Plano Courtyard Theater opens in Texas.

April 25, 2002

On Tuesday, April 23, 2002, the Plano Courtyard Theatre held a dedication ceremony to mark its official opening in Plano, Texas. The ceremony was hosted by the Mayor Jeran Akers and the Council of the City of Plano. Benton Delinger, the TPC Project Manager, and John Runia, TPC Design Consultant, were on hand to extend best wishes to all those involved in the new facility.

Interior view of theatre.

In the fall of 1999, the Plano City Council established a tax increment finance district in downtown Plano. Four and a half million dollars of the projected income from the district was earmarked for the creation of the Courtyard Theater. This project is an adaptive re-use of the Cox Annex, a historic structure located in Haggard Park Historic District. The building's flexible design makes it well suited for theater, music, lectures, receptions, and other special events.

Exterior view of building.

The Cox gymnasium/auditorium was built in 1938 as a Works Progress Administration project. Interestingly, it was constructed on almost the exact location of the Civic Auditorium (1909) which had been built by subscriptions pledged by Plano citizens. Here the Lyceum was held in winter, and in summer the Chautauqua, founded in 1914, was held.

Theatre set up in arena mode.

The Courtyard Theater is a valuable new asset to the cultural life of Plano. The project design preserves and incorporates both the historic materials and style of the exisiting building.

Benton Delinger, TPC Project Manager, discusses theatre systems with Plano Repertory Theater Technical Director, Russell Read.

The audience chamber is a 325-seat, flexible theater. Modular seating platforms can be re-configured to create an end-stage, thrust-stage or arena stage setup. The sides have movable wall panels for 'tuning' the acoustic properties of the room. Theater seats have been selected for audience comfort and ease of handling when the theater is rearranged.

View of two-storey lobby space.

A generous lobby consisting of four major areas- box office/ entrance, donors' lounge, main lobby with 2 story atrium and an upper mezzanine has been created. These areas not only provide for good audience flow and comfort, but are also highly suited for receptions, meetings, and educational programming. The spaces may be used for separate events simultaneously. The entire facility is linked throughout with sound, video, and lighting controls.

View of side lobby, box office, and main entrance doors.

The backstage areas include dressing rooms to accommodate many types of performing groups, from theater to dance to musical ensembles. There are technical staging areas, wardrobe, prop and lighting storage, as well as production and management offices and a cast/crew lounge.

View of chorus dressing rooms.

Theatre Projects Consultants had wide ranging responsibilities for the new facility. The conceptual design for the theatre was developed by Brian Hall. Athos Zaghi and Gavin Green were responsible for performance space design development. Performance equipment was designed by the Theatre Projects Consultants Technical Department. Benton Delinger was the project manager overseeing the project for TPC.

The architect for the project was Hardy Holzman Pfeiffer Associates, LLP. Acoustics were by Steve Haas and sound by Keith Book of Jaffe Holden Acoustics, Inc. The contractor was Joe Funk Construction Engineers, Inc.

HHPA partner in charge, Malcolm Holzman, attended the opening and spoke about the design of theater.

The facility is now the new home of the Plano Repertory Theatre company. Visit them on the Internet at http://www.planorep.org.