Construction Underway for Arena Stage Mead Center

Arena Stage held a groundbreaking ceremony today to officially commence construction on its 47-year-old theater campus in Southwest, D.C. This expansion and renovation will make way for the new Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater, a three-theater facility dedicated to the development and production of American theater.

Today's ceremony announced a new matching challenge for the Next Stage Campaign and a $7.5 million gift from Arlene and Robert Kogod to name the 200-seat Cradle theater

The ceremony included remarks from members of the Arena Stage community who helped pave the way for the expansion; the announcement of two significant leadership gifts to the Next Stage Campaign; and an on-site demolition that cleared the exact location for the Mead Center's third theater, The Cradle.

Mark Shugoll, chairman of the Arena Stage Board of Trustees, led the ceremony's proceedings alongside Artistic Director Molly Smith and Executive Director Stephen Richard. Together the three reflected on the 8-year journey of this campaign and acknowledged the remarkable work of all involved. Several of those key contributors voiced their shared enthusiasm, including Architect of the project Bing Thom; former Board President John Derrick; D.C. Ward 6 Councilmember Tommy Wells; former D.C. Ward 6 Councilmember Sharon Ambrose; and lead project donor Jaylee Mead. Verbatim quotes from all to follow.

In December 2006, Arena announced the Mead Challenge-an influential matching tool created by Jaylee and her late husband Gilbert Mead that pushed the raised campaign total to $100 million of the $125 million goal. The challenge also brought the Meads' total campaign support to nearly $35 million, the largest individual gift given to an American regional theater to date. Today Richard announced that Arlene and Robert Kogod, longtime supporters of Arena, were so inspired by the Meads that they pledged $7.5 million towards the challenge. This gift, originally announced as anonymous and the largest gift of the Mead Challenge, was made to directly support the creation of the design's third theater, the Cradle.

Smith announced another couple inspired by the Mead's philanthropic vision. She shared that Trustee Beth Newburger Schwartz and her husband Richard Schwartz recently designated Arena Stage to be the beneficiary of a planned gift, known as a CRAT (charitable remainder annuity trust), valued at $500,000. This gift comes in the form of a challenge, The Newburger-Schwartz Challenge. This challenge matches any new planned gifts to Arena Stage up to $500,000 through December 2008 on a one-to-one basis. When met, this challenge will bring their total contribution to the campaign to $1 million.

The ceremony concluded with a symbolic site clearing for the Arlene and Robert Kogod Cradle. The theater's familiar parking hut, which welcomed patrons into the complex's parking lot since the late 1980s, was demolished for the crowd by a caterpillar excavator. The hut stood on top of the exact location where the Cradle will be built.

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