The Warehouse, a café and multi-stage theater facility operating on 7th Avenue near the Convention Center, will close its bar and second stage in September preparatory to finding a new home, Producing Director Paul Rapport has announced.
“When we reopen in September (after a month-long August vacation in which the entire facility will be closed) we will be focusing on theater and art in our main section and on finding a new location. In the fall, the Warehouse will only be open for theater performances, art openings, etc.”
The Warehouse has been a venue for small theater, offbeat movies, and art since 1994. A recent 500%+ increase in the property’s tax evaluation, and an anticipated commensurate increase in its real property tax, will make the site no longer economically viable for those purposes, however. “We continue to meet with lots of different people in many neighborhoods – Columbia Heights, 9th & U, Bloomingdale/Eckington, NOMA, H St. NE, etc,” in an effort to find a new home”, Rapport said.
The Warehouse currently features Scena Theatre’s The Balcony, and the open run of Gross National Product’s Son of a Bush Saturdays at 8 and 10 p.m. On June 30, the Warehouse will begin its “Art in Heat” outsider art exhibition, including “Tiki Party from Hell – Party or Burn!” a Lobster Boy Review show on opening night. Art in Heat will continue through July 30.
The Capital Fringe Festival, which has booked the venue for the Festival’s July 19-29 operation, will be unaffected by the upcoming shutdown. “We will host over 100 performances in those 11 days.” Rapport said.
Rapport said that he and his mother and partner, Molly Rapport, are considering incorporation as either a for-profit or non-profit business. “One thing that we are looking for right now…is someone to draft the paperwork for not-for-profit status,” Rapport said. “We are also seeking potential investors if we go the route of a for-profit music & bar & restaurant space.” Rapport urges interested parties to contact him at [email protected].
