Wednesday, February 21, 2007

Celebrated architect Frank Gehry to redesign Carrie Hamilton Theatre

Terrific news here at the Playhouse as world-renowned architect Frank Gehry has agreed to re-design the interior of the Carrie Hamilton Theatre, as well as a prospective third 300-400 seat performance space.

If you missed the Los Angeles Times story, it's located here.

Pasadena Playhouse press release (PDF) here.

Blogger and Playhouse subscriber, California Highway Guy, has some interesting comments here.

And be sure to check back here for more exciting news on this and other developments.

5 comments:

CaHwyGuy - Daniel the California Highway Guy said...

You're a bit late. I wrote about that yesterday. Of course, the most interesting part of the article is not the redesign of the Balcony Theatre, but the fact that the Playhouse is buying the old J.H. Biggar facility, and plans to put a 200-300 seat theatre there, also designed by Gehry, also pro-bono.

P.S.: Defiance was great, but was interesting in juxtaposition with "A Few Good Men", which I just saw at REP East. (review)

Anonymous said...

Neat!

Steve Kang said...

Indeed this is all very exciting news for us here at the Playhouse.

Funny thing about this blogging biz, I've been sitting on this news for a month because we'd agreed to give the Times an exclusive (apparently they have a slightly higher readership than this blog).

To clarify, the Homestead House property is just one option being considered.

The additional theatre is something to which we've been aspiring for a number of years, but is certainly coming closer to fruition under Sheldon's leadership and most especially with our association with Ms. Burnett and Mr. Gehry.

Cheers

CaHwyGuy - Daniel the California Highway Guy said...

But what other locations would be viable? It needs to be next to the existing playhouse. I don't think you could take the stores (the rug store through the Mexican restaurant). Certainly not the florist. I don't think the Arcade would sacrifice the parking lot, so the Homestead House property is about the only viable space if they want to expand. The Times article made that property seem more than just "consideration": "The new theater, to be built across the street from the Playhouse on a lot that is now home to a former furniture store,..." and "[Epps] said the Playhouse is working with a developer on plans to acquire the old furniture store, which would be razed to make room for the new venue."

By the way, since I got my blog I've been reviewing every Pasadena Playhouse show I've seen (hell, all the theatre I've seen). YOu can see all the Playhouse reviews here.

Dan H said...

Daniel - Please see the Pasadena Star News article for more information, as well as comments from the current owner of the old furniture store. Sadly, I'm not cool enough to know how make a link to it, but if you do a search it will come right up.