Theatre Macon opens intimate studio theater in milestone year

Theatre Macon kicked off its 40th anniversary this month with the opening of a newly renovated performance space on the second floor of its downtown location at 438 Cherry St.

The roughly 1,000-square-foot space was once used for costume storage and as a rehearsal space. After a year of renovations, the nearly $100,000 project was completed last October. 

The space’s name, Annie and Sammy Dame Studio Theatre, was unveiled Wednesday at an official ribbon-cutting event. The local art patrons contributed significantly to the project’s funding, said the theater’s executive and artistic director Richard Frazier-Sostillio. 

He noted the couple were huge advocates for the theater’s youth productions. Sammy recently died, but Annie attended the ribbon-cutting and the surprise name unveiling.

“We’re standing in this room because of them,” Frazier-Sostillio said.

The more-than-100 year old building in the heart of downtown Macon “already had the bones for everything that we needed it to be,” he said of the renovation process. 

The new 50-seat theater offers a much more intimate live performance experience, compared to the 220-seat mainstage theater, he added. 

The space will lend itself well to productions requiring smaller casts and shows that won’t draw as large of an audience.

“We pride ourselves on creating all types of theater,” Frazier-Sostillio said. “Creating a space like this — where a show that may not have a huge audience draw, but still has an audience for — we can continue to produce those types of works in this space.”

“The Beauty Queen of Leenane” will run April 10-19 in the new upstairs theater.