Hanna Theatre
| Address | East 14th Street Cleveland, Ohio  United States
|
|---|---|
| Owner | PlayhouseSquare |
| Capacity | 550 |
| Current use | Performing arts center |
| Construction | |
| Opened | 1921 |
| Closed | 1988 |
| Rebuilt | 2008 |
| Architect | Charles A. Platt |
The Hanna Theatre is a theater at Playhouse Square in downtown Cleveland, Ohio, United States. It is one of the original five venues built in the district, opening on March 28, 1921. The Hanna Theatre reopened in 2008 as the new home of Great Lakes Theater Festival after a major renovation by the classic theater company.
The Hanna Theatre was envisioned by industrialist and publisher Daniel Rhodes Hanna as part of a larger complex in memorial to his father, late U.S. Senator Mark A. Hanna, and was designed by architect Charles A. Platt. Faustinno Sampietro was responsible for most of the interior decorations, which included green and gold carpets, dark green seats, frescoed walls, a fireplace, and Louis XVI gilt furniture; the ceiling was coffered and was made up of circular and octagonal medallions, each of which contained gilded classical figures (including Cupid, Psyche, and Pegasus). The orchestra level consisted of 827 seats arranged in 24 rows, and the upper deck held 570 seats. Four rows in the mezzanine, ten rows in the upper balcony, and the box seats brought the theatre's full capacity to 1,421. The stage was forty feet in width and forty feet in depth, equipped with a thirty-six foot proscenium arch.
On March 28, 1921, 1,500 people ventured out into the freezing cold temperatures to witness the new theatre's first production, William Faversham's adaptation of The Prince and the Pauper by Mark Twain. The lobby measured a little over twenty feet in each direction and was nothing in the way of spectacle compared to the State and Ohio Theatres, both of which had opened the previous month. At exactly 8:15 Cleveland orchestra director Max Faetkenheuer opened the show with the "Star-Spangled Banner" and the play began. During intermission, playwright Faversham gave an impromptu speech at the request of the theatre patrons.
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