Morris Performing Arts Center (originally Palace Theatre and formerly Morris Civic Auditorium) is a 2,564-seat

concert hall A concert hall is a cultural building with a stage that serves as a performance venue and an auditorium filled with seats. This list does not include other venues such as sports stadia, dramatic theatres or convention centres that ma ...

located in

South Bend, Indiana South Bend is a city in and the county seat of St. Joseph County, Indiana, on the St. Joseph River near its southernmost bend, from which it derives its name. As of the 2020 census, the city had a total of 103,453 residents and is the fourt ...

. It opened in 1922 as a

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 ...

house and later became a

movie palace A movie palace (or picture palace in the United Kingdom) is any of the large, elaborately decorated movie theaters built between the 1910s and the 1940s. The late 1920s saw the peak of the movie palace, with hundreds opening every year between 192 ...

. It was developed along with the neighboring

Palais Royale Building Palais Royale Building, also known as the Lippman Building, is a historic commercial building located in South Bend, St. Joseph County, Indiana. It was built in 1922 along with the neighboring Palace Theater by the Palace Theater Corporation. It ...

by the Palace Theater Corporation. It is a four- to five-story, rectangular, Spanish Renaissance Revival style brick building with finely crafted

terra cotta Terracotta, terra cotta, or terra-cotta (; ; ), in its material sense as an earthenware substrate, is a clay-based unglazed or glazed ceramic where the fired body is porous. In applied art, craft, construction, and architecture, terracotta ...

ornamentation. It was planned for demolition in 1959 but was saved from demolition, and between 1998 and 2000, it was restored and remodeled. ''Note:'' This includes Today, Morris Performing Arts Center's interior features a rose, blue and cream color scheme, as it originally did when it opened. The theater's stage, which measures 56 feet by 57 feet and contains a red and gold main curtain, dates from the 2000 restoration. The theater is home to the

South Bend Symphony Orchestra South is one of the cardinal directions or compass points. The direction is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to both east and west. Etymology The word ''south'' comes from Old English ''sūþ'', from earlier Proto-Germanic ''*sunþaz ...

and also hosts

Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street **Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...

shows,

concerts A concert is a live music performance in front of an audience. The performance may be by a single musician, sometimes then called a recital, or by a musical ensemble, such as an orchestra, choir, or band. Concerts are held in a wide vari ...

, and other special events, including Marian High School's annual commencement ceremony. The theater's interior is notable for borrowing from European architectural styles. More than half of the seats at Morris Performing Arts Center — 1,282 are in the balcony. The remainder of the seats are in the lower level. In 1985, the center was listed on 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 ...

. It qualified for historic designation both because of its place in the area's history and because of its historically significant architecture. In 2022, the theater celebrated its 100th year in existence, and on November 2nd of that year, a documentary commemorating the anneversary aired on the local PBS affiliate, WNIT.
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References

{{Authority control Concert halls in Indiana Music venues in Indiana Theatres on the National Register of Historic Places in Indiana Performing arts centers in Indiana Renaissance Revival architecture in Indiana Theatres completed in 1922 Tourist attractions in South Bend, Indiana Buildings and structures in South Bend, Indiana National Register of Historic Places in St. Joseph County, Indiana