Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, February 3, 1991 TAG: 9102010803
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: E-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: CHRIS GLADDEN/ STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
When people ask him, he refrains from the old punchline: practice, practice, practice. Instead, he tells them to go down Interstate 81 and hang a right on Interstate 64.
Byrd's directions don't lead to New York City's celebrated performance institution, of course, but to its lesser-known equivalent in the town of Lewisburg, W.Va.
It, too, is named Carnegie Hall, and it has become an object of pride to the citizens of Lewisburg, a picturesque country town of 3,700 in the Allegheny Mountains about an hour and a half from Roanoke.
Byrd is one of a growing number of internationally recognized performers who have played the West Virginia cultural center. And if Executive Director Vivian Conly, her staff and her dedicated band of supporters have their way, Carnegie's cultural impact on Greenbrier and surrounding counties is just beginning.
Carnegie Hall has just launched its winter-spring performance series, and the lineup reflects the diversity of acts that have become its trademark: from the Latin music of Chacabuco to the award-winning New York stage revue "Oil City Symphony."
"There's a wonderful niche here to fill," Conly says. "I really think Carnegie Hall has extraordinary potential."
Since Conly came to the facility in 1989, the annual budget has increased from $89,000 to $215,000, a major renovation has begun, and a $150,000 roofing project has been completed. Conly can no longer see the shade trees surrounding the building through a hole in the ceiling of her office.
The story of Carnegie Hall is really the story of a community that doesn't take the destruction of its old buildings lightly. Lewisburg was chartered by the Commonwealth of Virginia in 1782 - long before the Civil War cleaved off a portion of Virginia into West Virginia.
Many structures in Lewisburg go back to the 18th and early 19th centuries; the dates of their construction are proudly emblazoned on their exterior walls.
Carnegie Hall isn't that old, but it has served as a significant part of the community's townscape since it was built in 1902 on the campus of the Lewisburg Female Institute.
The building came by its celebrated name honestly.
Steel tycoon and philanthropist Andrew Carnegie donated $25,000 to the women's college for the construction of the building and another $8,000 for its auditorium. The reasons for the gifts are obscured by the years, but folklore has it that a Scotsman on the school's board approached Carnegie because of the tycoon's Scottish roots. The approach was successful, and the building was named for Carnegie.
It served the school - later named Greenbrier College for Women - until the college closed in 1972. For 10 more years, the building was part of the Greenbrier Center, a state-operated facility for the emotionally disturbed that is being phased out.
In 1982, the center's operations no longer needed Carnegie Hall. Rumors surfaced that it was about to be condemned and torn down - fighting words to the preservation-minded Lewisburgers.
A group of citizens formed Carnegie Hall Inc., a non-profit organization intent on saving the building. The state of West Virginia supported their mission and leased them the building for use as a cultural center for a fee of $1 per year. Carnegie Hall opened in 1983.
Ann Potterfield, one of the hall's most vigorous supporters, remembers those early days. She organized the first concert, a performance by the Charleston String Quartet paid for by eight members of an arts and humanities board that had been bringing culture to other outlets in Lewisburg.
"We invited 600 people free and 400 came," she says.
Since then, the four-story Greek Revival building has become a hub of cultural activity.
Painting and dance studios, smelling of fresh paint and illuminated by new skylights, are almost ready to accommodate classes again. Nearly one whole floor is devoted to weaving looms that Potterfield "begged, borrowed and stole" out of area barns for the facility.
Counterculture homesteaders, many of them trained artists, moved to Greenbrier County in the 1960s and '70s, executive director Conly says. Today they're holding down regular jobs but returning to their arts and crafts backgrounds by teaching classes at Carnegie Hall.
Plans are already under way for a new auditorium - one without the columns that block the vision of unfortunate audience members with bad seats.
"Right now we're getting people because they want to support us, but that won't last forever if they have to sit behind those columns," says Conly, who was sales manager at the Greenbrier resort before coming to the hall.
Conly and artistic director Mary Leb stay busy lining up acts for future performing series. They're already networking through "Mountain Stage," National Public Radio's West Virginia-based folk music series. And they hope to link up with Lime Kiln Theatre in Lexington, so that potential performers will find a convenient circuit of stages in the area.
Acts that have already performed at Carnegie include the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra, Texas swingers Asleep at the Wheel, Scottish folksingers the Tannahill Weavers and the Seldom Scene bluegrass band. Folk-blues musician Taj Mahal has been the biggest draw, rapidly selling out the 500-seat hall.
Variety is the philosophy that drives the performance series. There have been operas, plays and ballets, classical music, dance performances and children's programs.
On a recent chilly January night, 150 people in coats and ties and jeans and khakis and flannels and furs showed up to see Michael Martin portray Mark Twain in a one-man show. While the facility mainly serves residents of Greenbrier, Pocahontas, Monroe and Summers counties, visitors regularly come from as far away as Charleston and Roanoke.
Sue Ella Miano from nearby Ronceverte moved back to West Virginia seven years ago after living in Michigan for 35 years. She says she gave her first tap dance recital at Carnegie Hall more than 50 years ago.
"It's a great source of pride to Greenbrier County. The quality of the programs is fantastic," she says.
Conly also hopes to bring traveling museum exhibits to Carnegie. "We're real interested in getting into the museum business," she says. "The museum will be geared toward children and there will be hands on components and rotating exhibits."
Carnegie's renovations and programs are paid for by contributions, grants, money generated by rent and events, and fund-raisers such as the one catered by the Greenbrier resort that will take place this summer. The state of West Virginia has been underwriting the cost of half of the performance programs, Conly says.
If Carnegie Hall has a mandate in the view of Conly and Potterfield, it is to enrich the lives of the present youth of the community, some as young as Miano when she gave that first recital.
"This morning, we had 500 junior high school students here to see Mark Twain," Conly says. "Without Carnegie Hall, there wouldn't be any performing arts for students. Drama is not taught in the high schools here."
And if Carnehgie Hall survives to its 100th birthday, it will be because of those same students, Porterfield says.
"The future of Carnegie Hall is thoses students coming in on the school buses. It gives kids the opportunity to experience things they would never have experienced."
CARNEGIE HALL SCHEDULE:
Here is Carnegie Hall's winter-spring performance series schedule:
Friday: Chacabuco, a musical group specializing in Latin American music.
Feb. 22: West Virginia Symphony.
March 8: Singer-songwriter Tom Chapin who performs folk-style music for adults and children.
April 12: Mozart on Fifth, a musical ensemble whose repertoire ranges from classical to Dixieland.
April 20: "Oil City Symphony," a musical revue from the creators of "Pump Boys and Dinettes."
Performances are at 8 p.m. and admission is $8. Student and senior citizen admission is $7. For further information, call (304) 645-7917.
by CNB