State Theatre (Sydney)

The State Theatre is a heritage-listed theatre, located in Market Street, in the city centre of Sydney, Australia. It hosts film screenings, live theatre and musical performances, and since 1974 it has been the home of the annual Sydney Film Festival.

Description and history

Located in Market Street on the site former offices of the Evening News newspaper, building commenced on the State Theatre in 1927 with an estimated construction budget of £400,000. The Greater Union theatre chain had purchased the land in 1926. The cost blew out to over a million pounds, and the theatre opened with the Ernst Lubitsch film The Patriot on 7 June 1929. Seating approximately 2000, it was eclipsed in size by its namesake, the State Theatre in Melbourne, which sat 3371. However, it was much more ornate, having been lavishly designed by Sydney architect Henry Eli White who based his work on that of American architect John Eberson in the United States, and invited the latter to work with him on the theatre in Australia. The theatre incorporates such eclectic elements as Gothic, Italian and Art deco design.

State Theatre (Portland, Maine)

The State Theatre is a historic theater located at 609 Congress Street in downtown Portland, Maine, which features a combination of Moorish and Art Deco architecture. It reopened as a 1,870 seat performing arts venue in 2010.

History of the State Theatre

The State Theatre was designed by Portland architect Herbert W. Rhodes, originally containing 2,300 seats. The Congress building it is located in was designed to be a creative combination of Spanish, Italian, and Art Deco aesthetics with elaborate works of art. The theater's expensive furnishings, which included wrought iron stairs, bronze doors, tapestry rugs hung from vaulted ceilings decorated with intricate moldings and paintings, four Spanish balconies, and a Wurlitzer Organ were some of the remarkably lavish highlights of the original building. It was also technologically advanced for its time. It aimed to give audiences the richest film experiences of the era with three projectors and a magnascope, which generated an enormous and quality picture.

State Theatre (Traverse City, Michigan)

The State Theatre in Traverse City, Michigan, USA was recently acquired by the Traverse City Film Festival from a gift by Grand Traverse Rotary. The theatre underwent restoration and was re-opened on November 17, 2007.

The State Theatre is located on East Front Street in downtown Traverse City and was originally built in 1918 and rebuilt in 1923 after a fire. It showed the first talking movie seen in Northern Michigan in 1929 when it was known as the Lyric Theatre. It closed down in 1991, when the cinemas at the Grand Traverse Mall opened, and mall cinema owners GKC wanted business at those new theaters. GKC (now Carmike) placed a deed restriction on subsequent owners of the State to prevent them from showing certain major Hollywood films. The theatre was revitalized before being used during the Traverse City Film Festival which began in July 2005. On November 17, 2007, the community celebrated the grand opening of the theater as a year-round art house. The building was restored through hundreds of volunteer hours and financial support of director Michael Moore. In addition to Michael Moore, many other contributors provided financial support that helped in the long process of re-opening the State Theatre.

State Theatre (Melbourne)

Melbourne's original State Theatre was built in 1929 to seat 3,371 patrons and is situated on Flinders Street. It was conceived as an "atmospheric auditorium", a novelty in Melbourne at the time. Another notable feature was the dual-console Wurlitzer organ, the first to be built "west of Chicago", and since relocated to the Moorabbin Town Hall in 1967. The State Theatre was renamed the Forum in 1963.

The current State Theatre opened in 1984 and is part of the The Arts Centre located by the Yarra River and St Kilda Road, the city's main thoroughfare. The State Theatre is a venue for ballet, opera and other productions (but not plays, which are performed in The Playhouse and elsewhere). Like the other performance venues within the Arts Centre, the State Theatre is underground. The stage is one of the largest in the world.

Companies performing opera in the State Theatre include Opera Australia (which has presented seven or eight operas each season). The first opera in the State Theatre was the new John Copley production of Don Carlos, (Verdi) in 1984 by the Victoria State Opera.

Sydney

Sydney /ˈsɪdni/ is the state capital of New South Wales and the most populous city in Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds the world's largest natural harbour, and sprawls towards the Blue Mountains to the west. Residents of Sydney are known as "Sydneysiders". Sydney is the second official seat and second official residence of the Governor-General of Australia, the Prime Minister of Australia and the Cabinet of Australia.

The Sydney area has been inhabited by indigenous Australians since the Upper Paleolithic period. The first British settlers arrived in 1788 to found Sydney as a penal colony, the first European settlement in Australia. Since convict transportation ended in the mid-19th century, the city has transformed from a colonial outpost into a major global cultural and economic centre.

The population of Sydney at the time of the 2011 census was 4.39 million, 1.5 million of which were born overseas, representing many different nationalities and making Sydney one of the most multicultural cities in the world. There are more than 250 different languages spoken in Sydney and about one-third of residents speak a language other than English at home.

Sidney (surname)

Sidney or Sydney is an English surname. It is probably derived from an Anglo-Saxon locational name, [æt þǣre] sīdan īege = "[at the] wide island/watermeadow (in the dative case). There is also a folk etymological derivation from the French place name Saint-Denis.

The name has also been used as a given name since the 19th century.

British peerage

The Sidney family rose to prominence in the Tudor period with the courtier Sir William Sidney (d. 1554). His son Henry Sidney (1529–1586) became a prominent politician and courtier. By Mary Dudley, Lady Sidney (d. 1586) he was the father of Philip Sidney (1554–1586), poet and courtier under Elizabeth I, Mary Sidney (1561–1621), married Mary Herbert, Countess of Pembroke and Robert Sidney, 1st Earl of Leicester (d.1626). The latter was created Baron Sydney of Penhurst in 1603. Following Robert, the Earls of Leicester bore the surname Sidney:

Sydney 38

The Sydney 38 is a racing/cruising sailing yacht. It is one of the largest fleets of one-design oceangoing yachts in Australia. The yacht is manufactured by Sydney Yachts.

Specifications

Rig and sail dimensions

Classification

CE Category: A - Ocean

IRC Rating (approx): 1.112

External links