Stoneham Theatre
The Stoneham Theatre was built in 1917 for vaudeville,
then movies—silents, then talkies. By the 1990s
it was empty, and in 1999 purchased by the Symes
Family Foundation, who after a $2 million restoration
gave it rent-free to a newly-created performing
arts organization, as the only professional theatre
serving 16 MetroNorth communities: Stoneham,
Andover, Billerica, Burlington, Lynnfield, Malden,
Medford, Melrose, North Reading, Reading, Saugus,
Tewksbury, Wakefield, Wilmington, Winchester, and
Woburn. They have flourished, offering a September-
June “Mainstage” season of up to eight theatrical or
musical productions; a summer concert series; a yearround
educational program for students grades 2-12,
and since 2005 a small art gallery. Their audience has
grown from 9,000 to 35,000—8th place on the Boston
Business Journal’s List of Largest Performing Arts
Organizations. Their Youth Program has increased
from 14 students in 2001, to over 150 now. As to
quality, they received four IRNE (Independent
Reviewers of New England) Award nominations in
2006, and three in 2005 (Best Director, Best Actor,
and Best Actress). It makes a nice story that for the
past two years the Artistic Director has been Weylin
Symes, of the same family whose foundation eight
years ago restored and gave the Theatre to the community—
there are no corporate connections between
the Boards of the Foundation and the Theatre.

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