970s, was donated to a newly formed corporation, and reopened in 1984 after a major restoration project.
Almost 100 years later, The Strand Theatre is alive and well … but, oh, what a journey it has been.
Jenifer Hill remembers being dropped off at The Strand Theatre at age 9 with her best friend, Hallie Dozier. The two young girls spent many afternoons at the theatre watching all the classic movies of their childhood.
“Bedknobs and Broomsticks, that’s the last one I saw there,” Hill recalls as we enjoy a recent lunch at Fairfield Market & Cafe. “I remember being there for that. And then I remember them talking about closing it down.”
The doors of the Strand were closed in 1976 with the thought of selling the historic theatre. Fortunately, that didn’t happen.
Instead, three Shreveporters stepped up and saved the day – attorney Judd Tooke, businesswoman Virginia Shehee and The Times’ Jim Montgomery — by forming Strand Theatre of Shreveport Corporation.
The theater remained closed until it was donated by the ABC-Interstate Theatres to the corporation founded by the trio. After the major restoration project was completed, The Strand Theatre reopened in 1984.
Thirty years later, Hill was hearing talk of closing the theater again. This time, it hit closer to home.
When Jenifer Hill took over as executive director of The Strand Theatre in 2014 (after serving as general manager the previous two years), the place was in dire straits.
“When I took over, it was terrifying,” she says. “I found out how far in debt we were. There was some discussion from the Board (of Directors) saying, ‘Well, do we just shut the doors?’
“I said, ‘No, please don’t. Just give me a hot minute and let me figure out what’s going on.’”
What was going on was The Strand was $260,000 in debt.
“I went through all the bills and books and found a lot of spending on things we didn’t need,” explains Hill. “So we cut way back on those. And I’m just naturally tight.”
Hill used her experience working for non-profits (the Shreveport Symphony and Shreveport Opera), savvy budget cutting and smart business sense to pull the organization out of financial trouble.
In January 2020 came the big announcement: The Strand Theatre was out of debt.
Then the pandemic hit.
“I put my head in my hands and cried,” says Hill. “We all thought it was only going to be two weeks. After two to three months, it became clear that it was going to be longer.”
At that point, the Board voted to furlough all of the Strand staff except for Hill and one part-time person. For seven months, Hill worked on the books, scrubbed toilets, scrubbed stairs, vacuumed and did whatever she could to keep the building going.
There was a light opening the next spring with some dance recitals being booked, but everything was at 50 percent capacity. And after a few of those recitals, the 1,536-seat theater was forced to close its doors again.
Basically, The Strand Theatre went 19 months without any shows. During that time, cuts were made everywhere possible – insurance, payroll, housekeeping.
“We were cutting it pretty tight,” says Hill.
Slowly, things began to return to (the new) normal. The theater opened back up, most of the staff came back, the government provided “shuttered venue” money and employee tax credits and life returned to the historic building.
Life is not really the same, however. Not in the entertainment world. Like most of the industry, The Strand has seen a reduction in ticket sales – especially season tickets. But the public is responding.
Theo Von: Return of the Rat Tour was scheduled as a one-night show on Feb. 1 but was so popular a second night was added. “Both shows sold out in a matter of days,” says Hill.
And tickets for Chicago the Musical (March 19) are selling “pretty well.”
Hill is as busy as ever these days.
“Right now, I’m putting out offers for next season, which we’ll probably announce in June,” she says.
A typical season will include approximately 10 Strand-presented shows while the majority will be rental shows.
So, what’s the difference?
“If I’m on the stage, it’s a Strand show,” says Hill. “If I’m not on the stage, it’s a rental.”
In her time at The Strand, Hill has seen just about everything: dogs in the house, a homeless person roaming around, fights, flooding, and yes, even ghosts.
“I walk through that building in the dark all the time,” she says. “I’m often the first one there and I never had anything so much as raise the hair on the back on my neck.”
Until …
“Early one Saturday morning I was by myself and I turned off the alarm. I walked into the house and turned on the lights and I saw someone all in black walk on the stage. At first, I thought it was the technical director but no one else was there. It still didn’t bother me. I just figured it was a trick of the light, who knows?”
Then …
Two weeks after everything was shut down because of the pandemic, Hill ventured out of her house and made a visit downtown.
“Everybody had gone home,” she says. “We were all scared because no one knew what was happening. I just went down to check on the building. No one had been in there. We have cameras and alarms.”
Hill went upstairs to the Founders’ Room where the portraits of Tooke, Shehee and Montgomery are hung on the wall.
“The building is made of plaster and steel,” she says. “It doesn’t move, it doesn’t rattle in the wind, it doesn’t rattle when the train goes by.”
And yet, there was Montgomery’s portrait face down on the floor, 12 feet from the wall.
Hill didn’t panic. She didn’t scream or run out of the room.
“I picked him up, hung him back on the wall and we had a discussion,” she recalls. “I said, ‘Jim, I’ve got this. It’s gonna be okay. I don’t know what’s coming, but I’m here for the duration.’ After that, we got a ghost light and put in on the stage.”
It’s a theater tradition.
Contact Harriet at sbjharriet@gmail.com