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South End / Calderwood Pavilion at the BCA

In October 2004‚ the Huntington expanded its operations to include the new Stanford Calderwood Pavilion at the Boston Center for the Arts. In fall 2000‚ the Huntington and the Boston Center for the Arts (BCA) entered into a partnership to build‚ manage‚ and program two new theatres in the South End, the first new theatres built in Boston in more than 75 years. The Calderwood Pavilion, housing the 370–seat Virginia Wimberly Theatre and the 200–seat Nancy and Edward Roberts Studio Theatre, is managed by the Huntington and programmed jointly with the BCA. In addition to providing a second stage for the Huntington‚ the new theatres also host a range of performances by smaller arts organizations. The Calderwood Pavilion serves as a theatre hub and a cultural landmark for the City of Boston. It provides a home for artistic collaborations; fosters the development of new plays; helps build and diversify audiences; creates more opportunities for youth and community outreach; and expands the existing BCA complex to include more performance venues for Boston’s smaller arts organizations.

The Calderwood Pavilion was designed by Boston–based architects for the arts Wilson Butler Lodge Inc.‚ working with theatre consultants Fisher Dachs Associates and acoustical consultants Acentech. It is a 35‚000 square feet complex with a three–story interior space‚ which includes two theatres‚ rehearsal rooms‚ and backstage facilities.

The Huntington Theatre Company built and operates the Stanford Calderwood Pavilion at the Boston Center for the Arts, located at 527 Tremont Street in Boston’s Historic South End.

It provides first-class facilities and audience services at subsidized rates to dozens of Boston’s most exciting small and mid-sized theatre companies. The rents and fees these companies can pay amount to only a portion of what it takes to run the Calderwood Pavilion each year, and so the Huntington subsidizes the costs by $400,000 annually to keep this vital facility in operation.

Named #3 on Boston.com’s “Biggest Arts Stories of the Decade,” (December 22, 2009) the Calderwood Pavilion opened in 2004 and was the first new theatre built in Boston since the 1920s. Housing the 370-seat Virginia Wimberly Theatre (the Huntington’s second stage), the 200-seat Nancy and Edward Roberts Studio Theatre, the Carol Deane Rehearsal Hall, and Nicholas Martin Rehearsal Hall, the facility has helped to reinvigorate the Boston Center for the Arts’ campus and helped turn the South End into “a new cultural hub” for the arts. From its opening in 2004 through summer 2014, the Calderwood Pavilion hosted:

  • An audience of nearly 750,000 theatregoers.
  • More than 4,100 performances of more than 300 different productions (produced by over 90 organizations).

 

  • 15 World, American, and New England premieres.

In addition to the Calderwood Pavilion, the Huntington also operates BostonTheatreScene.com, a ticketing service for companies performing in the Calderwood Pavilion, the Boston Center for the Arts Theatres on the Plaza, and the Boston University Theatre.

The Virginia Wimberly Theatre

The Virginia Wimberly Theatre is a 370–seat state–of–the–art proscenium theatre. With luxurious seating split between an orchestra and mezzanine‚ each seat in the theatre ensures an intimate and comfortable theatregoing experience. The Wimberly Theatre has eight wheel chair seats, four in the orchestra and four in the mezzanine, with elevator access to the mezzanine. The theatre is named in honor of the wife of Huntington Trustee J. David Wimberly‚ who joined the Board in 1993 and served as its chair from 1996 until 2010.

» See the Virginia Wimberly Theatre seating chart.

The Nancy and Edward Roberts Studio Theatre

The Nancy and Edward Roberts Theatre is a flexible theatre space that accommodates as many as 250 patrons, depending on seating configurations, and can have up to four wheelchair seats. The studio theatre is named in honor of long-time Huntington donors and subscribers Nancy and Edward Roberts.