Amphitheaters and pavillions
Theater type Performing Arts Center/Touring Broadway Road House
Project type Renovation and Restoration
Completed January 1995
Total project cost $17 million
Seat count 1,600 to 2,084
Architect Ellerbe Becket Architects – Los Angeles
Theater consultant Theatre Projects Consultants
Owners representative Gordon Davidson, Founding Artistic Director/Producer of the Center Theatre Group
Website taperahmanson.com
Ahmanson Theater
Los Angeles, CA
A $17 million renovation of the Ahmanson Theatre brought the venue’s balcony and mezzanine closer to the stage, lowered the ceiling and reduced the width of the auditorium, making the theater as suitable for intimate stage plays as it is for Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Phantom of the Opera and other mega-musicals. The major renovation was designed to enhance the theater’s acoustics, improve sightlines and allow for more flexible seating arrangements. As a result of the reconfiguration, the Ahmanson can now be instantly transformed from a 2,084-seat theater to a cozier 1,600-seat venue.
Ellie Caulkins Opera House
Denver, CO
With the opening of the Ellie Caulkins Opera House in September 2005, Denver became home to one of the finest opera venues in the world. Formerly called the Denver Municipal Auditorium Theater, the historic building underwent an $86 million renovation, designed to provide the city with a state-of-the-art facility for opera, ballet and other unamplified live performances. In designing the acoustics for the new venue, Robert F. Mahoney & Associates and the project’s lead architectural firm, Semple Brown Design, turned to the classical lyric opera houses in Europe for inspiration. Working together, the two firms carefully chose surface materials and a theater configuration that includes shallow balconies and side boxes to produce outstanding acoustics for opera, musicals, the spoken word and concerts of all kinds. Special attention was also paid to excluding noise from the building’s mechanical systems and from city activity outside the opera house. The original Auditorium Theater was built in 1907 to hold the Democratic National Convention. Since then, the building has hosted nearly every form of entertainment, from grand operas to boxing matches, and has provided a stage for such luminaries as Enrico Caruso, Will Rogers, Benny Goodman, Bob Hope and Luciano Pavarotti. The renovation called for removing all existing interior structures within the building and, working within the confines of the nationally registered landmark’s exterior walls, creatinga 2,280-seat proscenium theater. The building—named after Ellie Caulkins, Denver’s “First Lady of Opera”—is the home of Opera Colorado and the Colorado Ballet. Mahoney & Associates was invited back to design a 300-seat studio theater, rehearsal spaces and reception rooms within the building. As Opera Colorado notes, the Ellie Caulkins Opera House provides the opera company “with a superior performance space, featuring unrivaled acoustic clarity and world-class technical support.”
“Acoustically, the hall is a natural marvel. You would expect that from a theater carefully designed to glorify the unamplified human voice.”
Theater Type Performing Arts Center
Project Type Renovation and Restoration
Location Denver, Colorado
Completion September 2005
Total Project Cost $92 million
Seat Count 2,268
Architect Semple Brown Design
Theater Consultant Public Assembly Consultants, Inc.
Owner’s Representative Rodney Smith, General Manager of the Denver Performing Arts Complex
Theater Type: Performing Arts Center/ Specialty Broadcast/Touring Broadway Road House
Project Type: New Construction
Total Project Cost: $615 million
Seat Count: 3,500
Architects: The Rockwell Group, Altoon & Porter and Ehrenkrantz Eckstut & Kuhn
Theater Consultant: Theatre Projects Consultants
Owner’s Representative: Doug Curtis, TrizecHahn
Website kodaktheatre.com
Dolby Theater (formerly Kodak Theater)
Hollywood, CA
Even if you’ve never been to Hollywood, you’ve probably seen the Dolby Theater. Located at Hollywood & Highland in Los Angeles, the $615 million performance venue is the permanent home for the Academy Awards® ceremonies, televised annually to millions of people around the globe. The Dolby Theater is the main attraction of the Hollywood & Highland project, a landmark entertainment complex on Hollywood Boulevard. The theater has one of the largest stages in the country and can seat up to 3,500 in a flexible configuration that includes three balcony levels and 24 private boxes. Opened in November 2001, numerous high-profile live theatrical and concert events have been held at the Dolby Theater, including the American Ballet Theater’s production of The Nutcracker, Sesame Street Live and the Moscow Stanislavsky Ballet. In addition, Barbra Streisand, Prince, Celine Dion, the Dixie Chicks, Stevie Wonder, Harry Connick Jr., Barry Manilow, Melissa Etheridge and Elvis Costello have all performed live concerts in the theater. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences hired Robert F. Mahoney & Associates to design the Dolby Theater’s acoustics to meet the highest technical standards of the Academy for acoustics, sound isolation and noise control. The work perfecting the venue’s acoustics has paid off handsomely. In February 2003, the Dolby Theater was named Theater of the Year at the 14th Annual Pollstar Concert Industry Awards Ceremony. In winning this prestigious award, the Dolby Theater defeated other highly regarded venues, including the Beacon Theatre in New York City, the Chicago Theatre in Chicago, the Fox Theatre in Atlanta and the Universal Amphitheatre in Universal City, California. As Andrew Murr wrote in Newsweek in 2003: “The Kodak Theatre has succeeded from the start, winning a prestigious award for great acoustics and design and filling up with 207 bookings last year, including concert dates by Paul McCartney and Barbra Streisand.
“The Kodak Theatre has succeeded from the start, winning a prestigious award for great acoustics and design and filling up with 207 bookings last year, including concert dates by Paul McCartney and Barbra Streisand.”
Kirk Douglas Theater
Culver City, CA
The Culver Theater is a 1920’s-era cinema built when the motion picture industry made Culver City famous. After a long, slow decline, the theater was shuttered in the 1970’s and came to symbolize the decay of the City’s historic downtown. In its new guise as the Kirk Douglas Theater, the revitalized center for live dramatic performance has been the central catalyst in returning life and vitality to this exciting part of Southern California. Following the successful collaboration with the Center Theatre Group’s reconfiguration of the Ahmanson Theater at the Los Angeles Music Center, Mahoney and Associates again worked closely with CTG’s Artistic Director, Gordon Davidson, to bring to life his vision of a bold center for new audiences and new works outside of downtown LA. With a highly imaginative adaptive re-use of the historic core of the cinema, a new and extremely flexible dramatic space was carved out of the cavernous but decayed interior of the landmarked theater. Seating was tightened, re-raked and the acoustics carefully crafted for the unamplified voice, making the re-christened Kirk Douglas Theater the third leg of the Ahmanson – Mark Taper axis that is the core of CTG’s artistic presentations.
Theater Type: Performing Arts Center
Project Type: Renovation and Restoration
Location: Culver City, California
Completion: September 2004
Total Project Cost: $12 million
Seat Count: 300
Architect: Steven Ehrlich Architects
Theater Consultant: Theatre Projects Consultants
Owner’s Representative: Anthony Byrnes, Center Theatre Group Associate Producer
“There’s just something magical about a theater this size, where even the seats in the last row are terrific. [Such a venue] makes the theater-going experience even more of a communal event.”
Theater Type: Performing Arts Center
Project Type: Renovation and Restoration
Location: Seattle, Washington
Completion: March 1999
Seat Count: 900 (Great Hall); 300 (black box cabaret)
Owner’s Representative: David Brewster, Town Hall Seattle Founder and former Executive Director
Web Site: www.townhallseattle.org
Town Hall
Seattle, WA
“The stately acoustics of Seattle’s Town Hall provide a perfect setting for a singular musical experience that is both stimulating and contemplative”
Other amphitheaters and pavilions of significance
Actors' Alley North Hollywood, CA | Month YYYY
Arvada Center Expansion (Phase III) Arvada, Colorado | Month YYYY
Colorado Ballet Denver, Colorado | Month YYYY
Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center Colorado Springs, Colorado | Month YYYY
Dittman Center for Art and Dance St. Olaf College, Northfield, Minnesota | Month YYYY
Flint Barn Centerville, Delaware | Month YYYY
Ivy Substation Culver City, CA | Month YYYY
Kenneth King Academic and Performing Arts Center Denver, Colorado | Month YYYY
New World Symphony Sound Space Miami Beach, FL* | Month YYYY
Playwrights’ Center Minneapolis, Minnesota | Month YYYY
Royce Auditorium Grand Rapids, MI | Month YYYY
University of Southern California Bing Theatre Los Angeles, California | Month YYYY
World Trade Center Performing Arts Complex New York, New York* | Month YYYY