The Wells Theatre, home of Virginia Stage Company, was built in 1912 and served as the opulent flagship of a string of forty legitimate theatres in the South owned by Jake and Otto Wells. Today it remains a remarkably well-preserved example of Beaux-Arts Classicism. On August 26, 1913 the Wells opened to a capacity house for The Merry Countess, a Shubert musical. In 1916, Jake Wells installed a movie screen and projector making the Wells the most dazzling first-run movie house in the Southeast, although legitimate bookings continued to occupy most of the theatre's schedule. Throughout the Great Depression, the Wells staged vaudeville shows, along with movies. By the beginning of World War II, the Wells Theatre was presenting movies and vaudeville as well as burlesque, which provided its steadiest source of income by attracting thousands of sailors stationed in Norfolk. Moviegoers of the 1940s and 50s enjoyed its double and triple features. In the 1960s the Wells shared in the general decline of downtown Norfolk by converting to an X-rated moviehouse (Norfolk's one and only).   Virginia Stage Company took possession of the Wells Theatre in 1979. The renaissance of the historic theatre began. The $4.7 million restoration and renovation was completed in 1986 thanks to the generosity of the people of Hampton Roads.