Leonard and Claire Tow Performing Arts Center

From top: Architect’s rendering of  new Leonard and Claire Tow wing of the Performing Arts Center, the Lobby and Theatre interior. 

The Gershwin Hall wing of the Performing Arts Complex is scheduled to be demolished in the early summer of 2011 to make way for the new Leonard and Claire Tow wing of the Performing Arts Center.  This new $80 to $85 million wing is being made possible in part by public funds, private donations and a $10 million donation by Leonard (’50) and Claire ('52) Tow.  The new wing will demonstrate the college's continuing commitment to our Conservatory of Music students/majors and Theatre students/majors, giving them needed rehearsal spaces and a new, more intimate performance space -- a new 200 seat theatre which will replace both the 500 seat George Gershwin Theatre and the 150 seat Sam Levenson Recital Hall.  The new wing will also provide for a new entry onto the college on Campus Road.


Requiescat In Pace
1955 - 2010

The George Gershwin Theatre is no longer available for rental.  However, the Walt Whitman Theatre is still available, as always, for rental to non-profit and community organizations.  Call our General Manager directly to discuss how we can help your organization.

mailto:RichargG@BrooklynCenter.com  718-951-4600 x3320 


A BRIEF HISTORY:  THE GERSHWIN THEATRE:

    The Gershwin Theatre opened doors for the very first performance of the then new Brooklyn Center for the Performing Arts at Brooklyn College in December 1955.  On Thursday, December 9th, 2010, the Brooklyn College Conservatory of Music presented the final, farewell performance in this venerable theatre. It is now shuttered for the construction of the new Leonard and Claire Tow wing of the Performing Arts Center.

    The gala opening in 1955 was a performance by a very young Leontyne Price.  And for just over half a century the theatre has hosted thousands of concerts, theatre productions, classic films, lectures and assemblies that have edified and entertained countless numbers of Brooklynites.

    We are very proud of the fact that this 476 seat theatre, named after the legendary composer* has been the home of the Center's highly praised Yiddish Theatre Series for nearly two decades.  It was the only place in the borough that was dedicated to preserving this unique, joyous art-form. 

 The Brooklyn College Theatre Department presented its Mainstage Productions on this stage throughout its half-century life.  Alumni greats such as the late "Skipper" Davidson, Bernie Barrow (who for seven years portrayed the title character in the award winning daytime drama Ryan's Hope), director Wilson Lehr and Jimmy Smits (of LA LAW, NYPD BLUE and recently THE WEST WING fame) have each plied their craft before its footlights.

Also dozens of student and faculty music recitals and concerts were given each year in this theatre by the Brooklyn College Conservatory of Music.

It is difficult to point out without our pride showing, that Brooklyn Center was the site chosen by President Bill Clinton, here in the George Gershwin Theatre, to hold a "town meeting" to discuss his US AmeriCorps initiative with the Brooklyn public.

Many of the thousands of performances presented in the Gershwin Theatre have been free to the public, just as the final performance -- the traditional Holiday Concert presented by the Brooklyn College Conservatory of Music featuring the Conservatory Choir and Chorus -- was also free.

Demolition of the Gershwin wing which includes the Gershwin Theatre, the Sam Levenson Theatre and the Performing Arts Administrative Offices is underway, so please excuse our somewhat disheveled appearance during the construction period.   

* Brooklyn Center's Gershwin Theatre was so named from its inception -- from the time the first cornerstone was laid and long before the Uris Theatre in Manhattan was even a thought in some developer's mind, we were presenting music, dance, film and live theatre on the George Gershwin Theatre stage.  And long after our inaugural concert by Leontyne Price, did the management at the Uris Theater decide to usurp the Gershwin name for its own, renaming itself the "The Gershwin Theater." 

Over the years this has caused unnecessary confusion even to this day and quite frankly, it is a move that is considered untoward in the theatre business.  Nevertheless, we wish them nothing but good will, confident that "Wicked" will play there for another dozen years (how boring must it be to work on that staff?)
 
We are happy in the knowledge that although they may call themselves by our name (while disrespecting Mr. Gershwin by dropping his first name), we will always be the first  George Gershwin Theatre in New York City, Borough of Brooklyn, County of Kings -- and we think we're always the more exciting and diverse a venue, predating those Manhattan upstarts by decades.