ACT TWO FOR TEN CHIMNEYS OWNER FINDS A NEW ROLE FOR GRAND OLD HOUSE.(Daybreak)

The ``First Couple of American Theater,'' Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne, have a Broadway theater named for them. But it may someday be Ten Chimneys, their rambling country estate deep in the Kettle Moraine hills of Waukesha County, that carries their legacy to future generations of theater lovers.

The 60-acre estate is where the Lunts spent their summers and retirement years during their 55-year marriage. Friends such as actresses Helen Hayes, Lillian Gish, Carol Channing, playwrights Noel Coward, Moss Hart and Eugene O'Neill came to this remote Wisconsin village to relax or work in the solitude of the Lunts' rustic studio.

Two years ago, when the estate was finally sold out of the family, the story of Ten Chimneys nearly came to a sad finale. But in a fairly dramatic plot turn, it was saved from real estate developers who had visions of dividing the wooded property and building condominiums or apartments.

Enter a perfectly cast hero: Joe Garton, a wealthy arts patron with a doctorate in theater and film from UW-Madison, a Wisconsin native with a deep love of state history. As owner of Quivey's Grove, an old stone restaurant in Verona, Garton brought with him the knowledge of how to breathe new life into historic buildings.

Garton's 11th-hour rescue involved buying the property, which was listed at $1.1 million, to keep it out of the hands of developers. The property was recently sold to a nonprofit Ten Chimneys Foundation. The Foundation will oversee the estate's restoration and guide it into becoming a national theater center -- a living landmark that Garton hopes will be on a par with Frank Lloyd Wright's Spring Green home, Taliesin. Garton is a Foundation board member and intends to play an active role in Ten Chimney's future.

Ideas for how the estate will be used are still churning. After vital repairs such as new roofs, it will first be opened as a house museum. It will eventually become an educational center for theater. Relationships are being forged with the theater departments at UW-Milwaukee and Carroll College, which Lunt attended before setting off to conquer Broadway. Garton says there will be workshops, seminars and masters' programs. Already, teams of college theater students have been cleaning up the estate. A $50,000 state matching grant was presented to help prime the fund-raising pump.

The first production of a reborn Ten Chimneys is already in the works thanks to a grant from the Wisconsin Humanities Council. It involves finding the local people who, when they were teen-agers, worked for the Lunts. Their memories will be recorded by an oral historian, and a New York playwright will spin them into a vehicle for the spirits of Lunt and Fontanne.

Who the players were:

Alfred Lunt (1892-1977) was one of the outstanding American actors of his generation, known for his distinguished voice. In 1922 Lunt, who was born in Milwaukee, married English actress Lynn Fontanne (1887-1983), who was best known for her sophisticated glamour. They became the most celebrated American acting team of their time. They co-starred in 27 productions.

On the Internet

For more great photos and additional information about the home of Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne, check out the Wisconsin State Journal's Web site, www.madison.com.