They believe the construction phase of the renovation project is almost over.
Obviously, these people are blind to the maze of scaffolding still reaching to the rafters of the 1921 movie palace, deaf to the din of power tools whirring away. Clearly, they can’t see that the huge project — which will preserve the historic shell of the Allen while changing it from a 2,500-seat theater into a 500-seat main stage for the Cleveland Play House and the drama and dance departments of Cleveland State University — is nowhere near completion.
It is futile to try to talk them out of their delusion.
“We’ll be finished at the beginning of August,” said Tom Einhouse, PlayhouseSquare’s vice president of real estate development, during a recent tour.
Einhouse, who has been managing construction projects at PlayhouseSquare for 30 years, gives every appearance of knowing what he’s talking about. He’s done this before. So we’ll play along.
The construction crews will move out of the Allen in two weeks, and technical and operations experts from the Play House and PlayhouseSquare will arrive, to set lighting and rigging.
On Sept. 10, tech rehearsals begin on the Allen stage for “Galileo,” the first production of the Cleveland Play House’s first season in PlayhouseSquare.
Opening night is Friday, Sept. 16.
Meanwhile, construction will continue on the 44,000-square-foot addition that will house two new flexible theaters, the 350-seat Second Stage and the 150-seat Lab. The entire $30 million project is expected to be completed by the end of the year, in time for a January opening on the Second Stage.
Here is a look at progress on the project through the third week of July.
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