An audience waits for the beginning of a weekday matinee of "Keep on the Sunny Side," which reprises the story and music of the Original Carter Family.

Photos by STEPHANIE KLEIN-DAVIS The Roanoke Times

Clockwise from above: Adrienne Webber, costume shop manager, works on a dress for Fernande, a character in the upcoming production of "The Cure for Love." The dress is one of the outfits based on drawings by costume designer Michele Macadaeg. Heather Fleming, wig and make-up designer, weaves hair for a man's wig for the production of "Evita."

Choreographer Amanda Aldridge (at left, in blue) directs Logan Fritz, a fourth-grader from Washington County, Barter veteran Mike Ostroski (who plays Tommy's father) and others during a rehearsal of "The Who's Tommy."

Richard Rose, in his 16th season as the Barter's artistic director, credits cast and crew for the theater's abiding success.

Photos by STEPHANIE KLEIN-DAVIS The Roanoke Times

Barter Theater patrons line up along Abingdon's Main Street to see a weekday matinee of the musical "Keep on the Sunny Side."

Above: Ulysses and Jeannie Cradick of Mooresburg, Tenn., and Harold and Iris Deskins of Kingsport, Tenn., wait in the Barter's lobby before their matinee. The couples say they attend the theater two to three times a year. Right: Tim Robertson, resident musical director, plays the music to "Evita" while young actors rehearse under the direction of Evalyn Baron (in pink).

Photos by STEPHANIE KLEIN-DAVIS The Roanoke Times

Clockwise from above: Adrienne Webber, costume shop manager, works on a dress for Fernande, a character in the upcoming production of "The Cure for Love." The dress is one of the outfits based on drawings by costume designer Michele Macadaeg. Heather Fleming, wig and make-up designer, weaves hair for a man's wig for the production of "Evita."

Above: Ulysses and Jeannie Cradick of Mooresburg, Tenn., and Harold and Iris Deskins of Kingsport, Tenn., wait in the Barter's lobby before their matinee. The couples say they attend the theater two to three times a year. Right: Tim Robertson, resident musical director, plays the music to "Evita" while young actors rehearse under the direction of Evalyn Baron (in pink).

ABINGDON -- At the end of the Barter Theatre's first season, the theater company had $4.35 in the bank, two barrels of jelly and a collective weight gain of more than 300 pounds.

The theater first opened its doors June 10, 1933 -- in the midst of the Great Depression.

Robert Porterfield, the founder of Barter, moved home to Washington County when the actor found himself hungry and out of work in New York City. A far cry from the Big Apple, the community was aching to sell its crops. Porterfield's family didn't go hungry, but there was no market to speak of.

So the young man proposed a way to feed the starving artists while simultaneously giving the poor farmers and their families something to take their minds off hard times for two hours: the Barter Theatre. A ticket to see a show cost 35 cents or the equivalent value in produce.

At the beginning, though, people had their doubts. Porterfield found actors willing to move to Virginia from New York City, for food if nothing else, but the first few years of Barter Theatre were difficult.

"Everyone was treating him like he was out of his mind. He was looking for funding from the WPA program and they said, 'Absolutely not,' " said Richard Rose, Barter's current producing artistic director, in reference to the federal Works Progress Administration relief program. "Bob did it anyway."

Now, 75 years later, the theater no longer accepts chickens or hogs as currency. And tickets are now $20 to $40 for a main stage production.

But a few times a year, patrons are encouraged to barter their way into a show by bringing food that has value equal to the price of admission.

Except Rose, who calls himself the "Buck Stops Here Guy," asks that those interested in bartering kindly leave the live animals at home.

Community supported

Wednesday's Barter Night kicked off the theater's Big Barter Birthday Bash. Porterfield's theater -- once ridiculed -- is now the longest-running professional equity theater in the United States, the 10th-largest employer of Actors Equity members in League of Resident theaters and the State Theatre of Virginia.

In celebration, Barter's birthday party will last four days and combine history, bartering, food, games, demonstrations and, of course, plays.

"Evita" is Barter's newest production, and after the Friday night show, patrons will be invited across the street to a gala celebration of the Tony Award-winning Andrew Lloyd Webber musical. Many of the theater's biggest donors and even some famous alumni are expected to attend, but tickets are still available to the general public. Everyone with a seat in the 507-person theater for that night's showing of "Evita" will be invited to the gala.

While donations are a key part of the nonprofit theater's operation, money isn't everything.

Rose explained that while Barter Theatre is a professional theater, not a community theater, the community surrounding Barter has long been a huge part of its history.

"Washington County has about 52,000 people," Rose said. "Twenty-five thousand people in Washington County saw a show in Barter Theatre last year. That's half."

He added that on average, about 4 percent of people in the United States who live within 45 minutes of a theater will see a production each year.

"So to have a statistic where 50 percent of the population within 30 minutes of the theater have seen a show is unbelievable, overwhelming," he said. "It just doesn't happen anywhere else."

Jayne Duehring, the theater's director of advancement, planned much of the Big Barter Birthday Bash and put an emphasis on family and community.

"We felt it was really important as we approach the 75th year that we offer some kind of celebration to as many segments of our patrons as possible," Duehring said. "And we thought, 'What better than a birthday bash on Stonewall Square?' "

The square, which will soon be named Porterfield Square for the theater's founder and currently has a giant pink cake sprouting up in its center in celebration of the theater's birthday, is across the street from the Barter Theatre, next to Barter Stage II and the Barter Cafe.

The bash, which will happen in between the three Saturday matinees on the Barter main stage and at Barter Stage II -- "Sleeping Beauty" and "Don't Cry for Me Margaret Mitchell" are also showing this weekend -- will involve games and activities including an obstacle course, bean bag toss, puppet making and food.

Barter cast and crew will be on hand for photo opportunities and games that teach about the theater while they entertain guests from near and far.

Barter was once the only attraction in Abingdon, said Myra D. Cook, the executive director of the Abingdon Convention and Visitor's Center. She remember annual visits the theater from her Bristol elementary school.

There's much more to do in the town now, but Cook, like many others in the community, hold Barter close.

"It's still a thrill for me to walk into the Barter," she said. "I go back in time and feel like a child."

But, Barter has seen some guests from afar, too. At least 4 percent of patrons each year are international.

"Literally, one year we had seen almost every country in the world, and I'm talking Uzbekistan and the most remote countries," said Rose, half laughing as he remembered that season when he was asking audience members to let him know if anyone was from Antarctica -- the only continent that had not yet been represented that year.

"And one day, this woman raises her hand," he said. "And I said, 'You can't be from Antarctica.' "

Turns out she wasn't, but the well-known Argentinian actress claimed she was from a village in Argentina that was as close as you could get to the frozen continent by land.

Later that season, Rose was still doing the Antarctica joke during the curtain speech he makes before each main stage production when another person raised his hand.

"I was stationed in a naval station in Antarctica for the last two years," the man, an American, said.

Rose told the man he counted.

"That's as close as you get."

A booming operation

When Rose, 53, joined Barter 16 years ago, the theater was self-sufficient, but its success had plateaued. Rose succeeded Rex Partington, the theater's second producing artistic director, who retired in 1992.

The year before Rose's arrival, Barter Theatre sold 47,000 tickets annually, had a budget of just under $800,000, and five full-time employees.

"Now we put 160,000-plus people through the doors and have a budget of about $6.2 million," Rose said. "We have 135 year-round employees and [at least] another 145 seasonal and part time."

Rose is quick to credit others' contributions, from the theater's founder -- "It was really Bob that started [Barter] and kept it going," -- to its actors -- "Their abilities are phenomenal."

And Rose's cast and crew think pretty highly of him, too. Mike Ostroski, 33, is said to have performed in more Barter productions than any other person -- he's working on his 65th and 66th right now. The 6-foot-4-inch actor came to Abingdon from New York City in 1999 to play the part of Jacob Anderson in "Shenandoah," a play directed by Rose.

Almost 10 years later, Ostroski is a Barter resident company member and says he plans to stay as long as Rose lets him. He loves that he's able to act every day and is quick to recommend Abingdon and the Barter Theatre.

"I couldn't have made this place up," he said.

The theater's musical director, Tim Robertson, hasn't been around for quite as long as some of his colleagues. He had been trying to get a job at Barter Theatre for years and finally landed one a few months ago.

Right before he jumped back at his piano to rehearse another few bars of "Santa Evita," he summed up his passion for Barter: "It's a real family."