Feb 27, 2017

Center Stage on Calvert Street has reopened after a $28 million renovation. 44 years ago, its old building was destroyed in a fire.

: Center Stage at its original location on North Avenue in photo dated November 19, 1967. (Baltimore Sun)

: Center Stage fund-raiser after the building was destroyed by fire. Undated photo. (Handout)

: A fire destroyed Center Stage’s North Avenue location on January 9, 1974. (Baltimore Sun)

: The aftermath of the fire that destroyed Center Stage’s North Avenue location. Photo dated January 11, 1974. (Baltimore Sun)

: The aftermath of the fire that destroyed Center Stage’s North Avenue location. Photo dated January 11, 1974. (Baltimore Sun)

: The aftermath of the fire that destroyed Center Stage’s North Avenue location. Photo dated January 11, 1974. (Baltimore Sun)

: Center Stage prepares to move into its new home on Calvert Street after a fire at its North Avenue location. Photo dated December 30, 1975. (Baltimore Sun)

: Backstage at Center Stage’s North Avenue location in photo dated November 19, 1967. (Baltimore Sun)

: Backstage at Center Stage’s North Avenue location in photo dated November 19, 1967. (Baltimore Sun)

: Renovations underway at Center Stage’s Calvert Street location, photo dated February 26, 1975. (Baltimore Sun)

: Renovations underway at Center Stage’s Calvert Street location, photo dated February 26, 1975. (Baltimore Sun)

: Renovations to the former Loyola High School and College before it became Center Stage Theater, photo dated April 2, 1975. (Baltimore Sun)

: Baltimore, MD-5/7/13–Jonathan Crombie (Peter Nelson), Jenna Sokolowski (Mrs. Nelson) Charlie Hudson III (Joseph Asagal) and Jessica Frances Dukes (Beneatha Asagai Younger) are shown during dress rehearsal of “Beneatha’s Place,” a new play by Center Stage artistic director Kwame Kwei-Armah and the last segment of the Raisin Cycle. (Gene Sweeney Jr./Baltimore Sun)

: The former Loyola High School and College, set to become the Center Stage Theater, in photo dated January 26, 1975. (Baltimore Sun)

: Renovations underway at Center Stage Theater, August 13, 1975. (Baltimore Sun)

: Performance at Center Stage in photo dated October 28, 1976. (Baltimore Sun)

: Center Stage’s Calvert Street location on November 21, 1987. (Baltimore Sun)

: Ivy Whisnant descends ladder after affixing the 99 completed sign on the Monument street side of Center Stage, photo dated December 1975. (Baltimore Sun)

: The first performance at Center Stage at its then-new home in the former Loyola High School and College Building on Calvert Street, in photo dated December 7, 1975. (Baltimore Sun)

: Renovations underway at Center Stage’s Calvert Street location, previously Loyola High School and College, in photo dated November 18, 1975. (Baltimore Sun)

: Renovations underway at Center Stage’s Calvert Street location, previously Loyola High School and College, in photo dated September 11, 1975. (Baltimore Sun)

: Baltimore, MD–2/21/17 – Center Stage reopening after renovations. (Lloyd Fox/Baltimore Sun)

: BALTIMORE, MD — 9/22/10 — Center Stage will present a revival of the breakthrough musical The Wiz, featuring, among others, four Baltimore-area performers (R-L), Eric B. Anthony (Scarecrow), Kristen N. Dowtin (Dorothy), Jonathan Burke and LaTrisa Harper (ensembles). The show will run from September 29 to November 7. The original 1974 big-budget show with an all-black cast had its world premiere at the old Mechanic Theatre in Baltimore. (Kenneth K. Lam/Baltimore Sun)

“Only in a third-rate drama would the theater burn down just as the morning-paper presses were rolling with a highly complimentary review of the new production,” The Sun editorial board dryly observed on January 11, 1974. But it happened here in Baltimore. On January 9, 1972, arsonists set fire to Center Stage on North Avenue, the same night “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” had opened to rave reviews. It was reportedly a mistake: the two men meant to set fire to the restaurant next door, but came through the wrong door, and the theater burned instead.

But the show must go on. “Virginia Woolf” was staged the following night at the Baltimore Museum of Art, finishing its run at Notre Dame College.

In December 1975, the theater found an entirely new home in the former Loyola High School and College building on Calvert Street. The cost? Free. Or, close to it, as Jacques Kelly recalled in The Sun last year:

“Attorney and theater advocate Donald N. Rothman met with the Rev. Anthony Zeits, a Jesuit priest who was then treasurer of the order’s Maryland Province. Rothman sought permission to use the former Loyola High School and College buildings at Calvert and Monument streets in Mount Vernon as a replacement theater.

“The building had not been used as a school since 1941, when the last batch of high school students moved to the Blakefield campus in Baltimore County. The college had departed for its Evergreen campus in 1922.

“Those present during the meeting between the priest and lawyer recalled that Rothman made a strong appeal — he noted that theater worked to better the lot of mankind.

“He appealed to Zeits to hand over the building free of charge, and in one of the city’s more curious transactions, the religious order agreed.”

The most recent renovation cost a bit more – around $28 million.

From the vault: At Center Stage, the show goes on

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