Entertainment Fact Sheet
Overview
As the nation’s largest performing arts center outside New York City, Playhouse Square attracts 1 million guests annually to its 10 performance spaces: the State, Ohio, Hanna and Allen Theatres (all built in 1921), Connor Palace (1922), Kennedy’s Cabaret (1975), U.S. Bank Plaza (1996), Westfield Insurance Studio Theatre (2005), and Helen Rosenfeld Lewis Bialosky Lab and Outcalt Theatres (2012).
Playhouse Square’s five historic theaters were saved from demolition in 1972 by a grassroots effort that would become the not-for-profit Playhouse Square organization. The painstaking renovation of the theaters remains “the largest theater restoration in the world.”
Northeast Ohio’s home for great entertainment, Playhouse Square offers the best of touring Broadway, children’s theater, concerts, comedy and dance performances, and is home to five resident companies.
Facts
Welcomes 1 million guests every year
Hosts 1,000+ events, on average, each year (more than the local sports teams and various entertainment arenas combined)
Draws more than 120,000 guests each year from outside the Northeast Ohio region
Is one of only 10 performing arts centers able to present Broadway shows for two weeks or longer and has the largest number of season ticket holders in the country (32,000) for its KeyBank Broadway Series
Contributes in excess of $43 million in local economic impact annually, exclusively from its performing arts activity (Cleveland State University 2004 study)
Is home to five resident companies: Cleveland Play House, Cleveland State University Department of Theatre and Dance, DANCECleveland, Great Lakes Theater and Tri-C JazzFest
playhousesquare.org