HAUNTED LAWRENCE

If you have ever found yourself alone in a dark and empty theater, then
you likely know firsthand how terrifying such an experience can be. Odd
sounds echo across the stage, shadows flicker in your peripheral vision, and
sometimes you feel as if you are being watched.The more rational among us
will argue that these spooky occurrences are merely tricks of the mind and
are therefore are nothing to fear. Others, however, will contend that these
happenings are caused by something paranormal.
And according to the stories that have circulated around Lawrence in
the last thirty years, at one point something definitely paranormal was
hiding in the old community theater building that sits on the northeast
corner of New Hampshire and Fifteenth Streets.
This building was erected in 1948 by the Church of Christ at a cost of
about $30,000. Prior to its construction, a house stood on the site. The
church was later sold in 1964, and by the early 1970s, it housed the Full
Gospel Christian Assembly, which met at the location for several decades.
However, the assembly later dissolved in the mid-1980s after a heated
disagreement caused a permanent rift in the congregation. Because of this
schism, the suddenly bifurcated organization was left with no other option
but to sell its church.
At the same time that the Full Gospel Christian Assembly put the building
on the market, the Lawrence Community Theatre group was seeking a
permanent home. For many years, troupe members had wandered somewhat
aimlessly throughout the city, moving from practice space to practice space.
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And because they had no real place to call their own, members performed
their shows at the Lawrence Art Center.
Needless to say, the church was exactly the space that the Community
Theatre was in need of, and so the organization soon purchased the building.
While it took six months and a large amount of money to revamp the
structure, by 1985, the theater was open for business. In January of that year,
the Lawrence Community Theatre put on the first show in its new home: a
production of I Was Here a Moment Ago by local playwright John Clifford.
For the first few years, the building’s interior aesthetic was somewhat ad
hoc. For instance, the pews that had been previously used by members of
the Full Gospel Christian Assembly were repurposed to serve as theater
seating. (In the 1990s, this changed when seats that had once been used
in the Granada Theatre were acquired.) But the informal nature of the
setup did not matter, and the Lawrence Community Theatre spent almost
three decades in this location, performing dozens upon dozens of plays and
musicals to local critical acclaim.
In 2013, the Lawrence Community Theatre moved to a new building
located on Bauer Farm Drive in the western part of the city. The following
year, the former theater was renovated and converted once again into
a place of worship. It currently serves the community as the home of
Vintage Church.
As soon as the Lawrence Community Theatre claimed the building as its
own, stories began circulating among cast and crewmembers alike that the
building was haunted by some unknown entity. It was said that props would
mysteriously go missing or that lights would malfunction for seemingly no
reason. Some people claimed that when they were in the basement, they
sometimes heard footsteps on the floor above them, despite there being no
one else in the theater. Several individuals reported strange cold spots in the
building, and some sensed a “vague presence” with them, even when they
were by themselves. Others even felt as if they were constantly being watched.
And some stories suggest that the presence might not have been the
friendliest. One actress reported that she was pushed down stairs, but when
she turned to see who her attacker might be, there was no one there. In 2003,
a fire broke out that destroyed almost two-thirds of the theater’s costumes.
The official (and arguably more logical) explanation for the conflagration
was a faulty light fixture, but because every switch in the building was turned
off at the time, some blamed a restless spirit.
Cynthia Dahlberg, the former technical director for the theater, was one
of the many who believed that the building was haunted. However, she
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firmly rejected the idea that the ghost was malicious. Instead, she argued
that the ghost—whom she had somewhat lovingly nicknamed “Fred”—was
a friendly one.
Plenty of stories have circulated that suggest the old Lawrence
Community Theatre is the home to some sort of specter, but the most
convincing piece of evidence is not a story at all but rather a photograph
that was taken in 1987 by set designer Jack Riegle during a dress rehearsal
of the play Pack of Lies. In this picture, two individuals are seen on stage,
conversing at a table. Between the two, standing up, is some sort of semi-
transparent apparition, taking the form of what appears to be a woman.
While it is entirely possible that the ghost was just a reflection of some
bystander, the entity’s appearance did not match anyone in the theater at
the time the photo was taken. Riegle also maintained that the photo was
not intentionally touched up or modified in any way.
Questions about the woman’s identity soon surfaced. Dahlberg joked
that the spirit might be that of a dead actor who “never got enough stage
Vintage Church, the former location of the Lawrence Community Theatre. Author’s collection.
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time” and was thus forced to ham it up in the afterlife. However, this seems
unlikely, given that the picture was taken in 1987, only two years after
the theater had moved into the building. Maybe the entity was a member
of one of the congregations that used to worship in the old building. Or
maybe she was a former inhabitant of the house that once stood at 1501
New Hampshire Street. An anonymously penned document preserved by
the Watkins Museum, which details the ghost stories of Douglas County,
speculates: “Perhaps a former church member disapprove[d] of the
building’s [then current] function, or maybe somebody [didn’t] like the
show?” Incidentally, ever since the theater building has been repurposed
as a church, no ghostly phenomena have been reported. It seems that if
there was a spirit that once haunted the halls of the old theater, it is now
finally at rest.
The building is located just south of Liberty Memorial Central Middle
School, on the southwest corner of New Hampshire Street and East
Fifteenth Streets. The building is privately owned, and permission should
be sought for those interested in going inside.