Theaters

"The theater projects designed by Barton Myers have been consistently successful as theaters, inspiring as architecture, welcoming as social gathering centers, and exemplars of informed urban design. Myers's human-centered architecture evokes memory, function, culture and the making of places, not just spaces. His humanistic theater work comes out of a coherent tradition of architecture and urbanism worthy of appreciation and emulation." -- exerpted from the essay by Charles Warner Oakley, from Barton Myers: Works of Architecture and Urbanism

Myers is the architect of eight built theater projects designed and constructed over a period of forty years from 1973, the start of design for the Citadel Theater in Edmonton, Alberta, through the November 2014 completion of Phase I of the Dr. Phillips Performing Arts Center in Orlando, Florida.

He has identified “seven architectures of the theater”: the architecture of context and site; the architecture of arrival; the architecture of the lobby; the architecture of the room (performance hall); the architecture of the back-of-house; art in architecture; and craftsmanship in architecture—all of which can be seen here. Each of his theater buildings exists as part of a total environment, not as isolated objects.

The Earl Bales Outdoor Theater (now called the Barry Zukerman Amphitheater in Earl Bales Park) is modeled on Greek and Roman theaters, taking advantage of a wooded site north of Toronto.

In the Stratford Festival Theatre addition, Myers buried his back-of-the house production spaces in a plinth to the existing theater in deference to the riverbank location and its views.

For the suburban site of the Cerritos Center for the Performing Arts at the end of a shopping center, Myers imposed an urban grid and made the Center a village of buildings in order to create a sense of place. When his theaters are placed within an existing city fabric, Myers creates urban rooms that actively engage and reinforce the city structure. Myers’ design for the Citadel includes a central pedestrian mall that leads to the three theaters of the complex, all of which open directly to this ceremonial and celebratory space.

With the New Jersey Performing Arts Center (NJ PAC), Myers created a multi-building center with theaters, conference rooms, and restaurants to connect existing parts of Newark (a Military Park and the Passaic River) with each other and the new venue. The theaters included the 2700-seat Prudential hall and the 500-seat Victoria Theater. The complex was designed to be an urban revitalization project for downtown Newark.

The public engagement generated by Myers’ New Jersey Performing Arts Center in Newark has, as well, invigorated the riverfront and city revenues.