Designs unveiled for Clarksville Performing Arts Center at Roxy Gala 41 | PHOTOS

Updated with details on the plans.

CLARKSVILLE, TN (CLARKSVILLE NOW) – The Roxy Regional Theatre celebrated 41 years of live entertainment with Gala 41, an evening of food, art, music and live and silent auctions on Saturday.

But the highlight of the evening was the unveiling of conceptual designs for the Clarksville Performing Arts Center at the corner of First and Franklin Streets.

What’s in the plans

A review of the plans shows a 486-seat main stage, with 330 of those seats on the first floor and 157 on a second-floor balcony.

On the second floor are a large “prefunction hall,” offices, a conference room and four classrooms.

On the third floor, a 166-seat “black box” theatre with a thrust stage is planned. Also on the third floor is a second “prefunction hall” with a covered open-air rooftop patio.

In the basement are large spaces for a scene construction shop, prop storage, costume storage, scene storage and a loading dock, plus museum archive storage.

The plans appear to retain the existing Roxy facade and lobby, with renovations that move the restrooms to larger spaces in the building. There are spaces for potential lease by dining vendors.

The plans also include much larger restrooms, technical booths, back stage areas and fly space.

Reinventing historic space

Brad Martin, principal and partner with Lyle-Cook-Martin Architects, talked about the Roxy site that has served the community for over 110 years.

“We have the opportunity, to reinvent this corner at First and Franklin into a world-class performing arts center that will serve as a hub for entertainment in our community for the next 110 years. This can truly be a legacy,” Martin said.

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Serving the community as a movie theatre that opened in 1913 as the Lillian Theatre, the site was renamed the Roxy Movie Theatre and showed films from the early 1940s until it closed in 1980. The Roxy Regional Theatre, featuring live theatre, was born in 1983.

What’s next

Clarksville Mayor Joe Pitts talked to guests about the timeline for the center.

“We have a lot of work to do. We are working on a financing plan that we will pitch to the City Council later this next spring, and we expect to have a financing package in place at the same time the design work is continuing and final, so that we are bidding out this project late next summer and starting construction about this time next year,” Pitts said.

Close to 90 guests attended the annual fundraiser for the Roxy, which featured dinner served on the Clarksville’s Public Square and live music on the Roxy stage from Syd & the Guild.

Chris Smith contributed to this report. 

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