Morris Performing Arts Center
Encyclopedia
The Morris Performing Arts Center (formerly the Palace Theater) is a 2,560-seat concert hall in South Bend, Indiana
. It was built in 1921 as a vaudeville
house and later became a movie palace
. The theater was planned for demolition in 1959 but was saved from demolition, and between 1998 and 2000, it was restored and remodeled.
Today, Morris Performing Arts Center's interior features a rose, blue and cream color scheme, as it originally did when it opened. The theater's stage, which measures 56 feet by 57 feet and contains a red and gold main curtain, dates from the 2000 restoration. The theater is home to the South Bend Symphony Orchestra and also hosts Broadway
shows, concerts, and other special events. The theater's interior is notable for borrowing from European architectural styles.
More than half of the seats at Morris Performing Arts Center--1,282, in fact--are in the balcony. The remainder of the seats are in the lower level.
South Bend, Indiana
The city of South Bend is the county seat of St. Joseph County, Indiana, United States, on the St. Joseph River near its southernmost bend, from which it derives its name. As of the 2010 Census, the city had a total of 101,168 residents; its Metropolitan Statistical Area had a population of 316,663...
. It was built in 1921 as a vaudeville
Vaudeville
Vaudeville was a theatrical genre of variety entertainment in the United States and Canada from the early 1880s until the early 1930s. Each performance was made up of a series of separate, unrelated acts grouped together on a common bill...
house and later became a movie palace
Movie palace
A movie palace is a term used to refer to the large, elaborately decorated movie theaters built between the 1910s and the 1940s. The late 1920s saw the peak of the movie palace, with hundreds opened every year between 1925 and 1930.There are three building types in particular which can be subsumed...
. The theater was planned for demolition in 1959 but was saved from demolition, and between 1998 and 2000, it was restored and remodeled.
Today, Morris Performing Arts Center's interior features a rose, blue and cream color scheme, as it originally did when it opened. The theater's stage, which measures 56 feet by 57 feet and contains a red and gold main curtain, dates from the 2000 restoration. The theater is home to the South Bend Symphony Orchestra and also hosts Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
shows, concerts, and other special events. The theater's interior is notable for borrowing from European architectural styles.
More than half of the seats at Morris Performing Arts Center--1,282, in fact--are in the balcony. The remainder of the seats are in the lower level.