Edison Theatre is a fully technically equipped proscenium thrust theatre at WashU, used as a teaching facility for the Performing Arts Department and as a rental house for locally based presenting arts organizations. The 560 Music Center, located in University City, contains three performance spaces that can accommodate solo recitals to full orchestra concerts, as well as host a myriad of other events.
Edison Theatre is the only fully technically equipped, proscenium thrust theater at Washington University in St. Louis and plays a varied role on campus. Edison serves as a teaching facility for the Washington University Performing Arts Department, which produces three mainstage Edison shows each year and serves as a performance venue for Washington University student organizations. Edison is also one of the few theaters in the St. Louis area to serve as a rental house for locally based presenting arts organizations such as The Black Rep. At its capacity, Edison Theatre seats 656.
The 560 Music Center was built in 1930 as the Shaare Emeth Temple. This beautiful Art Deco building was home to the Saint Louis Conservatory and School for the Arts (CASA) from 1974-1994. Following the merger by the St. Louis Symphony and CASA in 1994, the building housed the St. Louis Symphony Community Music School. In September 2001, the Community Music School joined with Webster University. In October 2006, Washington University took possession of the facility, and the renovated facility opened to our students in the fall of 2007. The building contains three performance spaces that can accommodate solo recitals to full orchestra concerts, as well as host a myriad of other events.