24th Street Theatre has completed a $3 million purchase of the converted 1928 carriage house it has called home for the past 29 years, along with two neighboring properties in South Los Angeles, locking in a permanent address just as the nonprofit approaches its 30th anniversary.
The acquisition, reported by MyNewsLA.com, includes the main theater building as well as properties next door and across the street that the organization plans to develop for expanded arts and community programming. The carriage house itself dates back to 1928, when it was built to shelter working horses for Victorian homes in the surrounding neighborhood before its later conversion into a 99-seat performance venue, according to Discover Hollywood Magazine. The theater was founded in 1997 by Debbie Devine and Jay McAdams with guidance from former USC School of Dramatic Arts Dean Bob Scales, who helped the pair locate the old carriage house facility in North University Park, as detailed by American Theatre.
New Garden and Black Box Venue Planned
With the properties secured, the theater intends to build an outdoor garden and a new black box venue on the additional land, per the MyNewsLA.com report. That black box space will be named the 24th Street Black Box Theatre in honor of actor and longtime supporter Jack Black.
Black's connection to the organization runs deep. A press statement from Lucy Pollak Public Relations noted that Black studied acting under artistic director Debbie Devine as a student long before his rise to fame, later joined the theater's advisory board, and served as the initial donor for the new black box venue. Black is also set to host the capital campaign gala tied to the project.
Capital Campaign Launches This Month
The theater will launch a capital campaign on October 18 to raise an additional $2 million for renovations of the two new properties, according to the MyNewsLA.com report. Donors already supporting the campaign include David Newman, the Artistic Scholarship Fund for Inner City Youth, the Perenchio Foundation, and the Friars Foundation.
Jay McAdams, the theater's executive director, said the organization will remain in South Los Angeles for the next 30 years. McAdams also said the theater is doubling down on live, face-to-face performance, per the same report.
A Three-Decade Community Role
24th Street Theatre serves more than 10,000 people each year, including roughly 6,000 children and youth and about 4,000 adults, most of them low-income residents, the outlet reported. Its programming spans professional productions, Spanish-language theater, arts education, after-school programs, and community engagement initiatives.
That bilingual focus has been a hallmark of the venue for over a decade. Discover Hollywood Magazine reports that the theater projects Spanish supertitles during English-language performances and English supertitles during Spanish-language shows, part of its Teatro Nuevo initiative launched in 2013 to engage the neighborhood's Spanish-speaking residents.
The theater's free After ‘Cool program serves roughly 150 second-through-eighth-grade neighborhood students each academic year and is supported in part by grant funding from USC's Good Neighbors Campaign, according to USC News. The university's ties to the venue go beyond funding — the mainstage audience seating inside the theater was donated by USC's Herman Ostrow School of Dentistry and features small movable writing desks attached to the seats.
City Leaders Weigh In
Los Angeles City Council President Marqueece Harris-Dawson said the theater has helped young people in South Los Angeles see themselves as artists, storytellers, and leaders. He added that owning the space gives 24th Street Theatre the stability to deepen its relationship with the community and create more opportunities going forward, according to the MyNewsLA.com report.
The purchase arrives amid a wider wave of nonprofit theaters moving to acquire real estate. American Theatre reported that companies including 24th Street Theatre and the Pasadena Playhouse have increasingly pursued property acquisitions to insulate themselves from rising rent and a nationwide trend of venue closures.
A Track Record of Recognition
In 2012, Theatre Communications Group presented 24th Street Theatre with the Peter Zeisler Memorial Award, a national honor for pioneering theatre work and artistic risk-taking, according to USITT Sightlines.
Its 2014 production of “Walking the Tightrope” became the first show intended for young audiences to win LA Weekly's top Production of the Year award, according to the theater's own historical records, before the production went on a nine-city national tour that concluded at Center Theatre Group. Separately, the Los Angeles County Arts Ed Collective reports that the theater's interactive Enter Stage Right field trip program and school residencies have served more than 75,000 students and teachers across the region.
