Union County Performing Arts Center

Rahway Theatre
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
New Jersey Register of Historic Places
Facade of the Rahway Theatre
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Location	1601 Irving St., Rahway, New Jersey
Coordinates	40°36′37″N 74°16′39″W / 40.61028°N 74.27750°W / 40.61028; -74.27750Coordinates: 40°36′37″N 74°16′39″W / 40.61028°N 74.27750°W / 40.61028; -74.27750
Built	1927 (1927)
Architect	David M Oltarsh
Architectural style	Classical Revival
Website	www.ucpac.org
NRHP reference #	86001509
NJRHP #	2714
Significant dates
Added to NRHP	August 13, 1986
Designated NJRHP	June 24, 1986

Union County Performing Arts Center (UCPAC), formerly the Rahway Theatre, is a non-profit performance venue in Rahway, New Jersey. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1986. UCPAC is the site of the annual Rahway International Film Festival.

It was founded as the vaudeville venue and silent movie house Rahway Theater in 1928 as the nation’s first “million dollar” movie palace. It contains an original, working, fully restoredWurlitzer pipe organ which was placed on the American Theatre Organ Society's National Registry of Significant Instruments. It is an example of "Movie Palace" architecture, designed in the classical revival style by New York architect David M. Oltarsh.

In 2006, at the behest of Rahway's then-mayor James J. Kennedy, the Union County Board of Chosen Freeholders invested $6.2 million in the renovation of the UCPAC Mainstage (Rahway Theater). The building fell into dilapidation as a movie house in the 1970s. It was reopened by local nonprofit preservation group in 1984, and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1986.

The UCPAC campus includes four performance spaces:

Capacity: 1334

Built in 2012 abutting the Rahway River several hundred feet to the west of Mainstage, the Hamilton Stage features a new fully equipped proscenium theater.

Capacity: 199

Capacity: 65. Built in 2008, the Loft at UCPAC is located on the 2nd floor addition of the UCPAC Mainstage.

This 40’ x 60’ rehearsal space has floor-to-ceiling conservatory windows and wall-length mirrors on one side. It holds 55-75 (at maximum).

This room contains a Fazioli piano, one of only two in New Jersey.

Hosts the Jazz Club at UCPAC.

Well-known acts have included Vanessa Williams,Doug E. Fresh, and Slick Rick.

UCPAC hosts many art galleries, converted industrial warehouse spaces, and rehearsal/studio space.