North Garden Theater, on West Seventh Street in St. Paul, is a work-in-progress. The owners hope to have it open by winter 2016. // Photo via City Pages
If all goes according to plan, two new theaters will have opened their doors in Minneapolis–St. Paul by this winter, reports City Pages.
On West Seventh Street, Ryan and Tina North have just saved a historic theater from the wrecking ball. The Garden Theater originally opened exactly 100 years ago as a movie house, but hasn’t been used for entertainment since the 1960s.
Ryan North says that last year, the city told the previous owner the severely deteriorated building would have to be torn down unless a viable renovation plan was put into place soon.
The Norths bought the building and will reopen it this fall as North Garden Theater. After renovations, the venue will be a flexible space with the capacity to accommodate an audience of about 150.
Ryan says they’d like to produce shows themselves as well as have it be available for nomadic performers and artists and groups who need a space.
Meanwhile, in Northeast Minneapolis, Strike Theater needs to be open by August, when the theater will serve as a Fringe venue.
Allison Broeren, Joe Bozic, and Mike Fotis are the new theater’s founders, and say the theater will fill the need for a space dedicated to spoken word, storytelling, and sketch comedy. “We’ve been existing in bars and art galleries around town forever,” says Broeren. “Having a physical home that these three communities can go to and know is going to be really powerful.”
Strike Theater will be located in the Thorp Building, across Central Avenue from Minnsky Theatre—the group now occupying the former Nimbus Theatre space—and the home to tenants including Tattersall Distilling.
[h/t City Pages]
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