Founded in 1950, Arena Stage was one of the first regional theaters in the U.S. The theater had a history of taking risks and breaking down barriers, and has always been known for being on the leading edge of performing arts in America. In the late 1950s, the theater’s directors hired Harry Weese, a famous American modernist architect from that era. Weese proceeded to design one of the first modern in-the-round theaters in America, from which the theater company’s name
is derived. Completed in 1961, the Fichandler Theater (named after Arena’s founder Zelda Fichandler) is an excellent example of American brutalist architecture, “a ragged and tough, but historically significant concrete building,” says Heeney. Several years later, they built an adjacent theater called the Kreeger
Theater, also designed by Weese.