Our Building

This copy will be changing i think

After a decade of planning, design and construction, Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater reopened on October 25, 2010. The new building, designed by Bing Thom Architects, one of Canada’s most renowned architectural firms, re-imagines this legendary theater and creates a cultural destination in Southwest Washington. With the opening of this new facility, Arena Stage is the second largest performing arts complex in Washington after the Kennedy Center and is a national center for the production, presentation, development and study of American theater.

Just as the founding of Arena Stage more than 65 years ago changed American theater, the new center secures the future of Arena Stage as both a national leader and a dynamic local treasure. The center features state-of-the-art technology and modern amenities; a centralized lobby with a vastly increased number of restrooms; readily available concessions and an onsite café; a reading area dedicated to students of American theater; easy access to all areas of the building for people with disabilities; and a beautiful outdoor terrace overlooking the Potomac with the Washington Monument in the background.

1998/99

Arena Stage considers relocating to Seventh Street NW, but after discussions with Mayor Anthony Williams and the City Council, decides to stay in Southwest as a crucial part of the Southwest Waterfront revitalization. 

2000

June: Arena Stage reviews 60 architectural candidates to design the new complex and selects Bing Thom Architects of Vancouver, Canada.

July: Arena Stage completes its fundraising feasibility study.

2001

Arena Stage completes its engineering study.

2002

July: The design of Arena’s new theater campus by Bing Thom Architects is approved by both the Historic Preservation Review Board and the Fine Arts Commission.

September: Arena Stage receives the Mayor’s Agent Approval for Exemplary Architecture.

October: Arena Stage begins the quiet phase of its fundraising campaign.

2003

January: Arena Stage selects a Trustee Steering Committee to serve as its campaign leadership.

June: Arena Stage receives approval of zoning variances by the Advisory Neighborhood Commission.

October: Bing Thom Architects’ final design is approved by the Board of Zoning Adjustments. 

2004

Arena Stage files for the needed permits for the renovation project. 

2005

Bing Thom Architects completes construction drawings. 

2006

December: Arena Stage announces $100 million has been raised towards the multipurpose goal of $125 million for the project, publicly launches the Next Stage Campaign, and begins the bid process for the construction contract. The theater also announces the new facility will bear the name Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater, after visionary benefactors and Life Trustees Dr. Jaylee M. Mead and the late Gilbert Mead, who pledged $35 million towards the project—the largest gift from a single household to a not-for-profit regional theater.

2007

May: Clark Construction is chosen for the construction contract.

October: Arena Stage Board of Trustees votes to commence construction and announces plans to break ground in January 2008.

December: Performances begin at Arena Stage in Crystal City, 1800 S. Bell Street, Arlington, VA; one of the temporary theater spaces Arena uses during the two-year construction in Southwest D.C. 

2008

January: Arena Stage breaks ground on its historic Southwest, D.C. theater complex.

September: Performances begin at the historic Lincoln Theatre, 1215 U Street NW, Washington, D.C.; the second temporary space to be used during expansion.

2010

July: Arena Stage staff moves out of temporary operating facilities and into the new campus.

October: Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater opens for the 2010/11 season.

Significant Facts about Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater

• Philanthropists Gilbert and Jaylee Mead gave the largest single gift ever to an American theater at that time with their naming gift of $35 million.
• The Mead Center is 200,000 square feet in size, making it the largest performing arts center to open in D.C. since the Kennedy Center, which opened in 1971.
• The cantilevered roof, tapered to a compass point and aligned with the Maine Avenue axis, salutes the Washington Monument. This heroic cantilever is one of the largest in the U.S.
• As general contractor for the Mead Center, Clark Construction worked on average 1,500 man hours per day to stay on track for the fall 2010 opening.
• The foundation of the Mead Center contains 14,000 cubic yards of concrete, enough to fill four-and-a-half Olympic-sized swimming pools.
• The design team drew inspiration from the jellyfish’s transparency when designing the new complex’s skin, which is fabricated with glass. There are approximately 370 panes, amounting to 35,000 square feet of glass that creates the “curtain wall” surrounding the building.
• The Parallam wood and insulated glass wall design on the exterior facade was the first attempt at this type of application in the United States. Each wood column that supports the building bears 400,000 pounds of load on average.
• The floor of the Arlene and Robert Kogod Cradle does not touch the adjacent walls. Instead, to ensure acoustic isolation, it sits on 20 separate isolation pads, each the size of a shoebox.
• The building of the Mead Center was a catalyst for other development in the Southwest neighborhood. Molly Smith noted in an interview with Washington.org that Arena Stage provided a signature building and the Mead Center provided that. Arts organizations are often the catalyst for major improvements in different communities.