The Arena Stage Board of Trustees has voted to commence construction on the $125 million plan to renovate and expand the historic theater campus in Southwest, D.C. The theater will break ground in January of 2008, followed by two years of continuous on-site construction, and anticipates the new Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater will open for the 2010/2011 season. The theater has currently raised $104 million of its $125 million fundraising goal since the Next Stage Campaign was launched in 2002.
Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater is named in honor of Life Trustee Jaylee Mead and her husband and longtime Arena Stage Trustee Gilbert Mead, who passed away in May, for their extraordinary gift of $35 million to the campaign. The Meads' gift is the largest ever made to an American regional theater. The Center will be a breathtaking expansion of the current campus, allowing Arena Stage to focus on the strengths of the two existing spaces - The Fichancher Stage and the Kreeger Theater - while reinventing the surrounding building and adding a 200-seat space dedicated to premiering American theater, The Cradle.To allow for a timely and cost-effective renovation, Arena Stage will move to a temporary home in Crystal City, Virginia at the Crystal Forum. A five-minute drive from the current location in Southwest D.C., the Crystal Forum is close to Reagan National Airport and one block from the Crystal City Metro station, which is serviced by both the Blue and Yellow Metro lines. The Crystal City area boasts many well-known restaurants and has free evening and weekend parking within walking distance to the theater. Arena Stage is currently renovating the Forum to accommodate patrons and productions for the next two and a half seasons while the Mead Center is being built. The theater is roughly the same size as the Kreeger, and seats 460 patrons. Crystal City will also house the Arena Stage administrative offices in a nearby building.
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