Location
Name |
The Emporium Theatre |
Type |
Building |
Environ |
Neptune City, Muse Avenue |
Accessibility |
Public |
Owner/Ruler |
Various 1901 - 1938: Chadwick Eldred
|
Size |
Large Victorian Theatre |
Era First Known |
Universal (built 1901) |
Active Eras |
All |
Description

The Emporium was originally built in 1901, as a traditional
theatre for musical productions and dramatic plays.
It was THE spot for
plays and musical performances in the 1920s.
During WWII it became known
for excellent USO shows.
After the war, it alternated musicals with
off-broadway productions.
In the early 1960s, the Emporium was sold, and
became a movie house. For a while it did well, until rumors of a haunting drove
customer business away. In reality, the "haunted" rumors came from a creature,
known as the Subterranean, living in the basement.
In the 1970s, the
theatre was briefly used for a few years as a pornographic movie theatre, before
being closed for a few years.
In the 1980s, the theatre was sold to a
small dramatic company, the Norfolk County Shakespeare Company. After holding
annual winter and summer productions, and renting out the theatre for local
school and college events during other months, the Emporium is once again a
thriving business. Today the Shakespeare company plays to rave reviews, and is
considered one of the best south of New York City.
Environment
Large old theatre, very sturdy building, exquisite
architectural details.
In the 1960s, a supervillain/creature
(Subterranean) took up residence in the basement, and began building intricate
and massive tunnels deep into the earth. Those tunnels and caves still exist,
and in fact have contacted the Sunless Land, miles beneath the surface.