Kirk Douglas Theater
Ground-up repurposing of an historic cinema that gave birth to a downtown renaissance.
Los Angeles, California | Intimate drama | with Stephen Ehrlich Architects
“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 axis that is the core of CTG’s artistic presentations.”
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.