Historical Note

Name:	Joan W. and Irving B. Harris Theater for Music and Dance
Architects:	Hammond, Beeby, Rupert, Ainge Architects, Chicago, IL
Cost:	$60 million [includes $15 million from Joan and Irving Harris]
Completed:	2003

The Joan W. and Irving B. Harris Theater for Music and Dance is located at the north end of Millennium Park along Randolph Street. Though not officially part of Millennium Park itself, the planning and construction of the Harris Theater was intimately involved with the overall planning of the Park, especially with Frank Gehry's Jay Pritzker Pavilion.

The Harris Theater for Music and Dance opened on November 8, 2003 and represents the culmination of almost 20 years of searching by the Music and Dance Theater for a modern, mid-sized venue. Designed by Thomas Beeby of Hammond, Beeby, Rupert, Ainge Architects, the Harris Theater has already won several architectural awards.

In 1994 and 1995 twelve Founding Companies: Ballet Chicago; Chicago Opera Theater; Chicago Sinfonietta; The Dance Center of Columbia College Chicago; Hubbard Street Dance Chicago; Joffrey Ballet; Lyric Opera Center for American Artists; Mexican Fine Arts Center Museum; Muntu Dance Theatre of Chicago; Music of the Baroque; Old Town School of Folk Music; and Performing Arts Chicago, formed the Music and Dance Theater Inc., and began to look for a venue that would accommodate their, and other visiting companies', needs. The new theater embodies all of their demands, a fly tower, egalitarian seating, a chamber for smaller audiences, a lobby, and an extremely flexible and functional loading dock which allows one company to unload sets and equipment while the theater is being used by another company, preventing delays between productions and, most importantly, additional days at the theater for which they have to pay rent.

Thomas Beeby altered and simplified his original design for the theater as Frank Gehry developed the band shell for the Pritzker Pavilion. The style of the theater is minimalist, and much of the interior is of unfinished, precast concrete. The walls of the theater are without any embellishment, only painted a variety of grays, black and white. The seating is non-hierarchical, the main floor slopes steeply back, ensuring good sightlines from all seats for dance performances, and the stage is wide and deep.

In February 2002 Joan and Irving Harris donate $15 million to the theater and lent $24 million for construction. To acknowledge their generosity, the theater was named for them in June 2003.

o/s D19	Presentation board, Chicago Music and Dance Theater, Transverse Section @ First Cross Aisle, 3 February 1999. 30 ½" x 24".
o/s D20	Presentation board, digital rendering of Music and Dance Theater Chicago, July 1999. 36" x 23". Research copies may be made, for any other reproductions permission must be obtained from the Artist. Copyright notice "© 7.99 AD MC".
o/s A39	Presentation board, Music and Dance Theater Chicago, Scheme C, site plan, Hammond, Beeby, Rupert, Ainge, Architects, November 9, 2000. 11" x 17". Research copies may be made, for any other reproductions permission must be obtained from the Artist.
o/s A40	Presentation board, Music and Dance Theater Chicago, site plan, Hammond, Beeby, Rupert, Ainge, Architects, December 21, 2000. 11" x 17". Research copies may be made, for any other reproductions permission must be obtained from the Artist.
o/s A41	Presentation board, digital rendering of Chicago Music and Dance Theater at night, n.d. 11" x 17".
o/s A42	Presentation board, digital rendering of Chicago Music and Dance Theater at night, n.d. 11" x 17".
o/s D17	Presentation board, digital rendering of Chicago Music and Dance Theater showing interior stairs, n.d. 30" x 25 ½".
o/s D18	Presentation board, digital rendering of Chicago Music and Dance Theater showing interior lobby and stairs, n.d. 30" x 25 ½".
o/s D21	Presentation board, digital rendering of Music and Dance Theater Chicago, n.d. 40" x 30".
o/s A37	Digital color rendering of stage from balcony, n.d. 11" x 17".
o/s A38	Digital color rendering of stage, n.d. 11" x 17".