NewsPHOTO CALL: Arena Stage Opens Its Doors to the World at "Homecoming," With Alumni StarsAfter more than a decade of planning and more than two years of construction, Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater in Southwest DC officially re-opened on Oct. 23 with a ribbon cutting ceremony and "Homecoming Grand Opening Celebration", a free-for-all day for the general public to explore the $135 million premises.
By
Irina Khodorkovsky
October 26, 2010
The festivities included backstage tours, performances (including appearances by Broadway's Matt Bogart, Kate Baldwin, Brad Oscar and Alice Ripley — all Arena veterans) and activities in eight spaces in and around the Mead Center including the Fichandler Stage, Kreeger Theater and Arlene and Robert Kogod Cradle. Various theatrical performances and children's activities occupied one of the rehearsal halls, the lobbies and the classroom.
Here is a look at the opening celebration:
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Arena Stage Opens Its Doors to the World at "Homecoming," With Alumni Stars
Arena Stage Opens Its Doors to the World at "Homecoming," With Alumni Stars
After more than a decade of planning and more than two years of construction, Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater in Southwest DC officially re-opened on Oct. 23 with a ribbon cutting ceremony and "Homecoming Grand Opening Celebration", a free-for-all day for the general public to explore the $135 million premises. Read the Playbill.com story.
25 PHOTOS
Founding director Zelda Fichandler
Margot Schulman
Former artistic director Douglas Wager and current artistic director Molly Smith
Production-wise, the 2010-2011 inaugural season kicks off with Rodgers and Hammerstein's Oklahoma!, directed by artistic director Molly Smith. The season also includes every tongue confess, Second Stage Theatre’s production of Let Me Down Easy, The Arabian Nights, Steppenwolf Theatre Company's production of Edward Albee's Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, Albee's At Home at the Zoo, Ruined and a special pre-Broadway world premiere of John Grisham's A Time to Kill, adapted by Rupert Holmes. In addition, Arena Stage will present staged readings of the remaining 28 works by Edward Albee during The Edward Albee Festival, and will produce a national new play festival featuring the selections for the first round of the NEA New Play Development Program hosted by Arena Stage.
Now in its sixth decade, Arena Stage serves a diverse annual audience of more than 200,000. For more information, visit www.arenastage.org.
Next year, Carnegie Hall's house band will perform Bernstein’s “Kaddish” Symphony, unfinished works by Schubert, and the final concert of Conductor Bernard Labadie.
