Varsity Center for the Arts
418 S. Illinois Avenue,
Carbondale,
IL
62901
418 S. Illinois Avenue,
Carbondale,
IL
62901
9 people
favorited this theater
Related Websites
The Stage Company (Official)
Additional Info
Previously operated by: Kerasotes Theatres, Rodgers Theatres
Architects: Oliver William Steigemeyer
Functions: Live Theater, Performing Arts
Styles: Streamline Moderne
Previous Names: Varsity Theatre
Phone Numbers:
Box Office:
618.549.5466
Nearby Theaters
News About This Theater
- Oct 28, 2008 — Carbondale's Varsity Theater reopens
- Jun 2, 2008 — Carbondale's Varsity to become live theater venue
- Nov 19, 2007 — Varsity Theater to be donated to city
The Varsity Theatre originally opened in 1940 with seating for 1,100. The theater was later twinned, and finally triplexed. The Varsity suffered a fire in 1981, but was remodeled and reopened.
This Art Moderne-style movie house was closed by its last operator, Kerasotes Theatres, in May of 2003.
In early-2008, it was acquired from Kerasotes by the Stage Company of Jackson County, which plans to renovate and restore the historic Varsity Theatre as a venue for live theatrical productions. The ongoing restoration project is going to be done in three phases, with work anticipated to be completed by 2012.
The theater reopened to the public in October 2008 as the Varsity Center for the Arts with a performace of the Neil Simon play, “The Star-Spangled Girl”, kicking off the Stage Company’s 2008-2009 season.
Contributed by
Bronwyn
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Recent comments (view all 61 comments)
I also forgot to add that in either April or May they had one screen running films, more than likely it was the new third screen they had just opened. The other two theatres were still being renovated at the time.
The Varsity is set to reopen tonight. The stage company has renovated one of the theaters and will present their first production there this weekend. They also clean-up the lobby and restored the marquee. The Southern Illinoisanhas an article and video up on their website today about the reopening.
According to the article, there is still a lot of work to be done – the nlobby, intermission room and the “east” auditorium (the addition) have been refurbished; future stages call for renovating the main auditorium and balcony; total cost would be about 4.5 mil, to be completed by 2012.
Picture from February 1982:
View link
The February 22, 1941, issue of Boxoffice published a photo of the Varsity Theatre in Carbondale. The caption attributed the design to St. Louis architect Oliver W. Stiegemeyer.
Additional photographs of the Varsity illustrate an article about the recently-opened house in Boxoffice of August 17, 1940.
The 1940 Boxoffice article cited earlier identifies the architect of the Varsity Theatre as Oliver W. Stiegemeyer.
On my trip through downstate Illinois last Summer, I shot some photos of the Varsity. Here’s a link to the first one. Subsequent ones follow on my Flickr photostream.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/stormdog42/8751438679/
June 26th, 1940, September 20th, 1974 and June 12th, 1981 grand opening ads in photo section.
I was able to view two movies in the Varsity theater between 1983-1985. I saw: Against All Odds, and Purple Rain. I remember the screen being really small which made my eyes wander. The original interior architecture being lost, made for a generic experience. It was nice though, to still visualize the exterior of this 1940’s theater, knowing it was once, one theater not three. One could walk after class to see a afternoon movie, without having to drive. Nice touch. The theater by the IGA, which was larger and modern had the re-release of Alfred Hitchcock’s, Rear Window and Woody Allen’s Purple Rose of Cairo was more to my liking. University Mall ultra modern theater had Witness, Ghost Busters, and The Natural respectively. Great experience.