History
Lucas Theatre for the Arts history
Lucas Theatre exterior, 1931
Savannah native and theater impresario Arthur Lucas opened the Lucas Theatre on Dec. 26, 1921, with a sold-out double feature: comedy legend Buster Keaton in Hard Luck and the electrifying Rudolph Valentino and Alla Nazimova in Camille. From the outset, the Lucas Theatre was intended to be a “preeminent amusement palace,” as press coverage heralded at its opening.
Lucas Theatre program, 1938
An architectural marvel
Designed by architect Claude K. Howell, the ornate exterior of the four-story Lucas Theatre features Spanish Baroque Revival style architecture. Its interior reflects an array of historic styles — notably Greek Revival, Adams, and Art Deco — with Italian marble stairways, Wedgewood-inspired colors, and gold leaf accents, all painstakingly restored to their original 1920s beauty. A 40-foot-wide ceiling dome and newly restored Wurlitzer pipe organ add to the splendor and historical significance of the auditorium. Originally designed for silent movies and vaudeville performances, the theater became the first building with air conditioning when a “refrigerated air” system was installed in 1926.
Lucas Theatre exterior, 1978
Decline and rebirth
The Lucas Theatre featured a wide variety of American theatricals during its 1930s and 1940s heyday, but attendance dwindled throughout subsequent decades, culminating in a sparsely populated screening of The Exorcist that preceded the theater’s closure in 1976. The theater structure sat mostly vacant and neglected until 1987, when local preservationists Emma and Lee Adler created a nonprofit group to save the aging theater. In 1995, the group purchased the property and began restoration. Various fundraising campaigns and events, including the wrap party for Clint Eastwood’s adaptation of Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, rallied the community to the cause.
Lucas Theatre pre-renovation interior, circa 1984
Lucas Theatre reopening, 2000
In December 2000, the Lucas Theatre reopened with a showing of Gone with the Wind, almost 88 years to the day of its original premiere. SCAD assumed management of the theater in 2002 and has championed the theater as an important cultural asset and historic landmark in Savannah for more than 20 years. SCAD maintains a lively schedule of artistic engagements throughout the year, including annual events like the SCAD Savannah Film Festival, the Savannah Philharmonic, and the Savannah Music Festival.