"JAMES B. POND PRESENTS LEIGHTON ROLLINS, MANAGING DIRECTOR THE SURRY PLAYHOUSE TALKS ON THE THEATRE, ON CURRENT PLAYS, ON PLAY GOING". An original advertising brochure promoting a series of lectures under the aegis of The Pond Bureau. by Rollins, Leighton (1900-1981) - [1930].

New York: The Pond Bureau, circa [1930]., [1930].. Good. - sc - A 3-page brochure measuring 11 inches high by 8-1/2 inches wide advertising a series of lectures by the founder and director of the Surry Playhouse in Surry, Maine. Titled and illustrated in green on the front cover, with biographical and descriptive text and several "appreciation of Mr. Rollins" blurbs, including one by Daniel Frohman, printed within. There are some minor creases to the edges and a tiny piece is out from the bottom corner of the cover leaf. Good. <p>"He built his theatre on the top of a hill. In a hay field. Nineteen miles away one could see the mountains of Mt. Dessert Island rising above Bar Harbor...." -- [Quoted from the text].<p>Referring to himself as a writer, director, producer and teacher of the theatre, Leighton Rollins (1900-1981) first taught English before being engaged as the director's assistant by the Repertory Theatre of Boston. He spent some time working in New York before returning east to found one of the earliest summer stock theaters in the US in Surrey, Maine. He subsequently ran the Mount Desert Playhouse and would take his company to the Palm Beach Playhouse over the Winters. He opened the Leighton Rollins Studio in East Hampton, NY in 1934 and, 10 years later, The Leighton Rollins Theater School. He moved to Santa Barbara, California in 1948, where he continued his work in the performing arts.