January 2013
Everyman Theatre Nears Completion
The renovation and adaptive reuse of the 1911 Empire Theater for Everyman Theatre company is nearing completion in Baltimore, Md. Six years of renovation will culminate in the grand opening weekend January 18-20, 2013, which includes an inaugural performance, gala, and celebratory founders’ brunch.
Keast & Hood Co. provided structural engineering for the project to incorporate a new performing arts center including a 250-seat studio theater stacked beneath a 200-seat black box theater. New scene shops, costume and prop facilities, and classrooms have been incorporated into the building, bringing live performance back to the venue after its closure for over 18 years.
Aside from the complexities of archaic structural systems within the historic building, the design team was tasked with significant acoustic difficulties in dealing with stacking two isolated theaters, compounded by the presence of an operating metro train tunnel lying 50 feet below the building’s foundation.
Founded in 1990, Everyman Theatre is an equity theater with a professional repertory company of artists from the greater Baltimore/Washington area. In 2006, Everyman received the building as a donation from Bank of America and the Harold Dawson Trust. Keast & Hood Co. has worked with architect Cho Benn Holback + Associates, Inc. on the renovation.
Click here to read coverage in the Washington Post.
Click here to read coverage on Broadway World.com.