New performing arts venue to open at Seattle University
Feb. 14 grand opening a "valentine" for fine arts program and theatergoers
Members of the arts and neighboring communities will join Seattle University in celebrating the grand opening of the Jeanne Marie and Rhoady Lee, Jr. Center for the Arts, 5:30 - 8:30 p.m. on February 14.
The Lee Center for the Arts (view slideshow) will provide much-needed performance and work space for SU's burgeoning fine arts department. It will also serve as the new home of The Empty Space Theatre, a collaboration that will provide SU students opportunities to learn from a professional theater company.
The $6.75 million Lee Center for the Arts features a 150-seat flexible space theater designed for drama, dance and ensemble music. The lobby, with 90 linear feet of plate glass fronting 12th Avenue, is a visual arts gallery that will showcase the work of SU's fine arts students and guest artists.
The Lee Center for the Arts is a renovation of a structure that served as a car dealership in the 1920s and most recently housed campus operations for the university. Original elements (beams, flooring, wall surfaces) were incorporated into the design by LMN Architects of Seattle, which also did the design work on such performance spaces as McCaw Hall and Benaroya Hall.
The new performing arts venue is named in honor of Jeanne Marie and Rhoady Lee, Jr.—both alums and longtime supporters of Seattle University. The Lee children made a $1 million naming donation on behalf of Lakeside Industries to honor their parents. Other major donors include the Charles Simonyi Fund, Dick and Betty Hedreen, and Dr. Ellsworth Alvord and Nancy Alvord.
Press release posted online on January 23, 2006