Texas Society of Architects Names Alley Theatre with their 25-Year Award for 2014

On November 7, 2014 the Alley Theatre will be honored by the Texas Society of Architects with their 25-Year Award for 2014. The award recognizes a built architectural project of enduring significance that was completed 25 to 50 years earlier and has withstood the test of time by retaining its central form, character, and overall architectural integrity. The award will be presented at the gala dinner during the 75th Annual Convention and Design Expo in Houston. Butch Mach, a member of the Alley Theatre's Board of Directors and Vice President of Facilities, will accept the award on behalf of the Alley Theatre.

"I am honored to accept this award on behalf of the Alley Theatre, when we are renovating our building to transform it into a world class theatre" states Butch Mach. "Special care has been taken throughout to embrace the unique features of our historic building. Audience amenities are being modernized and new building systems are being installed. A state-of-the-art performance space, which integrates 21st century stagecraft technology with a more intimate audience-to-stage relationship, will ensure the value of our building to tomorrow's audiences and theatre artists."

Texas Architect's 25-Year Award is an important public outreach program that focuses much-deserved attention on distinguished Texas architecture of enduring significance and exemplifies the Society's intrinsic message that "Good Design Matters." Previous recipients include Temple Emanu-El in Dallas, Tower of the Americas in San Antonio, Margarite B. Parker Chapel at Trinity University, the Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth and The Menil Collection in Houston.

As the Alley Theatre undergoes the first major renovation in its history, all 2014-2015 season performances are at the University of Houston's (UH) main campus. Pete Ed Garret, Jared Wood and Gwyndolyn Mowbray of Studio RED Architects have designed the project with Kevin Rigdon of the Alley Theatre and Bill Connors Associates acting as theatre consultants. Details about the previously announced renovation can be found at www.alleytheatre.org/renovation.

Construction on the Alley Theatre building began in July, 2014 and will continue through the summer of 2015, with the grand opening of the renovated Alley Theatre scheduled for October 2015. Having raised $48 million to date in the "Extended Engagement" campaign, the theatre intends to raise a total of $56.5 million by August 2015 to complete the first two phases of the campaign, Artistic Enhancement and Renovation. This will allow the theatre to have the building costs secured, before the Alley Theatre begins its inaugural season back in its downtown home.

ABOUT TEXAS SOCIETY OF ARCHITECTS

The Texas Society of Architects is a state component of the American Institute of Architects. Founded in 1939, Texas Architects is one of the nation's largest organizations for the architectural profession, with 17 regional chapters and over 6,000 members. Our mission is to be the voice for Texas architecture, supporting the creation of safe, beautiful, sustainable environments. www.texasarchitects.org

ABOUT THE ALLEY THEATRE
With its 177 employees, the Alley Theatre produces 393 performances annually, more than all other performing arts organizations in the Theater District combined. The Alley has attracted over 8 million people to Houston's Theater District since 1968 and has a $34.5 million annual economic impact on the City of Houston ("Arts & Economic Prosperity III: The Economic Impact of Nonprofit Arts & Culture Organizations and their Audiences in the City of Houston," Americans for the Arts, 2005.)

The Alley Theatre, one of America's leading not-for-profit theatres, is a nationally recognized performing arts company focused on collaborating with resident actors, visiting artists, directors, designers and authors to cultivate the new voices, new work, and new artists of the American theatre. Under the direction of Artistic Director Gregory Boyd and Managing Director Dean R. Gladden, the Alley has also brought its productions to 40 American cities, and to Berlin, Paris, St. Petersburg and New York's Lincoln Center, as well as to major European festivals (including two in one season at the Venice Biennale) and Broadway. As a recipient of the Special Tony Award for Outstanding Regional Theatre, the Alley creates a wide-ranging repertoire and innovative productions of classics, neglected modern plays, and premieres, as well as new works that will become classics for the future developed through the Alley's New Play Initiative. During the 2014 - 2015 season the Alley Theatre will be performing at the University of Houston's Wortham Theatre as the Alley's downtown home is being renovated. For more information go to www.alleytheatre.org/uh.

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