The Theater at ASFA

Construction on The Theater at ASFA, a 500-seat, state-of-the-art theater on the school campus is near completion. The theater is the result of the Foundation’s Capital Campaign, The Performance Network, which has raised over $7 million needed for the $8 million project. The Theater at ASFA will be the only theater of it’s size in the region appropriate for intimate community and school venues, with ideal viewing and acoustics. The theater is designed as a professional venue, but will serve as both a performance and teaching facility for the school. Craig Krawzcyk of Birmingham’s Live Design Group is the architect for the project. Krawzcyk worked closely with Adams, Foundation Board chairman Stanton Ingram, and members of the school faculty to ensure the theater will provide an optimum learning experience for the students. Theater specifics were designed by David Kahn of Acoustic Dimensions, New Rochelle, New York, and Michael Ferguson of Theatre Project Consultants, Norwalk, Connecticut. Included in the building will be a fly tower for changing scenery, a green room, rest rooms and dressing rooms for performers, audience rest rooms, and a scene shop for designing sets. The sound and light booth will be large enough for teaching 15 students at a time. Total square footage for the theater will be 19,212 feet. B.L. Harbert International is building the facility.

The construction is the result of a seven year fund raising effort by the ASFA Foundation, a 501c3 non-profit organization that owns and rents the current facility to the school. The new theater will help stimulate the economic development and revitalization of the downtown arts district, which has a shortage of performance venues available to local performing artists. Major donors include Alabama Power Foundation, Regions Bank, EBSCO, Daniel Foundation, Community Foundation of Greater Birmingham, Hillcrest Foundation, Jemison Investment, Hugh Kaul Foundation, Robert Meyer Foundation, Compass Bank, Vulcan Materials Foundation, AT&T Foundation, Joseph S. Bruno Foundation, Walls Foundation, and many individual donors.

The Alabama School of Fine Arts is one of the top public, tuition-free, arts and science schools in the nation for grades 7-12. It is located at 1800 Reverend Abraham Woods, Jr. Blvd. Birmingham, Alabama 35203. Admission is by audition only. For more information on the ASFA theater or to contact the ASFA Foundation, call 205-252-6617.