Center Stage

Center Stage is a mid-sized concert complex comprising three separate venues located in Atlanta, Georgia. Originally known as Theatre Atlanta, the concert hall was built in memorial to a young theater enthusiast. Upon its opening in the fall of 1966, the building functioned as a performing arts theater, but has since become primarily music-focused. History The building, dating from 1966, has played host to a variety of uses within the performing arts spectrum and has held a handful of different titles. 1966–80s The building of Theatre Atlanta was largely paid for by a single benefactor, Frania Lee, heiress to the Hunt Oil fortune. The company of Theatre Atlanta originated in 1957 as a professional repertory company and Lee's daughter, Helen Lee Cartledge, was the first president of the Theatre Atlanta's Women's Guild. Lee built a home for the company as a tribute to Cartledge, who perished in the infamous Orly plane crash on June 3, 1962, along with her husband and 128 others (which made it the worst airplane disaster to date). The Atlanta Arts Association had sponsored a month-long tour of Europe and many of Atlanta's cultural and civic leaders lost their lives on the flight home from Paris. The theatre opened its doors on October 26, 1966, with its first production, The Royal Hunt of the Sun. The venue originally seated 775 around a 130-foot wing to wing, 68-foot thrust stage. The building housed the triple-tier parking garage still operating today, as well as a gourmet restaurant, cocktail lounges, a space for costume designing and, among other things, a few classrooms for Theatre Atlanta Institute of Speech and Voice.