Monday, September 12, 2011

New Theater Complex By November? Wanna BET?

What a difference a year makes!  The photo above is 4450 N Clark on September 14, 2010:  a long-abandoned scruffy vintage warehouse and an equally derelict 1960s-style one-story building.

This photo above was taken Saturday, exactly a year after Black Ensemble Theater first broke ground on its soon-to-be theater complex and cultural center.  A lot of progress has been made in such a short time!  BET says on its website that Opening Day is in November, and we're starting to believe it just may happen.  (Of course, Jackie Taylor makes things happen....)  You can go to BET's Facebook page and see daily photos of the construction as it happens.

According to the designers, Morris Architects Planners, this is what we can look forward to seeing at the end of construction.  What an asset to Uptown the new theater complex will be, and what a step up from its current location in the basement of Hull House on Beacon.  We can't wait to see the difference the new complex will make in that sad commercial strip on Clark.

We also look forward to Pegasus Players returning to Uptown, when they take over the Hull House space  vacated by BET in the fall.

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