Supporting all three theaters will be state-of-the-art technology and spacious workspace for rehearsals, set design, construction and administrative services – all sorely lacking in the current facility.

The Next Stage Campaign will add the Donald and Nancy de Laski Education Center, complete with classroom and workshop spaces, and will allow the nation’s best artists and artisans to interact directly with the young people from our Nation’s capital, both informally and in existing and expanded programs. The addition of onsite instructional spaces will only enhance the ties Arena has to its community. But more than that, placing classroom space next to rehearsal areas affords young people participating in Arena’s various programs a unique opportunity to interact with artists at the earliest stages of the creative process. This will imbue a special luster to programs that illuminate the creative process and are unlike most spaces of other theaters in the country.  This vital new resource is named for Arena Stage Trustees Donald and the late Nancy de Laski.

The new Arena Stage will address audience needs, as well. Ensconced in the extraordinary design is a large, common lobby with grand staircase that helps link all three theater spaces both visually and geographically. In addition, the new facility will feature a vastly increased number of restrooms in several locations; a single, efficient Box Office serving all audiences; readily available concessions and an onsite café; easy access to all areas of the building for persons with disabilities; and interactive informational displays.

The design has won praise from architectural critics and preservationists alike. Tersh Boarsberg, Chairman of Washington’s Historic Preservation Review Board noted: “This is a wonderful design that adds so much to our city. It’s exemplary…the architecture is unique and different, and imaginative and forceful…and there’s special merit because of the importance of this building and this complex to the Southwest and to our city.”

Ben Forgey, former architectural critic for The Washington Post, noted: “People will come to look at, as well as be in, this building. Its transparency will be compelling day or night. Striking structural elements, such as towering mast-like wood columns, fit the setting perfectly. The assortment of buildings will form an enticing little cityscape..”

The new complex will be both theater and campus; a center for artistic enterprise and development – a grand new evolution of Arena Stage as we head into the future.

With approval of the design by the Commission of Fine Arts and the Board of Zoning Adjustments in 2005, construction began in January 2008 and is scheduled to conclude in the fall of 2010.

In addition to creating the Arena Stage design, architect Bing Thom also provided guidance to the leaders of the Anacostia Waterfront Initiative (AWI) for architectural improvements to other projects within the Southwest D.C. Waterfront. Arena Stage will be the first phase in an overall revitalization effort that will make Southwest D.C. an arts and entertainment community and spectacular gateway to our nation’s capital.

"All of the changes along the Waterfront and the Anacostia River are exciting and will make our city better. I have been proud to work with Arena Stage in the past, and I appreciate their commitment to this neighborhood. This project is yet another sign of progress in our city, and I look forward to visiting the new Arena."
     – Former Mayor Anthony Williams