Thick, velvet curtains that match plush, red chairs greet patrons of the Muncie Civic Theatre in downtown Muncie. From the back row, audience members can see everything: the lights, the décor and the grand stage.
The theater’s long history involves glamour, business deals and ghosts.
MCT’s business director, Chris Griffith, knows all about the theater and the theater organization’s history.
“Muncie Civic Theatre enriches the whole community through theater performance, education and outreach,” he said.
MCT has a long history of providing entertainment to the citizens of Muncie.
Griffith explained that James Boyce, a great businessman of his time, built the building that houses the theater in 1880.
Boyce was an advocate for the city of Muncie. He persuaded the Ball brothers to come to the city.
“He wined and dined them, and offered them free gas to pay for the glass they needed,” Griffith said.
The Ball brothers signed the deed to the city in the building we know now as the MCT.
“The Ball brothers basically told Boyce that they loved the people, but the town sucked,” Griffith said.
For this reason, the Ball brothers pushed to make the building a theater.
In the 1890s, a block of buildings, previously storefronts, were constructed and altered to make room for the theater.
Different styles of performances have defined certain eras of the theater.
First, the theater hosted burlesque shows, then shows with traveling acts. The theater even transformed into a speakeasy during prohibition.
Its name changed almost as much as the entertainment. Before the MCT organization took over, the space was named the Hoosier Theatre. Before that, it was the Star Theatre.
The MCT organization that now owns the theater was founded by one of the original Ball brother's sons, William H. Ball, in 1931.
He founded the organization at the Masonic Temple Auditorium, where shows were performed until 1961.
In 1961, the organization took over the building where the Muncie Civic Theatre makes its home.
According to Griffith and other visitors to the theater, the audience members of this century aren't the only ones who still enjoy the shows.
When the theater was a vaudeville house, according to lore, one of the stagehand’s daughters died above the theater. Employees and volunteers of the theater report hearing her skipping upstairs.
Another ghost story involves two patrons who died on their way to see a show after their carriage slid off an icy road.
Their bodies may not have made it to the show on time, but visitors have reported seeing their ghosts sitting in the audience and enjoying the shows.
Devin Summan, a junior communications major, has recently joined Muncie Civic Theatre for the production of “Peter Pan.”
Summan, a pirate in the production, shared his experiences with the theater.
“This is my first experience at MCT and it has been a lot of fun getting to meet new people and working together to tell one of my favorite stories,” Summan said.
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