Beck Center for the Arts in
Lakewood,
Ohio
Ohio ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Erie to the north, Pennsylvania to the east, West Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Indiana to the ...
, is a non-profit, performing arts and arts education organization. It is the largest
theater
Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors to present experiences of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a stage. The performers may communi ...
and
arts center
An art centre or arts center is distinct from an art gallery or art museum. An arts centre is a functional community centre with a specific remit to encourage arts practice and to provide facilities such as theatre space, gallery space, venues fo ...
on Cleveland's West Shore, educating and entertaining over 65,000 people per year. On its campus, Beck Center houses two stages producing live theater for children, teens and adults; two gallery spaces, and over thirty classrooms for educational programming for children and adults. It offers classes in visual arts, music, theater and dance.
The Beck Center was originally named the "Guild of the Masques" when it was founded by Richard Kay in 1929; formally incorporating as the Lakewood Little Theatre in 1933. The group moved onto its current site in Lakewood, Ohio in a theater originally designed for the movies, the Lucier, in 1938. They redesigned the interior space for live plays and purchased the building in 1943. In the following decades, the group bought up contiguous land, and, in 1972 began a capital campaign to build a new center. They were successful in raising $600,000 which was matched by ad exec Kenneth C. Beck and the current Beck Center was built in 1975.
Beck Center for the Arts hosts the longest running youth theater program in the United States, running for nearly seventy years.
Productions
2024-2025 Season Professional Theater
2024-2025 Season Youth Theater
2023-2024 Season Professional Theater
2023-2024 Season Youth Theater
2022-2023 Season Professional Theater
2022-2023 Season Youth Theater
2021-2022 Season Professional Theater
2021- 2022 Season Youth Theater
2020-2021 Season Professional Theater
2020-2021 Season Youth Theater
2019-2020 Season Professional Theater
2019-2020 Season Youth Theater
2018-2019 Season Professional Theater
2018-2019 Season Youth Theater Presented by the Mort and Iris Philanthropic Fund
2017-2018 Season Professional Theater
2017-2018 Season Youth Theater Presented by the Mort and Iris Philanthropic Fund
2016-2017 Season Professional Theater
2016-2017 Season Youth Theater Presented by the Mort and Iris Philanthropic Fund
2015-2016 Season Professional Theater
2015-2016 Season Youth Theater
2014-2015 Season Professional Theater
2014-2015 Season Youth Theater
2013-2014 Season Professional Theater
2013-2014 Season Youth Theater
2012-2013 Season Professional Theater
2012-2013 Season Youth Theater
2011-2012 Season Professional Theater
2011-2012 Season Youth Theater
2010-2011 Season Professional Theater
2010-2011 Season Youth Theater
2009-2010 Season Professional Theater
2009-2010 Season Youth Theater
References
External links
Beck Center's official website A wiki about the Beck Center
{{DEFAULTSORT:Beck Center For The Arts
Drama schools in the United States
Arts centers in Ohio
Theatres in Ohio
Performing arts centers in Ohio
Lakewood, Ohio
Buildings and structures in Cuyahoga County, Ohio
Tourist attractions in Cuyahoga County, Ohio