Wayne State University closing Hilberry Theatre, set to become new jazz center
(CBS DETROIT) - Wayne State University will be closing its Hillberry Theatre later this month after 58 years.
According to a press, the building is expected to be transformed into the Gretchen C. Valade Jazz Center.
Beginning Friday through Nov. 20, WSU's Maggie Allesee Department of Theatre and Dance will present "The Merry Wives of Windsor," The department will then move to the new Hilberry Gateway next door. That new building will open in February 2023.
"Both the Gateway and the Valade give Wayne State the opportunity to fulfill its mission as an anchor institution in new ways," Mary Anderson, chair of the Maggie Allesee Department of Theatre and Dance, said in the press release. "We have always been a hub for the campus and the community; now, we will have the facilities to welcome the campus and the community to help us build new stories, new relationships and new futures for the arts."
Hilberry Theatre was built in 1917 as the First Church of Christ Scientist before it was bought by WSU in 1961. The building reopened three years later and was renamed the Hilberry Theatre after the university's fourth president, Clarence B Hilberry.