An intimate 500+ seat Allen Theatre, new home to Cleveland Play House, at PlayhouseSquare in downtown Cleveland. Photo by Roger Mastroianni

Since it was announced in April 2009, the Allen Theatre project has been a highly anticipated endeavor—new and redesigned theater spaces; a partnership between PlayhouseSquare, Cleveland Play House and Cleveland State University; and the beginning of a new chapter in the neighborhood. We’re thrilled that all three spaces in the project- including the newly reconfigured Allen Theatre, Second Stage and the Helen Rosenfeld Lewis Bialosky Lab Theatre, are now open!

This first of the three spaces to open was the newly reconfigured Allen Theatre. The original Allen Theatre first opened on April 1, 1921 as a 3,080- seat movie house. In 1997, Turner Construction built a state-of-the-art Broadway caliber stage and restored the architectural features of the theater. With the latest update, designed by Westlake Reed Leskosky, the Allen Theatre, is now a 517- seat venue with updated acoustics, lighting and sound capabilities.

“With the transformation of the Allen Theatre, PlayhouseSquare elevates one of the country’s most successful arts centers to the highest level – that of a spectacular urban district for arts and entertainment, education, and new media technology,” says Paul E. Westlake, Jr., FAIA, Managing Principal and Lead Designer of Westlake Reed Leskosky. “PlayhouseSquare is unparalleled in its offerings of national caliber repertoire theatre, Broadway touring shows, university arts, community arts, broadcast, shared production assets and all of the amenities about which patrons and new generation audiences might dream. We were thrilled to be part of the redesign and innovative architecture that has already received much praise.”

Second Stage opened in January 2012. Photo by Peggy Turbett

Second Stage opened in January with Cleveland Play House’s Ten Chimneys. The only venue of its kind east of the Mississippi, Second Stage is a highly flexible space that offers four configurations: arena-style seating (audiences encircling the stage), runway-style seating (audiences on either side of the stage), thrust-style seating (audiences on three sides) and endstage seating (audience directly faces the stage). The flexibility of Second Stage is great for everyone involved—it allows directors and actors to present a wide variety of works by utilizing the various configurations, and it allows the audience to get closer to the action—thus, heightening the connection between the audience and actors.

The third of the spaces, the Helen Rosenfeld Lewis Bialosky Lab Theatre, opened February 1 with the CWRU/ Cleveland Play House MFA Acting Program production of In Arabia We’d All Be Kings.  At 150 seats, audience members are never more than a few rows away from the action, which allows for experimental projects. The space will be available for student projects and children’s theater, as well as CWRU and CSU productions and readings.

Want to learn more about the Allen Theatre Complex? Visit playhousesquare.org/allennews for the latest information.