The Tobin Center for the Performing Arts is

San Antonio ("Cradle of Freedom") , image_map = , mapsize = 220px , map_caption = Interactive map of San Antonio , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = United States , subdivision_type1= U.S. state, State , subdivision_name1 = Texas , s ...

's performing arts center. Located next to the

San Antonio Riverwalk The San Antonio River Walk is a city park and special-case pedestrian street in San Antonio, Texas, one level down from the automobile street. The River Walk winds and loops under bridges as two parallel sidewalks lined with restaurants and shop ...

, it is named for Robert L. B. Tobin, one of the city's most prominent residents.

History

The 1738-seat venue was first built in 1926 as the

San Antonio Municipal Auditorium The San Antonio Municipal Auditorium was a building located at 100 Auditorium Circle, San Antonio, Texas. It was built as a memorial to American soldiers killed in World War I. The San Antonio Municipal Auditorium was also used as a concert venue ...

by Atlee Ayres. In 2014, it was renovated and expanded by the Seattle-based

LMN Architects LMN is an American architecture firm based in Seattle, Washington (state), Washington. The company was founded in 1979, and provides planning and design services to create convention centers, cultural arts venues, higher education facilities, c ...

and the local firm ''Marmon Mok Architecture''. During the 2008 presidential election campaign,

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the U ...

gave a speech in front of the building to his supporters. On October 2, 2014, Sir

Paul McCartney Sir James Paul McCartney (born 18 June 1942) is an English singer, songwriter and musician who gained worldwide fame with the Beatles, for whom he played bass guitar and shared primary songwriting and lead vocal duties with John Lennon. One ...

performed a special benefit concert for the Tobin Center.

Performance and other venues

H-E-B Performance Hall

This 1738-seat theater at the core of the center was designed to accommodate both acoustic and amplified performances with the specific intent of being the home to the

San Antonio Symphony The San Antonio Symphony was a full-time professional symphony orchestra based in San Antonio, Texas. Its season ran from late September to early June. Sebastian Lang-Lessing, its music director from 2010 to 2020, was the last to serve in that ca ...

, Opera San Antonio, and Ballet San Antonio. Seating is on four levels —

orchestra An orchestra (; ) is a large instrumental ensemble typical of classical music, which combines instruments from different families. There are typically four main sections of instruments: * bowed string instruments, such as the violin, viola, c ...

, grand tier boxes,

mezzanine A mezzanine (; or in Italian language, Italian, a ''mezzanino'') is an intermediate floor in a building which is partly open to the double-height ceilinged floor below, or which does not extend over the whole floorspace of the building, a loft ...

, and

balcony A balcony (from it, balcone, "scaffold") is a platform projecting from the wall of a building, supported by columns or console brackets, and enclosed with a balustrade, usually above the ground floor. Types The traditional Maltese balcony is ...

Carlos Alvarez Studio Theater

Built as a "

black box theater A black box theater is a simple performance space, typically a square room with black walls and a flat floor. The simplicity of the space allows it to be used to create a variety of configurations of stage and audience interaction. The black ...

," the hexagon shaped space is a unique venue that offers a blank canvas customizable for any event.

References

External links

Official website
{{Authority control Theatres in San Antonio Cinemas and movie theaters in Texas Theatres completed in 2014 2014 establishments in Texas