Randall Theatre newly renovated, to reopen

The curtain is about to open on a whole new theater, or at least one that has been given… The curtain is about to open on a whole new theater, or at least one that has been given a facelift.

The Charity Randall Theatre, formerly the Foster Auditorium will host William Shakespeare’s “Much Ado About Nothing” as the first play presented on that stage in three years.

The Foster had been closed for the last three years because it no longer met certain safety requirements, said Dr. Attilio “Buck” Favorini, chair of Pitt’s department of theater arts.

The Charity Randall Theatre now houses 454 plush red seats – which are identical to the original seats at Radio City Music Hall – and room for 24 chair seats in the balcony boxes.

A modern control booth, lighting and catwalk replaced the temporary ones that had previously clung to the theater’s walls. An old backstage ladder was repainted, cut in half and now used for accessing the lights on the balcony.

The stage was extended and there is room for a full-size orchestra pit. Soft lighting reaches the uppermost corners of the cathedral-style ceiling and the interior stones have been cleaned.

But the improvements don’t change the original audience actor relationship, Favorini said. The original acoustics of the building remained unchanged as well as the “architectural grandeur,” but the facility now meets modern safety requirements.

“As a working theater, it was stuck around 1965,” Favorini said.

The $2 million renovation of the Charity Randall Theatre was made possible in part by the Robert P. Randall Family and the Charity Randall Foundation.

Charity Randall, a lover of the arts, literature and poetry was killed in a car crash, and in 1977 a foundation was created in her memory. This foundation, along with other local foundations and individuals and the Provost’s Office of the University, made this restoration and modernization possible, a first for the structure that originally opened in 1937.

“This is about us not having to make do any more,” said Yvonne Hudson, director of marketing and PR for the department of theater arts.

“Pitt students can hold their heads up high when the topic of academic theater comes up,” Favorini said, “the University is now in the first rank for theaters.”

The April 4 and 5 dedication festivities include a dinner, ribbon cutting and several events the public is invited to attend.

“Much Ado About Nothing” will run in the Charity Randall Theatre April 2 through April 19. Students interested in seeing the first play in the updated theater can visit www.pitt.edu/~play or call the box office at (412) 624-PLAY.