Barter Theatre
155 E Main St, Abingdon, VA
Abingdon, VA
A working professional theater that opened in the depths of the Depression by letting hungry mountain audiences pay for their seats with hams, chickens, and jars of jam.
Barter Theatre in Abingdon is one of the oldest professional resident theaters in the country, and it owes its survival to one of the great Depression-era ideas in American show business. In 1933, when almost no one had cash for a theater ticket but the mountain farms were rich in food, a young actor named Robert Porterfield opened a theater where audiences could pay their way in produce. The slogan was simple: with vegetables you cannot sell, you can buy a good laugh.
The scheme worked. Farmers arrived with hams, chickens, eggs, and jars of preserves, the actors ate what came through the door, and a professional theater took root in a small Appalachian town where no one thought it could last. Nearly a century later, Barter is the official State Theatre of Virginia, a launching pad for major American actors, and the beating cultural heart of Abingdon.
What Guests Love
- Live professional theater in a jewel-box historic playhouse deep in the mountains
- The wonderful founding story of tickets traded for ham, eggs, and vegetables
- Spotting the roster of famous actors who got their start on this stage
- A stroll along Abingdon's brick Main Street and the Virginia Creeper Trail before the show
Worth Knowing
- It is a resident professional theater with a full season, so check what is playing when you plan a visit
- Abingdon is walkable, with dining and lodging within a few blocks of the theater
- The theater runs two stages, the historic main house and the Barter Stage II across the street
- The Virginia Creeper Trail begins in town if you want to walk or bike before the curtain
Details
Abingdon, VA
Learn about Barter Theatre
Ham for Hamlet
Robert Porterfield was an Abingdon-area native trying to make it as an actor in New York when the Depression left him and scores of fellow performers out of work and hungry. Looking back at his home country, where cash was scarce but food was not, he hatched a plan to bring unemployed actors south and let mountain audiences pay for their entertainment in whatever the land produced. The theater opened on June 10, 1933.
The going rate was set at about forty cents, or its equivalent in produce, and people paid in hams, live chickens, milk, eggs, and homegrown vegetables. The playwright George Bernard Shaw, a vegetarian, reportedly asked to be paid in spinach rather than the usual meat. Porterfield liked to say that four out of five actors got a better diet in Abingdon than they had in New York, and the theater's motto became, With vegetables you cannot sell, you can buy a good laugh.
A launching pad for stars
Over its long history Barter has served as an early proving ground for a remarkable number of actors who went on to fame. Gregory Peck, Patricia Neal, Ernest Borgnine, Ned Beatty, and Hume Cronyn are among the performers who worked its stage in their early careers, and the theater has long been proud of the talent it launched and nurtured.
That legacy comes from Barter's identity as a genuine professional resident company, not a summer stock novelty. Actors, directors, and designers make Abingdon a working home, mounting a full season of plays and musicals year after year. The combination of serious craft and small-town intimacy gives the theater its particular flavor, big-league performances in a jewel-box house far from any city.
The playhouse and its stages
The main theater occupies a handsome historic building on Abingdon's Main Street that has served the town in various roles over the generations. Its intimate house puts every seat close to the action, so audiences feel the immediacy that larger theaters lose. Across the street, a second, more flexible space known as Barter Stage II hosts smaller and more experimental productions.
Together the two stages let Barter run an ambitious mix of classics, comedies, musicals, dramas, and new work throughout the year. The theater has weathered fires, wars, and lean seasons, and its endurance has made it a point of deep local pride, the institution that put a small mountain town on the national cultural map.
Historic Abingdon around it
Barter would not be quite what it is without the town around it. Abingdon is one of the best-preserved historic towns in the southern mountains, its Main Street lined with brick storefronts, galleries, and inns, including the grand Martha Washington Inn directly across from the theater. The whole district invites a slow walk before or after a show.
The town is also the eastern terminus of the Virginia Creeper Trail, a rail-trail that climbs into the high country toward Mount Rogers, drawing hikers and cyclists. A visit to Barter fits easily into a day that mixes theater, mountain scenery, and small-town Appalachian charm, which is exactly the combination that keeps people coming back.
Closest Boutels
The closest Boutel™ stays, so you can turn this stop into an overnight. Each is an independently owned, editorially selected place to stay.
Things to Do Near Abingdon
Virginia Creeper Trail
In town
A scenic rail-trail beginning in Abingdon and climbing toward the high country of Mount Rogers, popular for biking and walking.
Martha Washington Inn
Across the street
A grand historic inn facing the theater, built from an old mansion and steeped in Civil War-era stories.
Grayson Highlands State Park
About 45 miles east
High alpine meadows with wild ponies and views toward Virginia's highest peaks, along the Appalachian Trail.
Abingdon Arts District
In town
A walkable stretch of galleries, studios, and craft shops that grew up around the theater and the Creeper Trail.