Anthropology class opens exhibit this week

A semester of study and documentation of the history of movie theaters in Somerville will culminate on Friday when an exhibit entitled "Lost Theaters of Somerville" opens at the Somerville Museum.

Sixty years ago, Somerville was the home of 14 movie theaters. However, the Somerville Theater in Davis Square is the only of the original 14 theaters that is still in operation today.

The exhibit includes the findings from research and final projects completed by Tufts students in the Anthropology class "Theatres of Community and the Social Production of Space" taught by Tufts professor David Guss. Projects include an architectural model of a theater, a CD sound collage of music and oral history of the Teele Square Theater, and a movie created by former class member Stephen Lukac, depicting the history of the Strand Theater and other Union Square theaters.

Though the exhibit's opening represents a culmination of sorts, Guss said, "I feel like [the process] will never end. People are anxious to share their experiences." He also believes that with the exhibit's new visibility, more people will come forward with their own stories.

A major component of the class was to collect oral histories from current and former residents of Somerville whose lives were affected by the old movie theaters. Lukac, who graduated last spring, said that he "spoke with some very unique people." Guss was also astounded by the "receptivity and passion of the people who we spoke with."

Guss' hypothesis was that the "nabes," or neighborhood theaters, were second only to church in terms of community importance. "They were central in giving people a sense of community and place," he said.

Movie theaters had much more cultural importance at their peak in the 1940s. It was common for people to go to the movies two or three times a week. Many people got their news at the movies, both on the news reel and from the local gossip.

Many of the Somerville theaters closed because of the decline of nabes, from 1946-1956. This decline was due to many different factors, including a change in families, the baby boom, the rise of multiplexes and the suburbanization of American culture.

Due to the "changing streetscape," as Guss called it, the theaters today now have varying functions, including luxury condominiums, warehouses, and a rock-climbing gym. Three of the former theater buildings are not even in existence today.

Guss first became interested in this project when he attended a paper show a few years ago. He met a man who was selling pictures of theaters in eastern Massachusetts, and he bought a picture of the Broadway Theater.

His interest in public anthropology and the issues of place and identity piqued his curiosity. He then went back the next year and bought pictures of the other 13 theaters in Somerville.

"It was a way of looking at the neighborhood," he said. "Instead of focusing on historical sites, I looked at memory sites." Memory sites are places where emotional events took place within a person's lifetime, in contrast to historical sites, where those events were mostly in the past.

Lukac says the most interesting aspect of working on this project is learning about Somerville. "As a Tufts student, I only knew Teele Square, Ball Square and Davis Square. I liked the unique people I met, and not only did we talk about the theaters, but we talked about life in general."

Work on the exhibit began last spring through collaboration between ten Tufts students and ten Somerville High School students, and has continued this spring as well. The class has received funding from the University College of Citizenship and Public Service (UCCPS).

The class project is divided into five parts: the exhibition, the oral histories gathered by students, one lecture on the movie-going experience, another lecture entitled "The Rise, Fall and Rebirth of the Neighborhood Theater," and an upcoming book about the Somerville theaters.

Guss plans to continue to study the theme of public anthropology next year by co-teaching a course with the Architectural Studies program director Professor Daniel Abramson about architecture on college campuses and how the colleges present themselves to the community.

The Somerville Theater is on the Historical Register and therefore is a protected space. Each of these theaters was the center of the surrounding neighborhood, providing a space for socializing and public entertainment.