Around the same time the group Theater Alliance learned it had been forced out of its performance space in Anacostia, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser unveiled a new program aimed at helping the city fill vacant spaces.
The group, producing artistic director Shanara Gabrielle said, started looking for both short-term and long-term spaces. Their mission, she said, is “continuing to make art in this town,” and not doing that wasn’t an option.
So, they turned their focus to a 9,000-square-foot retail space in the bottom of Southwest D.C. apartment complex, The Westerly. The space near the Waterfront Metro station is next to a preschool and near a supermarket. And unlike at the Anacostia Playhouse, the theater didn’t come with the space.
But the group used the vacant room to build one. The ceilings are high, there are cement floors and cinder-block walls, and there’s a large area that doesn’t have any columns.
There’s a popcorn machine and concession stand, and behind a tall, black curtain, there’s a stage and seats. They’ll have the flexibility to rearrange as needed.
It’s where Theater Alliance is planning to host all of its shows of the 2024-25 season, Gabrielle said. Programming is scheduled through May.
“We were in Anacostia, we were in a true black box theater. So we had sort of all of that. If you walked in, you would say, ‘Oh, this is a theater,’” Gabrielle said. “If you walk in here, you don’t necessarily say, ‘Oh, this is a theater.’ You say, ‘Oh, people have made a theater here.’”
Earlier this year, Theater Alliance learned the Anacostia Playhouse, its previous performance space, hadn’t paid rent to the property owner for months. However, Theater Alliance continued paying its monthly rent, according to a news release.
The issues, which the group said it learned from an eviction notice posted on the theater’s door in February, prompted it to seek alternative options.
In April, Bowser announced the pop-up permit program, as part of a push to find use for empty spaces.
“It’s kind of plug and play,” said Brian Hanlon, director of D.C.’s Department of Buildings. “You’ve got space that’s almost ready for a tenant, people can just go in and essentially start using it as is.”
Assuming the interested person or group has the proper documents, the agency can issue a permit in about two weeks or less. They’re able to temporarily use the empty space without having to participate in the traditional permitting process.
Because Theater Alliance has shows into 2025, Hanlon said, “They’re bringing in people, frankly, that are new to the area. They’re bringing in people from the suburbs. These are people that are spending dollars in the city. Activity begets activity, and that’s a public safety issue, it’s an economic development issue, and it’s a quality-of-life issue.”
It’ll mark the first time that a theater company will use such a space for performances, Hanlon said.
The developers are “excited to have an arts and culture space in this building that is mixed-use residential, young people at the preschool next door, diner on the corner. The arts are the piece that makes it a whole community,” Gabrielle said.
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