The State Theatre

The State Theatre
719 Congress Avenue

Interim plan for State Theatre announced

Historic theatre will reopen in phases; acting school to continue

February 5, 2007

AUSTIN—The show will go on at the State Theatre, announced Ken Stein, executive director of the Austin Theatre Alliance, which manages the State and Paramount theatres. An interim plan calling for a phased approach to reopening the historic Congress Avenue theatre was described at a news conference there today.

The State will return as a working theatre venue, and possibly as a producing theatre if that is determined to be economically feasible, Stein said.

“The board and staff leadership of the theatres are all in agreement—we want to return to producing theatre at the State,” Stein said. “The board task force charged with studying the issue supports my decision to defer production at the State until the 2008-09 season at least, to allow us to make necessary repairs and for the construction of the building next door to be completed.”

The State Theatre has just celebrated its 70th anniversary and was in the middle of a successful run of the play Bunk Bed Brothers when a water main broke, flooding the State’s stage and basement, ruining hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of equipment and forcing the cancellation of part of the theatre’s 2006-07 season. Some productions were moved to other venues—the State’s remount of the award-winning American Fiesta was moved to the University of Texas’ McCullough Theatre and Judith Ivey’s Women on Fire was performed at the Paramount.

“The decision to cancel part of the State’s season was difficult and sad for patrons, staff, and the community in general,” Stein said. “Since then, we’ve been analyzing our options. We’ve been working with the insurance company and the city on how to complete the repairs. At the same time, we are working with the developer of the building next door to minimize the impact of the construction now underway,” Stein said.

“We simply believe that it is in our best interests to wait until the construction is complete and the dust settles to make any final decisions,” Stein added.

“We have been working behind the scenes since June on a plan to bring back the State in a way that is fiscally responsible and in keeping with the overall mission of the Austin Theatre Alliance,” Stein said.

“All of our decisions are based on being responsible stewards of these major community assets. We are very aware of the responsibility of ensuring that the State and the Paramount theatres continue to exist to serve the greater Austin community, and beyond,” he said.

The State will not be entirely dark during the transition, Stein explained. “We will continue to host the popular State School of Acting and Austin Scriptworks,” Stein said, noting that several staff offices remain on an upper floor of the building. “We are considering other exciting ideas for this interim period, including getting the auditorium open for partial use and capitalizing on our great Congress Avenue location and street frontage,” he said.

Hal Katz, chairman of the board of the Austin Theatre Alliance, noted that raising money to preserve and maintain both theatres is a priority.

“We are very cognizant of our responsibility to preserve and maintain these important community assets, which are so vital to the heart and soul of our city,” Katz said. “As part of the board’s due diligence, we are talking to peer theatres around the country, analyzing audience patterns, and looking at what the community will support at the State.”