Ancient Greek Theatrics
Ancient Greek Tragedies have been very popular throughout history, and the tradition continued in the 1900s when Greek immigrants in Greenville, SC produced numerous plays.
The plays were performed in Greenville’s Carolina Theatre on Sundays. South Carolina movie theaters were closed on Sunday, giving the Greek population access to them for their performances.
Opening in 1925, the Carolina Theatre was a very elegant and large performance venue—Greenville's finest. The theatre was located at 310 North Main Street, where the Hyatt now stands. Carolina Theatre was state of the art in its day, with a moveable stage, orchestra pit, rocking chair seats, and the best air conditioning in the city. It was a very successful and popular venue until the 1960s.
Carolina Theatre was one of seven downtown Greenville theaters. Others included Center Theatre, where there was segregated seating. Next door was the Paris Theatre and a half block from it sat the Ritz Theatre. Further down Main Street was a 10-cent ticket theater named the Bijou showing cheap movies. The Rivoli Theatre was a western movies theatre. The Liberty Theater, located on Spring Street off Washington Street was for black patrons only. Amazing changes have occurred since then, but this brief history explains why Greek immigrants were allowed to use the Carolina Theatre stage for their plays on Sundays--a day when the movie theaters were closed by law.
