By Dulcie C. Gilmore
Anyone who has sat, alone, in the ghost light of the
Auditorium Theatre knows it has a strong persona. Once the crowds have
left and the actors have retired for the evening, the theatre itself invites
those from the past to come from the shadows. But what lurks there from
the ancient past, from the ground itself?
Many sightings of Native Americans occurred in 1987.
One was particularly strong. A large group took an architectural tour of
the theatre on a chilly day in October. At the end of the tour, we paused
for questions. One lady asked what production was in rehearsal. I
thought it an odd question, as the stage was bare. I replied that we were
dark at the time. She, along with several other guests, asked why the
person in Native American costume was on stage. Many of them saw him
cross from stage left to stage right. The chief was wearing a war bonnet
headdress . . . the feathers were huge.
I had seen him, too, on another occasion.
We decided to have the theatre “cleansed”. My
assistant (who was keenly interested in these matters) found a woman to perform
the task. She spoke to the spirits in a strange tongue that I did not
understand. We learned that the Auditorium was built on the site of a
battle at which a young Indian chief and his princess were killed. The
cleanser came back with sage, cedar and sweet grass. During the smudging,
she spoke to the Indian spirits and encouraged them to leave. Negative
energy rose with the smoke and left the theatre clarified and pure.
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Dulcie C. Gilmore was executive director of the Auditorium
Theatre from 1987 to 1997. During her tenure, the theatre hosted Les
Miserables (the first long run in the theatre’s history), and the openings
of the first national companies of The Phantom of the Opera, Miss Saigon and
Show Boat.
