BAM Plans New Black-Box Theater

The Brooklyn Academy of Music plans to open a small black box theater in 2013, which will join BAM’s 2000-seat Gilman Opera House and 875-seat Harvey Theater, currently home to Sam Mendes’ “Bridge Project” production of The Cherry Orchard. Variety reports that the 263-seat space will be housed in a building behind the Opera House will be named for the BAM supporter Richard B. Fisher.

The new theater, featuring a flexible layout and state-of-the-art technology, will be used for BAM programming during half the year and will be made available for community arts use the other half. “Into that space I can invite the art made in the 21st century, which is not about the proscenium arch,” BAM executive producer Joseph V. Melillo told Variety.

The announcement of the new theater is part of the launch of a $300 million fund-raising campaign for BAM, which has already raised $160 million from individuals and foundations.