Demolition of the bus garage located next to Brawdy Theater Studios will begin Monday as the first phase in the construction of the new Roe Green Theater Center.
As Chautauqua Institution wraps up its 150th anniversary season, a new chapter is set to begin with the demolition of the blue bus garage near Route 394. This marks the first phase of construction for the Roe Green Theater Center, a state-of-the-art facility that will serve as the new home for Chautauqua Theater Company.
The demolition, scheduled to begin on Monday, represents a significant advancement in Chautauqua’s ongoing mission to enhance cultural and educational experiences for its community. The Roe Green Theater Center promises to be a hub for creativity and learning, offering modern amenities to support the Institution’s vibrant arts programs.
In preparation for the demolition, safety measures will be implemented, including the installation of fencing around the site. The project will also include asbestos abatement, with a particular focus on the exterior roof materials. To ensure the safety of residents and visitors, the work area will be misted to minimize airborne particles.
Certified asbestos abatement professionals, along with an environmental consultant, will oversee the project, ensuring that all procedures comply with the approved demolition certificate issued by the Town of Chautauqua.
The new Roe Green Theater Center will complement Chautauqua’s Bratton Theater, adding a black box/flexible space, rehearsal studios, offices for CTC leadership and other support spaces to ensure that CTC remains one of the nation’s leading accelerators of theater artists in the nation. It will replace the former Brawdy Theater Studios complex on the Chautauqua grounds and return CTC artists to a centralized space for theater creation, versus the dispersed conditions that currently have Chautauqua’s artists rehearsing in disparate spaces on-and off-grounds.
The Roe Green Foundation has made a $4.5 million commitment to advance the completion of the new Roe Green Theater Center, a state-of-the-art, centralized facility for CTC. This gift, which consists of a $3 million outright contribution and a $1.5 million matching challenge gift, comes after a long history of supporting theater arts at Chautauqua, including the New Play Workshop series.
Chautauquan Roe Green is the CEO of the Roe Green Foundation, which she founded after her mother’s passing in 2003. Since then, she has used her philanthropic passion to make remarkable improvements to the cultural arts scenes in Cleveland and Kent, Ohio; Jupiter, Florida; and at Chautauqua.
