page_title: Playhouse Square
section_title: Recent
hierarchical_section_title: Playhouse Square / History / Recent
caption_attribution_description: Winterfest Cleveland
context_page_description: Playhouse Square is a theater district in downtown Cleveland, Ohio, United States. It is the largest performing arts center in the US outside of New York City. Constructed in a span of 19 months in the early 1920s, the theaters were subsequently closed down, but were revived through a grassroots effort. Their renovation and reopening helped usher in a new era of downtown revitalization in Cleveland, and was called "one of the top ten successes in Cleveland history."
context_section_description: The reopening of the State, Ohio and Palace Theatres encouraged further development at Playhouse Square, including the $40 million Renaissance Office Building and a Wyndham Hotel at Playhouse Square.
  In an unprecedented move for a not-for-profit performing arts center, Playhouse Square established a Real Estate Services Division in 1999 to support the organization's arts operations. Playhouse Square is active in area development in order to give visitors a lively, welcoming and entertaining destination, while also creating a neighborhood with a robust business environment.
  In 2002, Playhouse Square opened the 14th Street Theatre as a home for Second City Cleveland and a venue for improvisational comedy, musical comedy and avant-garde fare, often for extended runs. The venue was closed in 2013 and transformed into the private dining space Cibreo Privato, part of the Italian restaurant Cibreo operated by Driftwood Restaurant Group.
  In 2003, the area of East 14th Street near Playhouse Square was renamed Memory Lane-Bob Hope Way in honor of the longtime Cleveland resident to commemorate the entertainer's 100th birthday.
  Playhouse Square and Cleveland's public broadcasting stations conducted a joint capital campaign to transform the One Playhouse Square Building into the Idea Center at Playhouse Square. Opened in 2005, it is now the home for Playhouse Square's community engagement and education programs and the downtown headquarters for Cleveland radio stations WCPN and WCLV, as well as TV station WVIZ, incorporated together as ideastream.
  In 2008, the HealthLine opened with a station at Playhouse Square. The line connects Public Square to University Circle via the Cleveland Clinic.
  Also in 2008, the Hanna Theatre underwent a thorough renovation with improvements to its stage including a new hydraulic lift system. The Hanna is now home to Great Lakes Theater, Cleveland's classic theater company which previously performed at the Ohio Theatre.
  Through a collaboration called “The Power of Three,” Cleveland Play House, Cleveland State University and Playhouse Square partnered to create the Allen Theatre Complex, featuring a reconfigured Allen Theatre (re-opened 2011) and two new theaters that opened in 2012. Cleveland Play House and Cleveland State University's Department of Theatre and Dance are now resident companies at Playhouse Square. The Cleveland Play House administrative offices and all of Cleveland State University's arts programs are now located in the Middough Building on Playhouse Square's campus, adding to the vibrancy of the neighborhood.
  Playhouse Square welcomes more than 1 million guests to 1,000+ performances and events each year. Its KeyBank Broadway Series season ticket holder base (more than 45,000) is the largest in the country, making Cleveland one of fewer than 10 markets that can support a three-week run of a touring Broadway show.
  Improvements to the Playhouse Square neighborhood - including a digital signage network, upgrades to U.S. Bank Plaza, a retro signage feature and the GE Chandelier, the world's largest outdoor chandelier, located above the intersection of Euclid Avenue and East 14th Street - were completed between April 2013 and April 2014, culminating in a ceremony on May 2, 2014 entitled "Dazzle the District." In 2014 a $100 million capital fund campaign was initiated with a $9 miilion gift from the Chris Connor family of Cleveland. In honor of their gift the Palace Theatre was renamed Connor Palace. In honor of a $10 million gift from KeyBank in 2017, the State Theatre was renamed KeyBank State Theatre.
  In April 2018 Playhouse Square began construction on The Lumen, a 34-story apartment tower. The tower adds 318 apartments to downtown Cleveland and contains a 550 space parking garage. The Tower opened in 2020.
caption: Winterfest at Playhouse Square.
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