The Orpheum plans $14m expansion, further community outreach

The Orpheum Theatre is in the midst of planning for a $14 million expansion to the south of its home at the corner of Main Street and Beale. A permit for $10.2 million was recently filed with the Office of Construction Code Enforcement.

The Crump Firm Inc. is the architect of record and the general contractor Grinder Taber & Grinder Inc. The groundbreaking should take place in mid-March.

In what is now a parking lot between the theater and an MLGW facility, the live entertainment venue plans to build a 39,000-sq. ft. Orpheum Centre for the Performing Arts and Education, and include a state-of-the-art 356-seat theater, multi-use rehearsal hall, commercial kitchen, dressing rooms, and audio and visual equipped classrooms. There will also be room for the non-profit’s office space as well as meeting areas available to the public.

The Centre will operate under the direction of The Memphis Development Foundation and will help The Orpheum to expand upon current outreach programs such as its Broadway 101 Masters Class, S.T.A.R. Council and various summer camps, all serving over 70,000 students, teachers and families annually.

The Orpheum Theatre was built in 1890 as the Grand Opera House, changing its name in 1907 when it became part of the Orpheum vaudeville circuit. The original structure burned to the ground in 1923 but was rebuilt and reopened on Nov. 19, 1928. In the 1940s it was purchased by Malco and operated as a movie theater until 1977. The Memphis Development Foundation purchased the venue and, after a $5 million renovation, The Orpheum as we know it opened in January 1984.