Pass by the Historic Hoosier Theater at the corner of Ferry and Cheapside streets in Vevay; and you’re liable to find some new folks looking back at you.
The board of the Historic Hoosier Theater, through the generosity of resident John Kniola, has proceeded with a plan that provides some artistic charm to the south wall of the theater.
Del Percer-Snook, President of Historic Vevay, Inc., which runs the theater, said that area artist Steve Bickis painted the series of windows and doors that are now on the south wall.
“It’s something that we’ve talked about,” Percer-Snook said. “We didn’t want to just have plywood up there covering the windows and the doors that used to be there after we had to take the mural down. So we came up with the idea about getting them painted; and Steve Bickis approached John Kniola and offered to do it; so we had him submit some pictures to us for approval. We went ahead and approved them, and he got started. John donated the cost of the project, so we are very thankful for that.”
Currently there are six windows and two doors on the south wall. Percer-Snook said that there are two other windows that will be painted at a later date -possibly by another artist.
Percer-Snook said that when the building was originally built, there were actual windows and doors on that south wall; but those openings had to be sealed in order to keep the interior of the theater dark for performances.
“The windows are still part of the building; but they’ve been blocked off inside to keep the light out,” Percer-Snook said. “On the Market Street side, there were actual stairs that went up to those doors. I’m almost certain that when I first moved here to Vevay, that those stairs were still there. You couldn’t open the door to get it, but it seems to me that those iron stairs were still there.”
Open the lower ‘door’, and you would be in the balcony of the theater; while the ‘door’ further west that is higher up would take visitors into the third floor of the building.
Bickis is the artist who painted the main front windows of the theater on Ferry Street.