When Artistic Director, Jez Bond, and Creative Director, Melli Marie, set out to find a building, their six-year search lead to the formation of the Park Theatre.
The duo discovered a vacant office block near to Finsbury Park station in 2010. Garnering support from local residents, the press, and the wider theatre community – including stars such as Ian McKellen and Alan Rickman – they set out to raise the necessary funds to convert the tired concrete building into a thriving new theatre.
Opening in 2013, the theatre funding campaign managed to raise £2.6 million. The Theatre has two performance spaces. One is a 200-seat auditorium, Park200, which has a thrust stage. Although it allows in natural light, it can be blacked out electronically. The other is a smaller, 90-seat performance space, Park90.
With the opening of the theatre, there was also the launch of Park Theatre’s Script Accelerator programme, which invites budding playwrights and theatre companies to pitch their ideas, six of who win the prize each year.