Theater Recalls a Vivid Past

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A few years ago, the marquee of the Atlas Theater was just about the only remnant of its glamorous past. A once-bustling movie house that had been left to crumble and decay, the diminished landmark could perhaps have been a symbol for a neighborhood that had also fallen on hard times.

The Atlas today, however, is a thriving performing arts center and a catalyst for the resurgence of the H Street Northeast corridor.

Home to multiple theater companies, dance and musical groups, the Atlas is a multipurpose arts space that has retained the innovative spirit that marked its original incarnation.

It took some time to get there, though. Evidence of the effort to bring the theater back to life hangs in one of the hallways. A glance at photos of the broken-down building during the early stages of renovation makes it clear why Jane Lang, chairman of the Atlas board, initially balked at the idea of using the building to house her theater company.

“I immediately said, ‘No way,’” she recalled. “It was too big. It looked bad and it smelled worse. I went home and told my husband that this was outlandish.”

The next morning, however, her attitude had changed.

“I woke up the next morning with a new idea, that we could lead the charge of redeveloping H Street,” she said.

The H Street Northeast corridor, once a thriving community of working-class families, was torn apart by rioting after the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. in 1968. The area developed a reputation for being depressed and dangerous, a notion Lang says was not unfounded. It has been slow coming back.

The Atlas Theater was spared from being burned down during the turbulent time and remained a landmark even as its own exterior declined.

Originally opened as a movie theater in 1938, the Atlas was unique in both its structure and its treatment of patrons. According to Patrick Stewart, executive director of the Atlas Performing Arts Center, the original theater was one of the first establishments in Washington, D.C., to have air conditioning and to serve an integrated audience.

Movies stopped being shown in the 1970s, and despite sporadic use in the 1980s and 1990s, the building was eventually abandoned, according to Atlas communications director Jen DeMayo.

That’s how Lang found it in 2001.

Before deciding to revive the Atlas, Lang had no connections to H Street. She did, however, have a background in urban development, having been general counsel to the Housing and Urban Development Department during the Carter administration.

What had started as a goal to open a small theater space turned into the development of a unique establishment and a step toward redeeming the neighborhood.

“It was horribly depressing,” Lang said of the H Street she first saw. “Things that burned down in 1968 were still abandoned.”

That description also applied to her newly acquired renovation project. The Atlas had deteriorated rapidly when it fell to disuse, and it had to be gutted and nearly completely redone.

Despite the condition of the theater, some elements were preserved. The Lang Theater, which is the main performance space, is housed inside the old Atlas walls. A small “alley” within the complex runs between the Lang Theater and another red brick wall that was part of the storefronts of the original structure. At the end of the hall, two gold air ducts, which look more like decoration than utility pieces, are hung. They were part of the groundbreaking air conditioning system, and were the only items that could be salvaged from the old Atlas.

In 2006, the multipurpose facility was opened as the Atlas Performing Arts Center. Rather than a home for just theater companies, the space is now used by dance and musical groups as well. Collectives like the Capitol City Symphony and Step Afrika! partner with the Atlas, using office and performance spaces. The setup offers the organizations a one-stop production shop and fosters collaboration among the various artists who work there, according to Stewart.

The Atlas staff provides house management services, such as selling and checking tickets, so that the artists can focus on producing good work.

Step Afrika!, which takes its step routines all over the world, decided three years ago to make the Atlas its base in Washington. The group sets its annual home performance series at the theater.