The Cincinnati Shakespeare Company announced Friday it was launching a $25 million capital campaign to raise money for a major facility expansion.
The campaign aims to bankroll a 19,000-square-foot expansion to the company’s facilities that will feature a new theater space, as well as new community facilities.
The centerpiece of the new expansion is a brand new studio theater space with over 150 seats. The expansion will also feature three multi-purpose education and community spaces for training, rehearsals, educational events, community events and other public programming. Finally, the expansion will allow the current theater and the new facility to operate as a single cohesive campus.
“At the heart of the project is the studio theater — a performance venue unlike any other in Greater Cincinnati,” according to the announcement. “Designed with a fully transformable seating system and state-of-the-art theatrical technology, the space can be configured in proscenium end-stage, thrust, theatre-in-the-round, traverse, cabaret and other creative layouts, allowing each production to determine the relationship between artists and audiences.”
“Audiences may surround the production on all four sides,” said CEO Brian Issac Phillips. “The next may seat patrons opposite one another across the playing space. Another may use a traditional proscenium configuration with cutting-edge technical design. Every production can have its own unique experience for the audience.”
The new expansion will allow the company to put on up to 15 productions in two different venues in the course of a year; currently, the company is able to put on 10. The company is also touting the expansion as a boon to the area’s cultural and tourism landscapes.
The project is expected to break ground in the spring of next year. The company hopes to begin operating the new theater for the 2028-2029 theater season. The construction will not affect the performance schedule at the Otto M. Budig Theater.
Anyone who wishes to learn more and contribute to the capital campaign can do so at cincyshakes.com/on-stage/expansion.