New Drake theater space stalled by demolition
InterAct Theatre Company's grand dream of a bustling new center for new plays has been deferred for several months because of demolition delays.
InterAct Theatre Company's grand dream of a bustling new center for new plays has been deferred for several months because of demolition delays.
The company had hoped to take over a wholly new space carved out, by the end of this month, of what used to be the ballroom on the ground floor of the residential Drake Building, at 1512 Spruce St., and to mount its first play there within a few weeks.
It's not going to happen, Seth Rozin, InterAct's producing and artistic director, said Monday. "It was probably really ambitious of us to schedule for the fall. It's delayed in large part because of demolition."
As a result, the company's planned season opener, Grounded, by George Brant, has been postponed until next season. Instead, it will open Jan. 22 with #therevolution by Kristoffer Diaz.
Inis Nua Theatre, which agreed to lease space from InterAct in the new venture, and which had been slated to open there several weeks before InterAct, will now perform its first play of the season, Hooked, by Gillian Grattan, at Fergie's Pub, 1214 Sansom St.
Inis Nua director Tom Reing described the play, whose action takes place in a pub, as well-suited for Fergie's. It will run Oct. 7-25.
The other resident companies in the venture, Azuka Theatre, Simpatico Theatre Project, and PlayPenn, a new-play-development workshop, have also made alternative arrangements.
Azuka's Lights Rise on Grace, by Chad Beckim, will run Nov. 4-22 at the Adrienne Theatre, 2030 Sansom St. - InterAct's old home base.
Simpatico's Watership Down will play Nov. 4-22 at Drexel University's Mandell Theater, 3141 Chestnut St.
PlayPenn's artistic director, Paul Meshejian, said that some of the organization's workshops would be held at Drexel for now, but that he expected the new Drake space to be up and running by the time PlayPenn needed it for its summer 2016 conference.
Only InterAct will suffer a loss of production because of the delay, but Rozin said demolition had led to some positive results. A dropped ceiling was discovered, for instance, and its removal added several feet in ceiling height for the theater.
Delays also led to careful consideration of lighting for the new space, which was leased in the past by the University of the Arts dance department. Rozin said Interact finally decided to install LED lighting for the theater - more expensive initially, but money- and energy-saving over the long haul.
The new complex will feature a 128-seat theater, a 75-seat theater, a capacious lobby, a cafe area with WiFi, and other amenities.
In a related development, fund-raising for the project has surpassed its initial goal of $1.75 million, he said, reaching $1.9 million.
"Fund-raising has gone quite well," Rozin said, noting that the budget had also gone up.
"So we're still fund-raising," he said. "We want to get the building right."
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