The Boston Globe: Nearly a year after closing the Colonial Theatre, Emerson College is considering proposals from a handful of outside groups to reopen the storied playhouse — a move that would broaden the city’s cultural offerings and could help arts organizations navigating a rapidly changing entertainment landscape.
6 comments:
This is so exciting! If only slightly confusing. Last year, I was incredibly sad to hear that this beautiful theatre would be closing. It was one of the first college theatres I ever set foot in and is still one of the most beautiful I've ever seen. The regal atmosphere is inspiring, and meant a whole lot to the students at Emerson. What confuses me now is their willingness to take offers on the building. When they first announced the theatre's closing, it was for the purpose of converting it into dining space for the college, which admittedly does not have nearly as much as it needs. It seemed at the time that they were inflexible on this fact and would simply have to shut down its operation. And now, it seems, they are open for anything, so it must have been more of a financial situation than they previously let on. I am really interested to see where this goes. Who will acquire it? Who will be responsible for facility maintenance? Will the theatre remain an entity of Emerson at all? I think what would be ideal in this situation is the acquisition of the theatre by some outside company that uses it well and also offers opportunities for Emerson students to intern. It was such a rite of passage to be able to perform/work in The Colonial that I'm sure the loss of the space came as a great disappointment to the students.
I think this is a great think, but I too am confused as Kat is. When I toured Emerson, they briefly mentioned the Colonial Theatre, so then I was little confused about what Emerson’s ownership and relationship of it was. From photos I have seen, it seems like the Colonial is an absolutely gorgeous theatre, so I’m glad people are interested in keeping it in within the performing arts in some shape or form. Looking at the situation from a step back, it is interesting comment about the arts and live acts industry in Boston. Just from the listed groups in the article, it is clear that firms are interested in putting their acts up in the theatre. To have an empty theatre and have multiple potential clients that want to fill it is a great sign for the arts in a town. I’ll be interested to see who ends up in the venue considering the varying types of groups that have showed interest.
I am happy to hear all of the possibilities The colonial theatre now has. I read the articles about its closer last year and -even though I didn't know anything about the theatre and its history- I was very disappointing to hear that such a theatre was going to be turned into a dinning hall. It seems like the entertainment community has really come together to give the historical theatre several options for its future. It's really interesting that they did all decide to come together to make a joint proposal because -like the article mentions- it is a mix of profit and non-profit companies. I am curious to see if they do end up sharing the space, how they would interact with each other. Would they simply share the space, or would they treat it as a single business and all work together to make a profit and benefit their community? I also like how the article mentioned that a lot of the companies wrote their own proposals to give the Emerson many choices. Overall, I enjoyed learning about how the entertainment community came together to save the historical space of the Colonial theatre. Now there are several possibilities for the theatre and all of them sound great!
I hope that someone takes the initiative and takes over this historic and beautiful theater. I'm from Boston, and the news last year that Emerson planned on tearing down or converting the theater bothered me because of the age and beauty of the theater. Boston's theatre is extremely limited, considering how large and artistic many parts of the city are. The only notable theatre, apart from the Boston Opera House, home to Broadway in Boston, is the American Repertory Theatre, who produce large amounts of new works, many of which have gone on to Broadway. I for one hope that through some stroke of luck the theatre is taken over by a group like the ART--people who are dedicated to creating new works and contributing to the theatre community. But even if the building is taken over by a group like Broadway in Boston, it would still have a great positive influence on the city as a whole.
Seeing this effort being presented by so many parties for a variety of reasons is a great joy for me to see. My family was located in the Boston area for my whole life and in my sophomore year of high school, my mom decided it would be a god idea for all of us to go to a musical each year with her Broadway in Boston subscription. While we were typically at the Boston Opera House, we did go to the Colonial once for a production of Jersey Boys, and all I can say is that it was the best staged performance I have ever seen. It wasn’t just the actors and tech making the show as great as it was; it was also the atmosphere of the Colonial itself. This theatre holds a type of elegance and grandeur that I just haven’t experienced in any previous theatres. Seeing the Colonial in use again as a public performance space would be a dream come true – it’s just too wonderful not to be used.
Lauren and I were just talking about Emerson losing it’s theatre space the other day. I think that it must have been really upsetting for the students at Emerson to have unexpectedly lost one of their theater spaces. I remember from reading about this last year that the students at Emerson found out the same way we did, by reading an article online. I am glad that Emerson did not go through with their plan of converting it to a combined dining/performance space, as the venue would lose much of its history and charm. I am interested to see what the solution will be. I think that it is great that a coalition of Bostonian theaters has banded together to put a bid on the theater space. Whoever gets the space, I hope that they can use it to its full potential and keep the arts presence in Boston going strong.
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