DOWNSTAIRS at the 5th Officially Opens!

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5th Ave Theatre circa 1926.png

Or, Goodbye Eddie Bauer, Hello Dolly!

On Monday, August 25, I was lucky enough to be invited to the opening celebration for The 5th Avenue Theatre’s new downstairs education and rehearsal space, which has been officially named “The Marilyn Sheldon Rehearsal and Education Center”. Marilyn Sheldon (second bio) is the Managing Director, and the heart and soul of The 5th Avenue Theatre. For those "in the know," it's called DAT5!

From the evening’s keepsake program:

“Because The 5th Avenue Theatre was constructed in the 1920s to be a vaudeville house and was later converted into a motion picture theatre, there weren’t backstage needs and technical space wasn’t required. As a result, backstage at The 5th Avenue lacks virtually all of the trappings of more modern musical theater venues.

The Board of Directors, under the leadership of Norman B. Rice, authorized a plan to consolidate all production-related activities, known as Downstairs at The 5th. This plan includes a full-sized mainstage rehearsal hall, education center, maintenance building and inventory facility.

Downstairs at The 5th makes the overall operation more efficient, produces a substantial yearly cost savings, and provides a more focused work environment, allowing us to fully invest in the artistic product.”


I’ll drink to that! The 5th Avenue has used Theatre Puget Sound (TPS) over at the Seattle Center for rehearsing all their shows. Don’t get me wrong, TPS is great, but there was always the problem of never having a room big enough to match the size of the actual stage, so they always had to reblock everything once they got to the theatre!

And I can speak with some authority that the heating and cooling systems in TPS are due for an overhaul!

When Eddie Bauer moved out of their basement space, The 5th Avenue Theatre suddenly had a viable option to solve their logistical nightmares! After a lead donation by Sheryl and Peter Neupert of $1.22 million, the renovations were underway!

The opening celebration was so much fun! Not only was it so exciting to finally see the space finished (love the big “5th” on the glass doors facing the food court!) but there was yummy nibbles and of course, a wonderful musical performance. Martin Charnin’s great song “Upstairs at O’Neills” was given new lyrics by Rich Grey and became “Downstairs at the 5th”. With Resident Musical Director Ian Eisendrath on piano, Billie Willdrick, Chad Jennings, Carol Swarbrick and Eric Polani Jensen sang up a storm. Then Patti Cohenour sang ‘Take Care of This House” from the show 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

All in all, a wonderful celebration of a great space. I’m looking forward to doing the workshop of THE MERCER GIRLS there in September!
By Myrna Conn on September 1, 2008 4:52 PM | | Comments (0)


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