"Stage Curtains Without Borders" Visits North Wayne Schoolhouse

M. J. Davis of Stage Curtains Without Borders, a Vermont organization that specializes in restoring old stage curtains throughout New England, visited the North Wayne Schoolhouse on Friday, July 25 to inspect the "Ben Hur" curtain recently returned to its original second floor home. Pictured at left, l-r, Eric Morrill, Bob McLaughlin, M.J. Davis, Lois Ault. The Committee learned a great deal about the history and conservation of similar painted stage curtains, of which there are quite a few more than we had thought. In fact, on the same trip, M. J. Davis was visiting both Vienna and Gardiner to advise those towns on their curtains.

In order to determine whether the curtain had been painted in oils or in water-based paint, M. J. Davis applied the "sniff" test.

The result? Oil.


The Committee will be considering the VT organization's conservation proposal soon. If accepted, the conservators would travel to North Wayne bringing their specialized restoration equipment and work for three to four days on location in the schoolhouse while boarding with local residents.

The stage curtain that once hung on the second floor of the schoolhouse came home today, thanks to the generosity of Brenda Joseph at Steep Hill Farm, in whose barn it had been stored for many years. Lura Wells and E. L. Crosby created a lasting heirloom for Wayne when they painted a vibrant scene of a Roman charioteer urging on his four horses on cloth for the children who attended the North Wayne school.

Left, Eric Morrill lifts the curtain wrapped on its wooden spindle (which was mounted into the stage opening and turned to raise and drop the curtain) off the roof of the SUV that brought it from the Steep Hill barn to the schoolhouse.




Here, it's carried into the front door of the schoolhouse, where it was laid on a table on the first floor and given a quick admiring "peek" before being taken up to the second floor. The Schoolhouse Committee will meet with The Maine Historical Society and other experts for advice on its restoration and care.



Out the door again to be taken upstairs while the first floor gets its final touches -- a newly cleaned and oiled wood floor and a great collection of old-fashioned school desks for the recreation of a one-room schoolhouse classroom now underway.




Now it's up the exterior fire stairs to the second floor, where awaits a new life in a revived schoolhouse.