Insights
Sep 30, 2025 _ insights
From Restoration to Resilience…to Brilliance!
Restoring a historic theatre is just the beginning—keeping it thriving is the real challenge.
I was recently invited to present at the annual conference of the League of Historic American Theaters, a national non-profit organization dedicated to sustaining historic theaters—typically built before 1950— across North America.
I presented alongside members from the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust, Apeiro Design, and VVA. We shared proven strategies for maintaining and upgrading historic venues. Topics included navigating capital projects, ADA compliance, evolving technology, and operational challenges. Some of the tools we discussed include current conditions assessments and feasibility studies, which analyze and estimate the costs to maintain, repair, or upgrade theater elements such as structural needs, stages, seating, HVAC, and other building systems. Assessments and feasibility studies help theater owners/operators fully understand estimated costs, which helps prioritization and decision-making around where to spend the hard-won dollars from a capital campaign. We also touched on the importance of understanding operational needs and show schedules and seasons as well as lead times for ordering equipment and preparing for inevitable hidden challenges along the way.
Historic performance venues are often anchors of downtown revitalization and cultural heritage. Cost-effective maintenance, repair, and rehabilitation to meet modern audience expectations helps keep these architectural gems thriving.
See our presentation slides here.
Read about our work renovating Cincinnati’s historic Emery Theatre renovation here.
See more of our arts work here.
Steve Karoly RA is an associate principal at GBBN. Steve thrives on renovation projects, including his current work on the historic Emery Theatre, the home of The Children’s Theatre of Cincinnati. His understanding of complex constructability, phasing, and scheduling requirements and his attention to detail have led to award-winning projects including the Cincinnati Shakespeare Company Theater and the Cincinnati Ballet.
