Arena Stage’s $135 Million Capital Revamp Makes Concrete Sexy

The Washington theater complex that sent “The Great White Hope” and “Next to Normal” to Broadway has revamped itself with an eclectic expansion by architect Bing Thom of Vancouver.

Flying in the face of the capital’s pomposity, Thom gave the pugnaciously concrete Arena Stage high glass walls that sensuously undulate along Sixth Street in southwest Washington. He ran a broadly projecting roof over the two existing theaters, the arena-style Fichandler and the Kreeger, and a new small venue called the Arlene and Robert Kogod Cradle.