Our History & Venues
Our Story
The Huntington is Bostonâs leading professional theatre and one of the regionâs premier cultural assets. Since its founding in 1982, The Huntington has received over 150 Elliot Norton and Independent Reviewers of New England Awards, as well as the Tony Award for Outstanding Regional Theatre. In the past 42 years, The Huntington has played to an audience of 3.5 million, presented over 200 plays (18 of which went on to Broadway or Off Broadway), and served over 500,000 students, community members, and other cultural organizations.
Under the direction of Artistic Director Loretta Greco and Executive Director Christopher Mannelli, The Huntington brings world-class theatre artists from Boston, Broadway, and beyond together with the most promising new talent to create eclectic seasons of exciting new works and classics made current.
A longstanding anchor cultural institution of Huntington Avenue, the Avenue of the Arts, The Huntington Theatre has completed the first phase of the Campaign for the New Huntington with the successful revitalization of our flagship home in October 2022. Phase II of the campaign will raise funds to expand our footprint into 14,000 square feet of new space in the adjoining residential tower, currently under construction by Toll Brothers, and enhance our endowment.
The Huntington built the Stanford Calderwood Pavilion at the Boston Center for the Arts in 2004 as a home for its new work activities and to provide a much-needed resource for the local theatre community. At the Calderwood Pavilion, The Huntington provides first-class facilities and audience services at significantly subsidized rates to dozens of organizations each year, including some of Bostonâs most exciting small and mid-sized theatre companies.
The Huntington serves 200,000 audience members each year at The Huntington Theatre and the Calderwood Pavilion at the BCA. Through a diverse and impactful range of nationally-renowned education and community programs, The Huntington engages 36,000 young people and adults in underserved neighborhoods each year. These programs include the Poetry Out Loud National Recitation Contest, the August Wilson Monologue Competition, the Huntington Community Membership Initiative, a youth playwriting program called EPIC, and the Student Matinee Series.
The Huntington is a founding partner of Codman Academy Charter Public School and has collaborated with Codman for 17 years to create and teach its innovative, interdisciplinary humanities curriculum and run the Codman Summer Theatre Institute.
A national leader in the development of new plays, The Huntington has produced more than 120 world, American, and New England premieres to date. Through The Huntington Playwriting Fellows program, the cornerstone of its new work activities, The Huntington supports local writers through two-year fellowships.
The Huntington cultivates, celebrates, and champions theatre as an art form and is committed to mentoring local playwrights, educating young people in theatre, and serving as a catalyst for the growth of dozens of Bostonâs emerging performing arts organizations.
The Huntington Theatre
Designed and constructed as Americaâs first civic playhouse, the building today known as The Huntington Theatre was the first tax-exempt theatre established in the nation. Construction having begun in 1923, it was formally opened with Sheridanâs The Rivals on November 10â 1925. The architect was J. Williams Beal and Sons.
Originally named the Repertory Theatre of Bostonâ the theatre was built to be a permanent home for the Henry Jewett Playersâ a Bostonâbased repertory theatre company. In choosing to locate the theatre across from Symphony Hall and near the Museum of Fine Arts and the old Boston Opera Houseâ the theatreâs creators intended to signify its character as a major cultural institution of Boston and its difference from the commercial playhouses in the Boylstonâ Washingtonâ Tremont streets area of the city.
Henry Jewett, a native of Australia, whose portrait as Macbeth hangs today in the main stairwell leading to the theatreâs balcony, was a distinguished actor and director. Born in 1862, he moved to the United States around the turn of the century and became the leading man for Julia Marlowe. He settled in Boston shortly after 1900 and organized the Henry Jewett Players. The Jewett Company first offered Shakespeare productions at the Boston Opera House; in 1916 it moved to the Copley Theatre where it performed until the early 1920s. But Jewettâs ambition was to have a permanent home for his company, and he and his wife Frances vigorously pressed for a facility built by the community. In 1923, the Jewett Repertory Fund was started; many prominent Bostonians, including Calvin Coolidge and A. Lawrence Lowell, president of Harvard University, were on the roster of sponsors.
Almost immediately from its openingâ the Repertory Theatre was beset by difficulties. There was much theatrical competitionâ and soon an even more serious problem was posed by the advent of talking moviesâ which lured audiences from all types of live entertainment. In 1930â Mr. Jewettâs company disbanded. Jewett himself died in the same year.
As the theatre was being closedâ Jewettâs widow remarked prophetically: âYou canât have a repertory theatre without subsidy â lots of subsidy.â The prescience of this view was proven thirty years later in the 1960s as the American regional theatre movement became increasingly significant and revived the pattern of resident theatre companies.
During the 1930s and 1940sâ the theatre was known as the Esquire Theatre and was mainly used as a movie house. The Esquire specialized in art filmsâ and it was here that Boston audiences first saw Laurence Olivierâs Henry V. During these same yearsâ the theatre occasionally reverted to its original purposeâ as in 1941 when Louis Calhern and Dorothy Gish played in Life with Father.
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The Huntington Calderwood
In October 2004â the Huntington expanded its operations to include the new Stanford Calderwood Pavilion at the Boston Center for the Arts. In fall 2000â the Huntington and the Boston Center for the Arts (BCA) entered into a partnership to buildâ manageâ 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 370âseat Virginia Wimberly Theatre and the 200âseat 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 Huntingtonâ 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 Bostonâs smaller arts organizations.
The Calderwood Pavilion was designed by Bostonâbased architects for the arts Wilson Butler Lodge Inc.â working with theatre consultants Fisher Dachs Associates and acoustical consultants Acentech. It is a 35â000 square feet complex with a threeâstory interior spaceâ which includes two theatresâ rehearsal roomsâ 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 Bostonâs Historic South End.
It provides first-class facilities and audience services at subsidized rates to dozens of Bostonâs 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.comâs âBiggest Arts Stories of the Decade,â (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 Huntingtonâs 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 Artsâ campus and helped turn the South End into âa new cultural hubâ 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).
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- 40 companies, including SpeakEasy Stage Company, Boston Playwrightsâ Theatreâs Boston Theater Marathon, The Theater Offensive, Bad Habit Productions, and Company One.
- More than 280 organizations who put on activities as diverse as theatrical productions, concerts, private parties, summer camps for teens, and business meetings.
- 15Â 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.
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The Virginia Wimberly Theatre
The Virginia Wimberly Theatre is a 370âseat stateâofâtheâart proscenium theatre. With luxurious seating split between an orchestra and mezzanineâ 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 Wimberlyâ who joined the Board in 1993 and served as its chair from 1996 until 2010.
