Forest TheaterPhoto credit: Forest Forward/ Instagram
Opened in 1949 and closed in 2008, the South Dallas landmark will reopen on November 1 with a community celebration that ends with the ceremonial relighting of its iconic tower and marquee for the first time in more than 50 years. The restoration is part of a redevelopment plan exceeding $45 million that will add a 1,000-person concert hall, creative education spaces and new cultural facilities, according to North Texas e-News (NTEX News) and the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation. Read more details about it here: The Forest Theater opened in 1949 and became one of Dallas’s most important live entertainment venues. The theatre closed in 2008, leaving a significant gap in South Dallas’s cultural landscape. The expanded campus will include a 1,000-person concert hall, a 200-seat black box theatre and a 13,000-square-foot creative education lab.
Forest Forward CEO Elizabeth Wattley said, according to NTXE News, that the Grand Return is more than a celebration and called it a homecoming. She said the theatre was a place where South Dallas gathered, celebrated and saw itself reflected, and that relighting the tower would invite the entire city to experience what comes next. Dallas’s historic Forest Theater is preparing for a dramatic return. Over the decades, it hosted major artists including Prince, B.B. King, Gladys Knight, Ike and Tina Turner, Wilson Pickett and Dallas-born singer Erykah Badu. Its return is being described by Forest Forward, the nonprofit leading the project, as both a preservation effort and an investment in the neighbourhood’s future. It will also feature recording and podcast studios, artist classrooms, a rooftop gathering space and community meeting areas. These facilities are intended to serve residents as well as visitors from across Dallas. By combining performance space with education and creative production, the project aims to create jobs, support entrepreneurship and give young people practical access to the arts. The reopening is also expected to bring renewed activity to South Dallas. A restored venue with concert, studio and classroom spaces could draw audiences, artists and students throughout the year, rather than serving only as an occasional event location.