Hedgerow Theatre in Rose Valley is selling off its furniture handcrafted by legendary furniture maker and sculptor Wharton Esherick, writes Joseph G. Brin for hiddencityphila.org.

Eight hammer handle wood chairs and three tables with Esherick’s trademark will be auctioned off March 31 to the highest bidder.

Funds raised will help with building repairs and create an endowment to finance the theater’s future.

Hedgerow was founded in 1923 and is America’s first resident repertory theater.

Jared Reed, producing artistic director of Hedgerow, acknowledges the value and historical importance of the pieces, but feels the furniture has become a liability, sustaining damage from theater goers.

“We are not the proper curators of the pieces,” said Reed.

The theater is in a converted 19^th century bobbin mill, the Guild Hall building, which Hedgerow took over in the 1920s.

Esherick and his daughter were actively involved in the theater. Esherick provided furniture for the theater in exchange for acting lessons for his daughter.

Ryan Berley, curator of the new Rose Valley Museum at Thunderbird Lodge, is spearheading a last-ditch effort to purchase the auction pieces to create a dedicated gallery to Wharton Esherick.

Read more about Hedgerow’s sale of its historical Esherick furniture here.

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