Jacob's Pillow
Becket, MA
A theatre and creation space with dance at its core.
Render courtesy of Mecanoo Architects and Marvel.
After the tragic loss of the Doris Duke Theatre to a fire in November 2020, Jacob’s Pillow are building a new, reimagined Doris Duke Theatre, slated to open in 2025. The building will maintain the essence of the original Doris Duke Theatre while providing artists access to state-of-the-art technology to create 21st century works.
Render courtesy of Mecanoo Architects and Marvel.
The new theatre/studio is projected to cost $30 million and will maintain the intimacy of the original theatre while at the same time providing a makerspace with a digital foundation for artists seeking to integrate various technologies into live performance or create works that are native to the digital realm. It will restore a second indoor theatre space for Jacob’s Pillow’s annual summer Dance Festival alongside the flagship Ted Shawn Theatre, and provide year-round studio space on the Pillow campus, in addition to the Perles Family Studio, which is home to the School at Jacob’s Pillow.
Render courtesy of Mecanoo Architects and Marvel.
The new theatre at Jacob’s Pillow will be one of the very few theatres in the world built specifically for dance. The Pillow’s historic Ted Shawn Theatre, opened in 1942, was the first performance space in the United States designed and built exclusively for dance.
"The new theater will have all of the warmth and intimacy of the original Doris Duke while at the same time serving the needs of the dance field well into the future."
Pamela Tatge, Executive and Artistic Director, Jacob’s Pillow