The Eli and Edythe Broad Stage and The Edye Second Space, Santa Monica’s new state-of-the-art theater and education facility, celebrated its completion with a long-anticipated inaugural gala Saturday, September 20th, 2008.

The event marked the culmination of a decade of planning, $45 million in fundraising, and three years of construction. FTR International Inc. executed the sophisticated architectural design produced by local architect Renzo Zecchetto, while facilitating the complex interior acoustic plan devised by JaffeHolden, presenting a structure unlike any other Los Angeles performing arts center.

The purpose behind the Santa Monica College facility presented complex building specifications, requiring a 499 seat performance theater—including a functional orchestra pit for general theatrical performances and a stage large enough to accommodate a full-scale orchestra for concert-related events, while supporting separate gallery spaces, rehearsal halls, classroom facilities, dressing rooms, and The Edye Second Space, an additional 99 seat black box theater for experimental performance purposes. The owner’s request was to facilitate these requirements while maintaining an intimate environment, allowing participants to connect with performers.

FTR performed with the engineering precision and contracting expertise necessary to implement the challenging innovations presented in the function and design of The Broad Stage at Santa Monica College Performing Arts Center, which has received rave reviews and earned FTR International Inc. the 2007 Higher Education Project of the Year award from California Construction Magazine, an Engineering News Record (ENR) Magazine publication.

‘Architecturally, The Eli and Edythe Broad Stage is unique in providing the intimate immediacy of a 499-seat hall yet with a variable proscenium and a stage comparable to UCLA’s 1,833-seat Royce Hall, able to accommodate a full orchestra, even beyond a 45-musician orchestra pit. Designed and built from the stage out to suit the sensibilities of world-class artists, presenting work on any scale, and with artistic dimensions that embrace the creative process from inception to opening night, The Eli and Edythe Broad Stage is poised to become a vital and visionary cultural catalyst for Westside audiences and for the city at large. ‘The Westside has always contributed generously to the performing arts of Los Angeles but this may be our greatest contribution yet,’claims Los Angeles County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky.’

Los Angeles, PRNewswire*

‘It is a community ‘service’ of Santa Monica College, a world-class global theater befitting our identity as a world-class leader in education.’

-Dr. Chui L. Tsang, Superintendent and President of Santa Monica College

*full-print article can be accessed at PR Newswire