Designed by Moritz Kundig, Spokane Civic Theatre’s Howard Street facility, including the 334-seat Main Stage, opened in 1967. A three story addition was constructed in 1972, creating the scene and costume shops as well as a space that would become the highly regarded Firth J Chew Studio Theatre. Where the Main Stage lobby has been enhanced since then, otherwise, the building’s footprint remains true to its original conception.
Since opening its Howard Street facility, Civic has produced more than 800 shows, averaging 180 performances each season — created by more than 400 volunteer cast and crew members, along with conducting innumerable performing arts classes, predominantly for the youth of the community.
LAST SEASON BY THE NUMBERS
14 productions
7 Readers Theater presentations
42 classes
25,582 tickets and 903 Civic Memberships
1,330 tickets donated to students, community groups and fellow nonprofits
348 volunteers (performers, backstage crew, production teams, Front of House support)
5 Full-time employees, 16 hourly employees and 132 independent contractors
Season 77 includes classics like A Christmas Carol and Romeo and Juliet, the Broadway smash-hit Waitress, with music by Sara Bareilles, important and relevant dramas, including Arthur Miller’s adaptation of Henrik Ibsen’s An Enemy of the People, the 2017 Pulitzer Prize-winning drama Sweat and The Wolves, which centers around a girls indoor soccer team, and several community-celebrating special performances.
Civic is an award-winning nonprofit community theatre and a cultural beacon in the Inland Northwest. For decades, Civic has been a creative haven for some and a source of community and entertainment for others.
Project Priorities:
- Sound mitigating barriers, cementing operability of Civic’s 27,00 square foot facility (specifically east side and roofs)
- An addition with a permanent home for Civic Education, a dedicated rehearsal space, administrative offices, and space for a hospitality collaboration
- Facility-wide ADA accessibility enhancements
- Redesigned environmental and mechanical controls, paving the way for a more energy-efficient and sustainable facility (constructed 57 years ago)
- Relocated Studio Theatre entrance from east to south side of facility for east side soundproofing and improved accessibility
With a successful capital campaign, it will be necessary to move our programming to offsite venues once construction begins. Considering Spokane Civic Theatre started at the Post Theater and Riverside Playhouse nearly 80 years ago, it is part of Civic’s DNA to produce in the community. The experiences will provide opportunities to work in new spaces, with new collaborators and build more creative and strategic partnerships.
Thank you to our donors
Education | Collaboration | Community | Opportunity | Legacy
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