A resurrected Huntridge Theater moved closer to reality this week, as Dapper Companies announced it struck a deal with New York City-based SoHo Playhouse to operate the 77-year-old Downtown venue.
The new Huntridge will consist of one big room—the current auditorium, reconfigured to include a mezzanine level—with a capacity of 1,150 for local and national concerts and 450 for off-Broadway productions. Two additional theater spaces, with capacities of 199 and 100, will be built just south of the existing structure, and all three theaters will share a redesigned lobby.
Dapper Companies principal J Dapper decided on SoHo after speaking with a variety of cultural entities. In so doing, he says, he realized the new Huntridge needs to be nimble-footed.
“The concert industry is challenging, in that the big boys, like LiveNation and AEG, control a lot,” Dapper says. “In order for the Huntridge to be successful, it can’t just be a concert venue. It can’t just be an Off-Broadway venue. It’s got to have the ability to be flexible and do many different things.”
Dapper says SoHo Playhouse, and its artistic director Darren Lee Cole, are ideally suited to the challenge. SoHo, like the Huntridge, is an institution; Over the past 80 years, it has provided a stage to numerous acclaimed playwrights, from Tracy Letts to Phoebe Waller Bridge. Cole says he hopes the Huntridge will be a similar boon to Vegas’ theatrical scene, providing a vital bridge from Vegas’ independent theater companies to the big stage at Reynolds Hall.
“I believe there’s an appetite for what we do that covers the whole calendar year,” Cole says. “It’s going to be built and programmed and designed for locals.”
A construction timetable is difficult to predict, Dapper says, owing to the Huntridge’s inclusion on the National Register of Historic Places. Discussions are ongoing with possible food and beverage operators for the Huntridge’s adjoining buildings. Dapper offers a cautious “guesstimate” of 12 to 18 months, but is obviously eager to get going. “We know what we want to build,” Dapper says.
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