WESTFORD — The following release was shared by Westford Museum Director Linda Greene for publication through WestfordCAT.
From Westford School Principal to Establishing the Nabnasset Lake Shore Theatre
By James Van Bever
Albert Franklin Trask was born in the Dorchester neighborhood of Boston on August 17, 1917. His parents Berthe and Halbert both worked as telegraph operators for Western Union. Albert’s mother was a Huntington whose family traces back to Samuel A. Huntington, who was one of the two delegates from the state of Connecticut who signed the Declaration of Independence.
Halbert Trask died at the outset of the Great Depression which left the family without an income. As Albert would later state, “In those days there was no pension, no Social Security, nothing.” To support the family, Trask’s mother took a job as a door-to-door salesperson selling women’s corsets. It was a difficult way for Berthe to support her family.
Despite these drawbacks, the young Trask managed to attend Dorchester High School where he became a member of the school band. Albert was also president of the Drama Club and took part in a few school plays. But what Albert remembers most about high school was when “the great John Phillip Sousa, the man who wrote the “Stars and Stripes Forever” who was a friend of the principal one day came to talk to us.”
While a senior at Dorchester High School, Trask worked as an usher at a local Vaudeville theatre. Albert recalled his experience at the theatre, “They would show a movie and put on some acts. “One week I learned they had not been able to book anybody, so I convinced the manager that I could fill the bill with my musical group from high school.” It was his first experience as a producer.
Upon graduating from Dorchester High School, Trask entered Boston University where he would receive a B.A. in Education. While at B.U., he met Harold D. Sylvester who was completing an advanced degree at the university. Sylvester, who was Westford’s school superintendent at the time, recommended that the young Trask apply for the principal position at the Frost School in Westford. To his amazement, the town hired him for the position.
Students and fellow teachers fondly remembered Trask as an excellent principal and teacher. Students and peers especially remembered Mr. Trask for his love of drama and poetry. Mrs. Rita Edwards Miller, who later became principal of the Frost School, was one of Trask’s students when she was an eighth grader. Miller recalled the positive impact that Mr. Trask left on her and her fellow students. “He was a fabulous instructor and when he read drama, short stories, and poem to us, we were enthralled.”
While at Frost School, Trask and his students published a book entitled “Poets of Tomorrow.” The book received a lot of interest and accolades, and “Robert Frost to whom it was dedicated, sent a letter complimenting the young poets.” The Frost principal also directed the Westford Academy Class of ’31 Senior Play “Whispering Pines” which the high school held at the Academy and Abbot Hall in Forge Village.
Unfortunately, the Westford School System was only able to retain Mr. Trask for one year. The former Dorchester resident would accept a position with the Hartford Connecticut school system. However, Mr. Trask would not be gone from Westford for long. He would return to the town in 1934, not as an educator but to establish a new theatre in Westford.
Mr. Trask and his wife Agnes (who Albert met on a visit to Vermont with his friend and longtime Westford resident Fisher Buckshorn) located a large barn in Nabnasset that was suitable for summer theatre. The Trasks were able to reach a deal with its owners the Lake Shore Realty Company of Boston, which was developing the land around Nabnasset Lake. The company offered “choice lots, as low as $89.10 down, and $ 1.00 weekly. Also, everyone who bought a lot was guaranteed free season tickets to shows staged three times a week in the theatre. It would be called the Nabnasset Lake Shore Theatre where Trask acted as “theatrical producer and teacher of stagecraft.”
In addition to establishing the playhouse, both A. Franklin (who Trask was now known as) and Agnes launched a summer drama school for young drama students from all parts of the United States and Canada. The drama school ran for two terms with about forty students for each semester. Tuition for the ten-week course during the first year was $ 300. However, outside donors often helped to reduce tuition for struggling students. Most students stayed in a dormitory which is now the site of the Northern Bank in Westford Center. Among the student mentors were author and actress Cornelia Otis Skinner and Ethel Barrymore Colt, the daughter of Ethel Barrymore.
The first play at Nabnasset playhouse entitled “Up pops the Devil” took place on July 11, 1934 before an audience of approximately eight hundred people. The audience consisted of the Lowell Chamber of Commerce, the three service clubs- Rotary, Lions, and Kiwanis, and the Lowell Paint and Powder Club. The Lowell Sun described “Up pops the Devil” as “a sophisticated Greenwich Village comedy which had a successful run on Broadway a few seasons ago.”
During the summers of ’34, ’35, and ’36, the Nabnasset Lake Shore Theatre was thriving. The summer drama school had expanded and had added faculty members Norman Stuart (who would later star in the film Battlestar Galactica), and Ethel Barrymore. Cornelia Otis Skinner had also returned to the theatre’s faculty.
However, despite the apparent success of the Lake Shore Theatre. Franklin and Agnes Trask decided to leave Westford and take their theatre to Plymouth, Massachusetts to form the Priscilla Beach Theatre. The speculation for the move was that the deal with Lake Shore Realty Company was not profitable as expected. Also, the Trasks thought that Plymouth appeared to be more theatre-oriented and “a reasonably flourishing tourist trade they thought they could attract.”
Priscilla Beach Theatre with its sixteen buildings became the largest summer theatre colony in the United States. Notable actors who began their careers at the Plymouth theatre include Paul Newman, Jean Seberg, Sandy Dennis, and Rob Reiner. The theatre in Plymouth, started by Franklin and Agnes Trasks, is still in operation today.
- Franklin Trask died on September 26, 2003, in Boca Raton, Florida at the age of eighty-six.
Sources:
“Lake Shore Theatre to open tonight in “Up Pops the Devil,” Lowell Sun, July 11, 1934, p. 21. Ibid. “Lake Shore Theatre,” July 11, 1935, p. 28.
Ibid. “Theatrical Producer and Teacher influenced many,” September 3, 1989, p. 66. “Former school principal gives $ 600.000 to church school, Westford Eagle, May 17, 1979, p. 2.
Ibid. “Frost principal center stage,” by George Adams Parkhust, August 24, 1989, p. 3. Jennings, Hamlin Bojan, Priscilla Beach Theatre, pp. 1,2,3-6,7,11,14,15,21.
Lake Shore Theatre.
By Jim VanBever
2019
The next time you drive or walk by the Nabnassett Country Club, take a look at the old foundation that still stands in front of the current Country Club. This old foundation was once the site of the Lake Shore Theatre that held plays and shows from 1934 to 1941. In fact, the theater held 1,200 people and was one of the largest summer theaters in the United States and such performers, as Ethel Barrymore Colt the daughter of Ethel Barrymore graced its stage.
The theater was founded by Albert Franklin Trask who was once the principal of the Frost School, his wife Agnes and Westford resident Fisher Buckshorn. In 1934 Mr. Trask was able to obtain the barn from the Lake Shore Realty Company of Boston which was developing the area around Nab Lake. The lots were being sold for as low as $89.00. Purchasing a lot included membership in the Nabnassett Country Club and free tickets to the Lake Shore Theatre. The venture became the “National Little Theatre”.
The Lake Shore Theatre also operated an acting colony that attracted college students from all across the United States. Most of the students stayed at the “Mansion,” formerly the John William Abbot House at 45 Main Street, which is now the site of the Northern Bank & Trust in Westford. In 1934, 1,200 students applied to the Lake Shore Theatre, but only 80 were accepted. Students took such courses as Acting Techniques and Directing and Playwriting. Tuition was $300 but was usually waived because of private donations. All students were required to take part in at least four plays that were held at the Lake Shore Theatre.
During the years from 1934 to 1936 the theater attracted some notable performers. Aside from Ethel Barrymore Colt who performed in 1935, Arthur Fiedler conductor of the Boston Pops was the guest of honor at “Gay Nineties” week in 1934. Other notables included actress/author Cornelia Otis Skinner who later appeared in such films as “The Uninvited” and “The Swimmer”; Walter Hampden who would later appear in such films as “The Hunchback of Notre Dame” and “The Adventures of Mark Twain”; Malcolm Lee Beggs an actor/director whose work included films such as “Houdini” and “Botany Bay” and later appeared in early television shows that included “Hopalong Cassidy” and “Hallmark Hall of Fame.”
Although it appeared the Lake Shore Theatre was thriving in 1936, Franklin Trask and his wife Agnes decided to leave Westford and move his theatre company and colony to Plymouth, MA and form the Priscilla Beach theatre. In 1937 and 1938 the Lake Shore Theatre continued under the direction of Robert Hooven Eshleman who continued the theatre with national casts and directors. In 1939, the theatre became the Westford Playhouse and was operated by the Blackfriars Repertory Theatre. The Blackfriars ran the theatre until 1941, which was its final season. The ensemble was by then made up of local performers.
During World War II the theatre barn was made into a factory for the weaving of steel nets to entrap enemy submarines. It is believed that fire later destroyed the building.
An exhibit on the Lake Shore Theatre is now on display in the Westford Museum, 2 Boston Road. The museum is open most Sundays from 1-3pm. Donations Welcome.
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