The proposed Maryland Theatre for the Performing Arts would have about 350 more seats than the Maryland Hall for the Creative Arts, offer better acoustics and help promote Annapolis as a cultural center, proponents said.
Plans for the $60 million center were unveiled recently by the developer of Park Place Annapolis, the condominium-business development at West Street and Taylor Avenue, not far from the heart of downtown.
The center would include three stage venues, with the main hall seating 1,200 people, according to plans by Jerry Parks, chairman of Jerome J. Parks Companies, which is partnering with the Carlyle Group.
But the proposal raises questions about future support for the Maryland Hall for the Creative Arts, the 75-year-old theater and arts school that has 850 seats and houses the Annapolis Symphony Orchestra.
“In the short term, over the next five years, our position is to make Maryland Hall the best theater, the best art center that it can be,” said Linnell Bowen, executive director. “In the next five years, we should invest in Maryland Hall.”
She said Parks has not put forth a proposal “for us to work together,” but she believes Annapolis deserves a larger, more modern venue.
“We’re a community theater. Can we all work together? I hope so. We have a niche that he won’t have and vice versa,” Bowen said of Parks.
The performing arts center is expected to be paid for with public and private funding. Annapolis Mayor Ellen O. Moyer (D) said she supports the plan.
She said Maryland Hall is “very popular, but some of the performing arts groups need to grow and they can’t grow on site.” The new center would become “the whole cultural hub” of Annapolis, she said.
“This adds to the growth of this city as a cultural center,” Moyer said.
A model for the facility is the Music Center at Strathmore in Montgomery County, said Parks. He said the new performing arts center would complement Maryland Hall, giving the city a venue equipped to handle bigger productions, such as Broadway shows, and offer acoustics that will attract top performers.
“They’re not going to Maryland Hall just because of the acoustical quality of the theater,” Parks said. “This would absolutely bring artists from outside this area who don’t come now because we don’t have this capacity.”
The size of the center would allow the Annapolis Symphony to play for larger audiences, Parks said. Small stage venues there would be available to local theater groups, he said.
Proponents say the impact of the new center might be felt beyond its proposed location between the new Westin Hotel and Park Place development. Officials are discussing plans to designate the surrounding area as an arts district, Parks said.
“It would promote artists to come live and work in this area,” he said.
Parks said the proposal followed conversations with community leaders, when Park Place was first developed.
Parks said the city approved plans for a 950-seat performing arts center, but the capacity was expanded when developers were able to obtain property owned by Admiral Cleaners. The expanded plan must be approved by city officials, according to Parks, who hopes to present it to them early next year.
The construction timetable will depend on the funding, he said. He said he has had limited discussions with state officials, but the reaction has “been positive to this point.” Parks said he was not seeking money directly from the state budget.
“There are a lot of different ways that funding can be accomplished,” he said
