The Academy Theatre is located in downtown Meadville, Pennsylvania, in a nice part of town that features a variety of stores and small shops, a small shopping mall and more. It is located in a long, thin brick building and features seating both lower and balcony seating, holding roughly 200-300 audience members. The building was built in 1885 and was a popular Opera House in the late 1880s. After fire damage to the building in the 1980s, the Academy Theatre closed its doors for some time, but a dedicated group of Meadville citizens founded the Academy Theatre Foundation to restore the venue. The newly-formed foundation then tackled many problems in an effort to preserve the physical structure, raising over one million dollars to revive the theatre in the early 1990s.

Per their Website, the Academy Theatre’s mission is:

The Academy Mission is to be recognized as a center for the performing arts in Northwest Pennsylvania and an integral part of the regional arts community. To perform in a fully functioning, comfortable, historically faithful facility, and to develop artistic appreciation and serve the cultural, social and educational needs of an expanding audience.

The purpose of which the Academy Theatre Foundation is formed shall be educational and charitable in nature and shall be to promote the art of theatre and to advance the culture of the region in the field of theatrical arts; to present the opportunity to the community for the training and development of individuals in all phases of theatrical production; to produce plays having literary and artistic value and to produce performances of worthy new plays for the promotion of the arts.

From my personal experience, the venue is clearly an old building with some challenges like uneven floors and steps in the balcony area, but it has a nice, small-town and inviting feel. There are visual limitations in the balcony seating, and while these tickets are discounted slightly, I would recommend the lower seating, especially for older patrons of the Academy Theatre. The stage was outlined in green & gold and the curtain and decor throughout the theatre matched the green & gold theme nicely. The stage lighting and audio was all performed very well at the production of The Sound of Music that I recently attended, and the quality of the performance was what I had hoped for. Parking is a bit confusing because of the downtown location (they do address this in the FAQs on their Website), but we managed to get a spot just down the alley from the venue. There were several local places to eat and we stopped for ice cream at the local Cup ‘n Spoon shop around the corner, a short walk from the venue. It was both a good time for my family and a venue I would return to given the right opportunity, despite the fact that my drive home was in the range of an hour. With actors in our family who greatly enjoy high-end community theatre, this venue and what we witnessed will definitely be one that we recommend highly.

Website: https://www.theacademytheatre.org/
Address: 275 Chestnut Street, Meadville, PA 16335
Telephone: 814-337-8000