The Cape Cod Museum of Art is inaugurating its Cape Playhouse and Summer Stock retrospective exhibition with a reception open to the public.

FRIDAY, JULY 29 FROM 5:30 PM TO 7 PM.

Sponsored by the Rotary Club of Harwich Dennis and the Cape Cod Museum Trail.
When Henry Fonda appeared at the Cape Playhouse, his daughter, Jane, joined him on the Cape.

In 2004, the story goes, several employees at the Cape Playhouse in Dennis were discussing the presence of spirits, and in particular one they nicknamed "Gertie," when a sliver of paper came fluttering down from a wooden ceiling beam. Written on the paper was Gertrude Lawrence's signature, next to the date 1943.

This anecdote shared in a story by the Boston Globe touches on the hundreds of memories going back to 1927 at one of the nation's preeminent summer stock theaters.

Today, the Cape Playhouse is the last one standing. But during the heyday of summer stock, the greatest theater and movie actors of the times would appear right here on Cape Cod.
From Henry Fonda and Gregory Peck to Tandy and Cronyn, from Ginger Rodgers to Basil Rathbone, these icons would take their shows on the road from Long Island to Maine, every week or two in a different location over the entire summer - a respite from Hollywood and New York.

Of course, there was Lawrence herself, who made her home right here in Dennis.

You are most welcome to go back in time and share the stage with acting immortals. Share your own memories and let us record them. Lend your own Playbills and other mementos as the museum expands its presentation.

You also can enjoy three other exhibitions celebrating the museum's 35th anniversary -

- At the Crossroads - Six Narratives at the Intersection of Identity and Community
- William Hemmindinger - The Duxbury Merchant
- Robert Douglas Hunter: A Life in Art

Click here to see more.