ART Scouts Second Stage

The American Repertory Theatre (ART) is looking to expand its theater space in preparation for renovations on the Hasty Pudding building.

ART Managing Director Robert Orchard and Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino announced nearly one month ago that they are considering the Paramount Theater on Washington Street as the site of a new theater space to be used in part by the ART professionals.

The theater would be comprised of several small stages that could be used for rehearsal and performance space for local theater companies, said Esther Kaplan, director of the mayor’s office of cultural affairs.

According to Orchard, the goal of the project would be to find new space for the professionals—not necessarily for student actors.

The Loeb Drama Center was originally built as a theater space for undergraduates.

In 1979, the ART re-located to the Loeb from New Haven—a move aimed to give students an opportunity to train with a professional theater company. Renovating the Paramount Theater would grant the ART professionals a place to perform during the spring, when undergraduates traditionally use the Mainstage and the ART performs in the Hasty Pudding building.

Orchard said it is possible that undergraduates could have access to the Paramount Theater.

Expanding the stage space available to the ART will become a necessity following renovations on the Hasty Pudding building, Orchard said.

The renovations aim to turn the historic building into a state-of-the-art theater and space for student groups. Following the renovations, the professional theater company may no longer have access to the space, Orchard said.

Orchard said he considers developing a new performance space to replace the Pudding building “an urgent matter.”

But he said plans for the Paramount Theater are far from definite.

“All I’m doing is leading an effort to bring the cultural community together to assess the feasibility of using this new space,” said Orchard.

Orchard recently formed an ad hoc committee to research the “spectrum of considerations” in using the Paramount Theater.