The KeyBank State Theatre is a

theater Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors or actresses, to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a stage. The perform ...

located at 1519 Euclid Avenue in downtown Cleveland,

Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...

. It is one of the theaters that make up Playhouse Square. It was designed by the noted theater architect Thomas W. Lamb and was built in 1921 by

Marcus Loew Marcus Loew (May 7, 1870 - September 5, 1927) was an American business magnate and a pioneer of the motion picture industry who formed Loew's Theatres and the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer film studio (MGM). Life and career Loew was born in New York City, ...

to be the flagship of the Ohio branch of the Loew's Theatres company. Loew's State Theatre, as it was known then, was built in an Italian Renaissance style and was intended to show

vaudeville Vaudeville (; ) is a theatrical genre of variety entertainment born in France at the end of the 19th century. A vaudeville was originally a comedy without psychological or moral intentions, based on a comical situation: a dramatic composition ...

shows and

movies A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmosphere ...

. It opened on February 5, 1921, seating 3,400."State Theatre"
The Encyclopedia of Cleveland History. May 13, 1998. Accessed January 26, 2007. Because of the desirability of having the theater's marquee on Euclid Avenue, the State Theatre was built at the back of the lot it shares with the Ohio Theatre, but with a series of three lobbies. This was the world's longest lobby serving a single theater, and it contained four huge

mural A mural is any piece of graphic artwork that is painted or applied directly to a wall, ceiling or other permanent substrate. Mural techniques include fresco, mosaic, graffiti and marouflage. Word mural in art The word ''mural'' is a Spani ...

s by

James Daugherty James Henry Daugherty (June 1, 1889 – February 21, 1974) was an American modernist painter, muralist, children's book author and illustrator. Life Daugherty was born in Asheville, North Carolina. He later lived in Indiana, Ohio, and at the ...

, entitled ''The Spirit of Pageantry—Africa, The Spirit of Drama—Europe, The Spirit of Cinema—America,'' and ''The Spirit of Fantasy—Asia.'' The theater was converted for the exhibition of

Cinerama Cinerama is a widescreen process that originally projected images simultaneously from three synchronized 35mm projectors onto a huge, deeply curved screen, subtending 146° of arc. The trademarked process was marketed by the Cinerama corporati ...

in 1967, but, due to financial trouble, closed in early February 1969, along with the rest of the Playhouse Square theaters. The cover of the February 27, 1970 issue of ''

Life Life is a quality that distinguishes matter that has biological processes, such as Cell signaling, signaling and self-sustaining processes, from that which does not, and is defined by the capacity for Cell growth, growth, reaction to Stimu ...

'' was a two-page pull-out featuring ''The Spirit of Cinema America'', which inspired the creation of the Playhouse Square Association."Playhouse Square Center"
Builders Exchange Magazine. February 2004. Accessed January 26, 2007. Two years later in 1972, and again in 1977, both the State and Ohio Theatres were threatened with demolition to build a parking lot, but were saved through public outcry. In 1973, the newly formed Playhouse Square Foundation obtained a long-term lease for the Palace and State, and Ohio Theatres, and by 1977, the Loew's Building was purchased by Cuyahoga County."Playhouse Square"
The Encyclopedia of Cleveland History. July 1, 1997. Accessed January 26, 2007. Also in 1973, the musical revue '' Jacques Brel is Alive and Well and Living in Paris'' opened in the State Theatre's lobby. The revue was expected to run for three weeks, but instead played for two years,"About PSC"
Playhouse Square Center. 2003-2005. Accessed January 26, 2007. making it the "longest-running show in Cleveland history." In 1978, the State was added to the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...

as part of Playhouse Square. Restoration of the theater began in 1979, and was completed in the summer of 1984, after the addition of a $7 million stagehouse. The State Theatre reopened on June 4 of that year, becoming the home of the

Cleveland Ballet The Cleveland Ballet was founded in Cleveland in 1972 by Dennis Nahat and Ian Horvath as a dance school, the School of Cleveland Ballet. It was the second incarnation of the Cleveland Ballet, having been preceded a ballet company of the same name ...

and Cleveland Opera. With the restoration, seating capacity was reduced to the present 3,200. The State Theatre was renamed KeyBank State Theatre in 2017 in honor of a $10 million gift to the Playhouse Square Advancing the Legacy Campaign.

References

{{Coord, 41, 30, 3, N, 81, 40, 51, W, display=title Theatres in Cleveland Movie palaces Cinema of Cleveland Loew's Theatres buildings and structures Theatres on the National Register of Historic Places in Ohio National Register of Historic Places in Cleveland, Ohio Thomas W. Lamb buildings