Arena Stage Explained

Arena Stage
Address:1101 Sixth Street
City:Southwest, Washington, D.C.
Country:United States
Coordinates:38.8772°N -77.0203°W
Publictransit:Waterfront station (Washington Metro)Metrobus (Washington, D.C.)
Operator:Molly Smith, Edgar Dobie
Genre:American Plays & Playwrights
Capacity:1,392
Opened:1950
Renovated:20082010
Yearsactive:1950present

Arena Stage is a not-for-profit regional theater based in Southwest, Washington, D.C.[1] Established in 1950, it was the first racially integrated theater in Washington, D.C.,[2] and its founders helped start the U.S. regional theater movement.[3] [4] Its theater complex was completed for the company in 2010; it is called The Mead Center for American Theater.

Since 1998 the theater's Artistic Director had been Molly Smith, who retired in July 2023. The current Artistic Director is Hana S. Sharif.https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/theater/2023/11/17/arena-stage-director-hana-sharif/ The Executive Producer is Edgar Dobie.[5] It is the largest company in the country dedicated to American plays and playwrights.[6] Arena Stage commissions and develops new plays through its Power Plays initiative.[7] The company serves an annual audience of more than 300,000.[8] Its productions have received numerous local and national awards, including the Tony Award for best regional theater[9] and over 600 Helen Hayes Awards.[10] [11] [12]

History

Founding, location, and theaters

The company was founded in Washington, D.C., in 1950 by Zelda and Thomas Fichandler and Edward Mangum.[13] Its first home was the Hippodrome Theatre, a former movie house.[14] In 1956, the company moved into the gymnasium of the old Heurich Brewery in Foggy Bottom; the theater was nicknamed "The Old Vat."[15]

In 1960, the company moved into its current complex on Sixth Street, which was designed for them by Chicago architect Harry Weese. He also designed the Arena's Kreeger Theater, which opened in 1970. In 1966, Robert Alexander joined the company and created the Living Stage as a social outreach improvisational theater. From 2008 to 2010, the complex was renovated and a third theatre was added, together with a variety of support spaces. The new complex, with the theatres under a glass skin, was named as the Mead Center for American Theater. Its outdoor terrace overlooks the Southwest Waterfront.

Inclusion and diversity focus

Arena was the first theatre in D.C. to be racially integrated.[16] [17] [18] Its production The Great White Hope, which opened at Arena Stage in 1967, was transferred to Broadway with its original cast, including James Earl Jones and Jane Alexander in the lead roles. Arena was the first regional theater to transfer a production to Broadway. When Arena Stage reprised the play in 2000 as part of its 50th-anniversary celebration, Mahershala Ali was cast as the male lead.[19] It was his first professional role.

In 1968, the company received a $250,000 grant from the Ford Foundation.[20] Part of it was to be used for the training of black actors. In 1987, Arena hosted a symposium on nontraditional casting.[21] In 1989, the company received a $1 million grant from the National Endowment for the Arts to train minority actors, directors, designers and administrators, and to produce plays from non-white cultures.

In the latter half of the 20th century, the company traveled abroad. In 1973, they performed Thornton Wilder's Our Town and Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee's Inherit the Wind in the Soviet Union after being encouraged by the U.S. State Department to do so. This made them the first regional theater to present U.S. plays in the USSR.

In 1980 Arena Stage was the first American theater company to be invited to the Hong Kong Arts Festival. It attended the Israel Festival in Jerusalem in 1987. In the U.S., to promote cultural diversity, Zelda Fichandler included plays from the Soviet Union, Romania, Poland, Hungary, Austria, East and West Germany, France, Switzerland, England, Canada, and Australia in the theater's repertoire. In 1991, Arena raised $4 million for a cultural diversity grant. This became the Allen Lee Hughes Fellowship Program.

In 1981, Arena developed Audio Description for visually impaired audience members. This made the company the first theater to create audio-described performances.

In 1976, Arena Stage became the first theater outside New York to receive a special Tony Award for theatrical excellence.

Original plays and films

In 2016, artistic director Molly Smith announced the Power Plays initiative to commission 25 original plays and musicals over the next 10 years to showcase American history from 1776 to modern day.[22] [23] These have included works by Jacqueline Lawton, Eve Ensler, Rajiv Joseph, Mary Kathryn Nagle, Sarah Ruhl, Lawrence Wright, Eduardo Machado, Aaron Posner, John Strand, Craig Lucas, Kenneth Lin, and Nathan Alan Davis.[24]

During the coronavirus pandemic, Arena Stage launched the Artists Marketplace as a way for people to commission or purchase work from the artists who have worked with the company.[25]

The company also produced three films: May 22, 2020, a docudrama that follows D.C.-Maryland-Virginia residents and captures a day in their lives during the pandemic;[26] Inside Voices, which features the stories of kids during the pandemic;[27] and The 51st State, about D.C. statehood issues.[28]

In 2021, the company released a three-part commissioned music series called Arena Riffs as part of its reopening.[29] [30]

Timeline

!Date!Event!Source
1950Arena Stage is founded as the first racially integrated theatre in Washington, D.C.
1959Arena Stage becomes a not-for-profit
1961The company's new complex, designed by Harry Weese, opens
1967The Great White Hope featuring James Earl Jones and Jane Alexander debuts
1971The company's Kreeger Theater opens
1973Arena is the first regional theater to tour behind the Iron Curtain
1976The company is awarded the Special Tony Award for Outstanding Regional Theater
1980Arena Stage is the first American theater company invited to the international Hong Kong Arts Festival
1981The company develops Audio Description for visually impaired audiences
1982Premier of Patrick Meyers' K2
1985The creation of a resident acting company
1987The company attends the Israel Festival in Jerusalem and presents The Crucible
1994The Price breaks existing box office records
2009Launch of the American Voices New Play Institute
2010The Price breaks existing box office records
2015Dear Evan Hansen premieres at Arena Stage[31]
2016Commissioning of 25 original works announced under the Power Plays initiative
2017Dear Evan Hansen wins 6 Tony Awards, including Best Musical[32]

Renovation and new construction, 2008–2010

A major renovation of the facility was undertaken from 2008 through 2010.[33] The architect for the project was Bing Thom Architects of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, who contracted Fast + Epp consulting engineers to design the main columns for the building.[34] During the renovation, Arena Stage temporarily moved to the Crystal Forum and the Lincoln Theatre.

The Arena's existing theaters, the Fichandler Stage and the Kreeger Theater, were enclosed under a glass "skin" together with a new theater, the Arlene and Robert Kogod Cradle. The entire $135 million complex was renamed "Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater" in honor of supporters Gilbert and Jaylee Mead.[35] [36] The new building also includes a central lobby, restaurant, and the Catwalk Cafe, and such support spaces as rehearsal rooms, classrooms, production shops, and offices.[37] [38] [39] [40] The restaurant, Richard's Place, is closed for the 2021–2022 season.[41]

For the first time in the company's history, all staff and operations were joined under one unifying roof. The three-stage theater complex is now the second-largest performing arts center in Washington, DC, after the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. It is the largest regional theater in D.C. Arena Stage re-opened in October 2010 with Oklahoma!.

The capacity of its three theaters follows:

Artistic Directors

One of the founders, Zelda Fichandler, was the company's artistic director from its founding through the 1990/91 season. Douglas C. Wager succeeded her for the 1991/92 through 1997/98 seasons. Molly Smith, assumed those duties beginning with the 1998/99 season.[43] In June 2022, she announced she would retire and leave Arena Stage in July 2023. The current Artistic Director is Hana S. Sharif.https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/theater/2023/11/17/arena-stage-director-hana-sharif/

Production history

2017–2018 season

[44]

2018–2019 season

[45]

2019–2020 season

Some of the plays from the 2020 season were postponed due to the pandemic. As the crisis subsided, they were produced during the company's re-opening in the 2021–2022 season.

[46] [47]

2021–2022 season

[48] [49]

2022–2023 season

[50]

Original works

Notable events

The Washingtonian magazine, as part of its 50th anniversary commemoration, identified the Arena Stage's 1967 production of The Great White Hope as one of "50 Moments That Shaped Washington, DC".[51] The play received a lot of attention, some of it negative, because it featured an interracial relationship between James Earl Jones, then a new actor, and Jane Alexander. It was one of the first regional-theater productions to move to Broadway. There the production won several Tony Awards, and a Pulitzer Prize. It was also adapted as a film. Zelda Fichandler worked with the writer of the play for a year to make it production-ready. The Arena did not earn a share of the play's Broadway and film profits.

See also

Archival material

A collection of the Arena Stage Records and materials is housed at the George Mason University Special Collections Research Center.[52] The Research Center also houses materials related to individuals involved with the theater, including personal records of Zelda Fichandler's, Thomas Fichandler's papers, the Ken Kitch papers, and materials relating to the Living Stage.

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Editors . American Theatre . 2022-06-11 . Molly Smith to Retire from Arena Stage . 2022-07-08 . AMERICAN THEATRE . en-US.
  2. News: Levey . Bob . July 29, 2016 . Zelda Fichandler, Arena Stage co-founder and matriarch of regional-theater movement, dies at 91 . The Washington Post.
  3. Web site: lainw . Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater . 2022-07-15 . Dumbarton Oaks . en.
  4. Web site: History . The Oscar G. Brockett Center for Theatre . Criticism . 2020-08-04 . This Month in Theatre History . 2022-09-12 . AMERICAN THEATRE . en-US.
  5. Web site: Wild . Stephi . Recipients Announced For The Inaugural Victor Shargai Leadership Award . 2022-08-23 . BroadwayWorld.com . en.
  6. Web site: Goodman . Mike . Fiercely Imaginative: Arena Stage at Seventy . 31 July 2019 . 2022-07-14 . en-US.
  7. Web site: Jones . Kenneth . December 28, 2011 . Part of American Voices New Play Institute Will Exit DC's Arena and Enter Boston's Emerson College . Playbill.
  8. Web site: News Desk . 2022-06-11 . Molly Smith to retire from Arena Stage in 2023 . 2022-07-14 . DC Theater Arts . en-US.
  9. Web site: Regional Theatre Tony . 2022-07-19 . American Theatre Critics Association . en-US.
  10. Web site: Editors . American Theatre . 2019-05-15 . Arena Stage Tops the Helen Hayes Awards . 2022-07-14 . AMERICAN THEATRE . en-US.
  11. Web site: Fierberg . Ruthie . August 22, 2019 . What Makes Washington, D.C.'s Arena Stage One of the Most Impressive Historic Theatres in the Country . Playbill.
  12. News: 1991-05-08 . Arena Stage Receives 9 Helen Hayes Awards . en-US . The New York Times . 2022-09-18 . 0362-4331.
  13. News: Marks . Peter . June 10, 2022 . Molly Smith announces an exit after 25 years leading Arena Stage . The Washington Post.
  14. Web site: Brall . Susan . 2020-05-04 . Theatre News: 'Arena Stage Turns 70' Part I: Arena Stage in the 20th Century-The First 50 Years . 2022-07-14 . Maryland Theatre Guide . en-US.
  15. Book: Peck, Garrett. Capital Beer: A Heady History of Brewing in Washington, D.C.. 2014. The History Press. Charleston, SC. 978-1626194410. 126.
  16. Web site: Arena Stage . 2022-07-19 . The American Theatre Wing . en-US.
  17. Web site: America in the Round University of Iowa Press - The University of Iowa . 2022-09-14 . uipress.uiowa.edu . en.
  18. Web site: Arena Stage Washington, DC, USA Entertainment . 2022-09-14 . www.lonelyplanet.com . en.
  19. Web site: 2017-02-28 . Mahershala Ali's Professional Acting Debut Was at Arena Stage - Washingtonian . 2022-07-19 . en-US.
  20. Book: Black World/Negro Digest . August 1968 . Johnson Publishing Company . en.
  21. News: Rosenfeld . Megan . December 30, 1990 . THEATER 1990 . The Washington Post.
  22. Web site: Editors . American Theatre . 2016-11-30 . Getting Political: Arena Stage Launches Power Plays Initiative . 2022-08-10 . AMERICAN THEATRE . en-US.
  23. Web site: Rabinowitz . Chloe . Arena Stage Artistic Director Molly Smith to Retire in 2023 . 2022-09-19 . BroadwayWorld.com . en.
  24. Web site: Rabinowitz . Chloe . Arena Stage Artistic Director Molly Smith to Retire in 2023 . 2022-08-10 . BroadwayWorld.com . en.
  25. Web site: Editors . American Theatre . 2020-06-24 . Arena Stage Launches Artists Marketplace . 2022-07-26 . AMERICAN THEATRE . en-US.
  26. Web site: Siegel . David . 2020-06-15 . In 'May 22, 2020' from Arena Stage, a day in the life of the COVID DMV . 2022-07-26 . DC Theater Arts . en-US.
  27. Web site: 2020-06-08 . Arena Stage presents virtual summer state 'Looking Forward' . 2022-07-26 . WTOP News . en.
  28. Web site: Fraley . Jason . September 16, 2020 . Arena Stage tackles DC statehood, racism in streaming film '51st State' .
  29. Web site: 2021-05-21 . DC Theater Reopenings: What We Know So Far - Washingtonian . 2022-08-20 . en-US.
  30. Web site: Cristi . A. A. . Arena's Commissioned Music Series, Arena Riffs, Begins Next Week . 2022-09-16 . BroadwayWorld.com . en.
  31. Web site: 2021-05-19 . This Is Your Reminder That "Dear Evan Hansen" Got Its Start in DC - Washingtonian . 2022-09-09 . en-US.
  32. Web site: Staff . LA Times . 2017-06-12 . 2017 Tony Awards: The complete list of winners and nominees . 2022-09-09 . Los Angeles Times . en-US.
  33. Web site: Arena Stage Renovation and Expansion, Washington, D.C. 2010-12-01 ENR Engineering News-Record . 2022-08-23 . www.enr.com . en.
  34. Web site: Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater: Excellence, Creativity and Innovation. Gerald. Epp. February 2012. 4 January 2018. https://web.archive.org/web/20121130131907/http://structuremag.org/article.aspx?articleID=1397 . 30 November 2012.
  35. News: Marks. Peters. Arena Stage to Expand Its Season From Eight to 10 Plays This Fall. The Washington Post. 10 April 2008.
  36. News: A new First Act. https://web.archive.org/web/20110212020718/http://www.washingtonpost.com/gog/theaters/arena-stage-at-the-mead-center,1161217/critic-review.html. dead. February 12, 2011. Washington Post. February 17, 2010. C1. Peter. Marks.
  37. News: Zongker . Brett (Associated Press) . October 28, 2010 . DC's Arena Stage opens $135M home with big plans . . dead . January 4, 2018 . https://web.archive.org/web/20180104033134/http://archive.boston.com/ae/theater_arts/articles/2010/10/28/dcs_arena_stage_opens_135m_home_with_big_plans/ . January 4, 2018.
  38. Web site: Russell . James . 27 October 2010 . Arena Stage 135 Million DC Revamp Makes Concrete Sexy . bloomberg.com . Bloomberg L.P.
  39. BWW News Desk. "Arena Stage Updates Concessions and Dining Options with Catwalk Cafe", broadwayworld.com, 10 August 2011
  40. Web site: Architects . Thom . February 3, 2011 . Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater . 2022-08-24 . www.architectmagazine.com.
  41. Web site: Cafe-Parking - Complete Your Experience . 2022-11-22 . www.arenastage.org . en.
  42. Web site: BWW News Desk . Arena Stage to Start Construction on $125-Million Renovation . 2022-09-19 . BroadwayWorld.com . en.
  43. Paller, Rebecca."From Alaska to DC With Arena Stage's New Director, Molly D. Smith", Playbill: Arena Stage, February 5, 1998
  44. Web site: March 2017 . Arena Stage Announces 10-Show Lineup for 2017–18 Season . 28 March 2017 . American Theatre Magazine.
  45. Web site: Arena's 2018–19 Season to Feature New Tom Kitt/Nell Benjamin Musicalurl=https://www.americantheatre.org/2018/02/27/arenas-2018-19-season-to-feature-new-tom-kitt-nell-benjamin-musical/ . American Theatre Magazine. 27 February 2018 .
  46. Web site: Arena Stage announces its 10 play season for 2019-2020 . 2022-08-19 . dctheatrescene.com.
  47. Web site: FIERBERG . RUTHIE . October 27, 2019 . How Casting Newsgirls and Younger Paper Boys Puts Newsies in a Whole New Light .
  48. Web site: Gans . Andrew . September 3, 2021 . Arena Stage Launches 2021-2022 Season September 3 With Toni Stone . Playbill.
  49. Web site: 2021-06-08 . Arena Stage announces robust lineup for September reopening . 2022-09-19 . WTOP News . en.
  50. Web site: Hall . Margaret . April 28, 2022 . Ride the Cyclone, Angels in America In the Round, More Part of D.C.'s Arena Stage 2022-2023 Season .
  51. News: 50 Moments That Shaped Washington, DC. 17 October 2015. Washingtonian. 30 September 2015.
  52. Web site: Libraries . George Mason . August 18, 2022 . Guide to the Arena Stage records, 1949-2010 .

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Arena Stage".

Except where otherwise indicated, Everything.Explained.Today is © Copyright 2009-2024, A B Cryer, All Rights Reserved. Cookie policy.