Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre

Last updated
Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre
Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre Logo.jpg
CEPAC-Courtyard.JPG
Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre
Address2800 Cobb Galleria Parkway
Atlanta, Georgia
United States
Coordinates 33°53′02″N84°27′29″W / 33.883803°N 84.458063°W / 33.883803; -84.458063
Parking1000 spaces [1]
OwnerCobb-Marietta Coliseum & Exhibit Hall Authority
OperatorCobb-Marietta Coliseum & Exhibit Hall Authority
TypePerforming arts center
Capacity 2,750
Construction
OpenedSeptember 15, 2007
ArchitectSmallwood, Reynolds, Stewart, Stewart & Associates
Website
www.cobbenergycentre.com

Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre is a performing arts venue located in the Cumberland/Galleria edge city, in northwest Atlanta, Georgia, United States. The $145 million facility celebrated its grand opening September 15, 2007, with a concert by Michael Feinstein and Linda Eder. [1] [2]

Contents

Located in Cobb County near Vinings, the venue is owned and operated by the Cobb-Marietta Coliseum & Exhibit Hall Authority, and took over two years to build. [2] The naming rights for the facility were acquired for $20 million by Cobb Energy Management Corp. [3] Real estate developer John A. Williams' personal donation of $10 million led to the theater itself being named in his honor. [4]

Design and construction

Facade CEPAC-FacadeDetail.JPG
Facade

Cobb Energy Centre is located at the east corner of Akers Mill Road and Cobb Galleria Parkway, overlooking I-75 just south of the I-285 highway interchange (the Cobb Cloverleaf). [5] It was designed by architects Smallwood, Reynolds, Stewart, Stewart & Associates, [6] and built by general contractor Hardin Construction. [7]

The asymmetrical top of the building rises above the multi-story glass facade that allows views of the grand alabaster staircase and lobbies beyond when lit at night. [6] The rising waves were meant to soften the transition to the fly tower required over the stage. [5] Just inside the entrance, visitors are greeted by the commissioned mural The Nine Muses by Jimmy O'Neal. [6] The chandeliers in the main lobby [5] and those in the ballroom are the Nastro designed by Tobia Scarpa and made by Andromedamurano. [6] The interior throughout the Centre makes extensive use of traditional theater colors such red and gold as well as dark wood finishes. The Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre was completed within schedule and budget. [6]

Performance and other venues

John A. Williams Theatre

This 2,750-seat theater at the core of the centre was designed to accommodate both acoustic and amplified performances with the specific intent of attracting touring companies of Broadway shows. [5]

Within the theatre itself, seating is distributed on three levels — orchestra, mezzanine and grand tier — and fourteen balcony boxes. The most distant seat in the upper level (Grand Tier) is only 160 feet (49 m) from the stage. [5] Metallic-mesh triangular screens undulate across the ceiling to hide catwalks. The stage features a hydraulic lift for the 30-foot (9 m) deep orchestra pit large enough for 84 musicians. [5] The theatre is surrounded by a 2 ft (61 cm) thick concrete wall on the perimeter for acoustic isolation. [5]

The centre's first resident company is the Atlanta Opera, which relocated from the cavernous Atlanta Civic Center in downtown Atlanta. [8] The Opera's first production in the new facility was Puccini's Turandot . [9]

Ballroom

The facility includes a 10,000 sq ft (930 m2) ballroom available for event rental. [7]

Other facilities

The adjoining parking deck has 1,000 spaces. [1] It also has access to Cobb Community Transit, which may move its Cumberland Transfer Station over I-75 adjacent to the center if the Northwest Corridor HOV/BRT is built. (Currently there is just HOV-only half-access at this point, for Akers Mill Road to 75 southbound and from 75 northbound.) The parking deck for the "bus rapid transit" station would be next to the centre.

Events

The centre is home to the ArtsBridge Foundation, The Atlanta Opera and Atlanta Ballet. In addition, the venue has hosted numerous other concerts and events, including Kraftwerk, Fifth Harmony, Tori Amos, Demi Lovato, Alice Cooper, ABBA, Incognito, Melissa Etheridge, Bill Maher, Harry Connick Jr., B.A.P, Norah Jones, Dave Koz, Eddie Izzard, Ebi, Taeyang, Monsta X, and (G)I-dle.

The building also appeared in the first-season finale of the television show The Walking Dead , its exterior being used to represent the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. [10]

The Cobb Energy Centre is also the perennial host of the SMITE World Championship. The most recent edition was played January 7–11, 2016 and included 10 teams from around the world competing for a US$1,000,000 grand prize. [11] [12] The upcoming edition, packaged as part of the new Hi-Rez Studios Expo, is scheduled for January 5–8, 2017, and will be held alongside the SMITE Xbox World Championship and the Paladins 150K Invitational. Cobb Center hosted the ELeague Season 1 semi-finals and finals on July 29–30, 2016. [13]

The centre was used as the conference center for the KEN talk in the 2014 film Dumb and Dumber To .

It was also used as the Center for Disease Control in AMC's The Walking Dead . [14]

It was mentioned as a location that the Barden Bella's had performed at, in Pitch Perfect

Scenes were filmed in the theatre for the 2012 film Parental Guidance .

Scenes were filmed there for the film Dumplin' on Netflix.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Meridian Hall (Toronto)</span> Performing arts venue in Toronto, Ontario

Meridian Hall is a performing arts venue in Toronto, Ontario, and it is the country's largest soft-seat theatre. The facility was constructed for the City of Toronto municipal government and is currently managed by TO Live, an arms-length agency and registered charity created by the city. Located at 1 Front Street East, the venue opened as the O'Keefe Centre on October 1, 1960. From 1996 to 2007, the building was known as the Hummingbird Centre for the Performing Arts. From 2007 to 2019, it was known as the Sony Centre for the Performing Arts. On September 15, 2019, it was re-branded as Meridian Hall.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Atlanta Civic Center</span> Closed theater in Atlanta, Georgia

The Atlanta Civic Center was a theater located in Atlanta, Georgia. It closed in 2014. The theater, which seats 4,600, regularly hosted touring productions of Broadway musicals, concerts, seminars, comedy acts, and high school graduations and commencement ceremonies for Atlanta's John Marshall Law School. In addition to performances, the civic center could host conferences and exhibits as well, with 5,800 square feet of meeting space. The civic center was owned and operated by the Atlanta city government's Department of Parks, Recreation and Cultural Affairs, but brought in enough revenue to be self-supporting.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Straz Center for the Performing Arts</span>

The Straz Center for the Performing Arts is a performing arts venue in Tampa, Florida, United States. It opened in 1987 as the Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center, and was renamed in 2009.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Florida Grand Opera</span> Opera company in Miami, Florida, United States

Florida Grand Opera (FGO) is an American opera company based in Miami, Florida. It is the oldest performing arts organization in Florida and the seventh oldest opera company in the United States. FGO was created in 1994 from the consolidation of two opera companies in the Miami-Fort Lauderdale region: Opera Guild of Greater Miami, founded in 1941 by Arturo di Filippi; and the Opera Guild, Inc. of Fort Lauderdale, formed in 1945.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wortham Theater Center</span> Performing arts center located in downtown Houston, Texas, United States

The Wortham Theater Center is a performing arts center located in downtown Houston, Texas, United States. The Wortham Theater Center, designed by Eugene Aubry of Morris Architects, was built out of private funds totaling over $66 Million. The City of Houston owns the building, and the Houston First Corporation operates the facility.

The Broward Center for the Performing Arts is a large multi-venue performing arts center located in downtown Fort Lauderdale, Florida, United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cobb Galleria Centre</span> Convention centre in Atlanta, Georgia, US

The Cobb Galleria Centre is a meeting and convention center in the Cumberland/Galleria district of Cobb County, northwest of Atlanta, Georgia, in the United States. It is also located next to a cluster of mid-rise office buildings, Cumberland Mall, Truist Park, The Battery Atlanta and the Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre. It has hosted over 20,000 events and 10 million of guests. The venue operates under the direction of the Cobb-Marietta Coliseum and Exhibit Hall Authority and is located at the intersection of three major highways: Interstate 75, Interstate 285, and Cobb Parkway just northwest of the city. The Galleria Specialty Mall, which pre-dates the convention center, is located downstairs, with meeting halls upstairs.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cumberland, Georgia</span> Unincorporated area in Georgia, United States

Cumberland is an edge city in Cobb County located in an unincorporated area of the northwest Atlanta metropolitan area, Georgia, United States. It is situated ten miles (16 km) northwest of downtown Atlanta. With approximately 122,000 workers and 103,000 residents, Cumberland is the region's fifth-largest business district, and is marked by several modern skyscrapers rising from the wooded hills above the freeways. The Atlanta Braves of Major League Baseball play their games at Truist Park, which is located in Cumberland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mahaffey Theater</span> Performing arts center in St. Petersburg, Florida, U.S.

The Mahaffey Theater – Duke Energy Center for the Performing Arts is a performing arts facility and concert hall located on the downtown waterfront in St. Petersburg, Florida. The facility first opened on May 6, 1965. The 2,031-seat facility features European box-style seating, a ballroom space and views of Tampa Bay.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Harris Theater (Chicago)</span> Theater in Millennium Park, Chicago, Illinois, United States

The Joan W. and Irving B. Harris Theater for Music and Dance is a 1,499-seat theater for the performing arts located along the northern edge of Millennium Park on Randolph Street in the Loop community area of Chicago in Cook County, Illinois, US. The theater, which is largely underground due to Grant Park-related height restrictions, was named for its primary benefactors, Joan and Irving Harris. It serves as the park's indoor performing venue, a complement to Jay Pritzker Pavilion, which hosts the park's outdoor performances.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Opera in Atlanta</span>

Opera in Atlanta has a long and uneven history. The first shows performed in Atlanta predate the American Civil War and were primarily performed in makeshift facilities modified for the operatic arts. The main company for the region is the Atlanta Opera, founded in 1979, which produces mainstage opera productions and arts education programs for all ages. The Atlanta Opera is based at the Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Atlanta Opera</span>

The Atlanta Opera is an opera company located in the Atlanta metropolitan area. Founded in 1979, it produces mainstage opera productions and arts education programs for Metropolitan Atlanta and the Southeast.

Tessitura is an enterprise application used by performing arts and cultural organisations to manage their activities in ticketing, fundraising, customer relationship management, and marketing. It refers to itself as "arts enterprise software."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Luther Burbank Center for the Arts</span> Performing arts venue in Santa Rosa, California

The Luther Burbank Center for the Arts, and previously known as the Wells Fargo Center for the Arts from March 2005 to March 2016) is a performance venue located just north of Santa Rosa, California, near U.S. 101. The facility is owned and operated by the Luther Burbank Memorial Foundation, a non-profit arts organization established in 1979.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">AT&T Performing Arts Center</span> Performing arts center in Dallas, Texas

The AT&T Performing Arts Center in Dallas, Texas, preliminarily referred to as the Dallas Center for the Performing Arts, is a $354-million multi-venue center in the Dallas Arts District for performances of opera, musical theater, classic and experimental theater, ballet and other forms of dance. It opened with a dedication by city leaders on October 12, 2009.

Formed in 1938, Cobb Electric Membership Corporation, more commonly known as Cobb EMC, is a non-profit electric utility company serving parts of Cobb, Cherokee, Bartow, Paulding, and small sections of Fulton counties in Georgia. In 2009, it had total sales of over 3.8 billion kilowatt-hours.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Arts in Atlanta</span> Cultural resources in Atlanta

The arts in Atlanta are well-represented, with a prominent presence in music, fine art, and theater.

The Smite World Championship (SWC) is the annual world championship for the multiplayer online battle arena video game Smite.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">National Kaohsiung Center for the Arts</span> Art center in Fengshan, Kaohsiung, Taiwan

National Kaohsiung Center for the Arts, also known as Weiwuying,, is located in Fengshan District, Kaohsiung, Taiwan. It is the largest cultural facility in Taiwan, the world's largest performing art theater under one roof, and the first national-level performing arts venue in southern Taiwan. The planning, preparation, and construction were overseen by the Weiwuying Arts and Culture Center Preparatory Office and, after completion, it became one of the venues under the National Performing Arts Center.

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre opens". Encore Atlanta. September 2007. Archived from the original on 2013-10-19. Retrieved 2014-02-04.
  2. 1 2 "Cobb Energy Center Opens". WXIA-TV News. 16 September 2007. Archived from the original on 4 February 2015. Retrieved 2015-02-04.
  3. ↑ "Cobb Performing Arts Center naming rights sold". Atlanta Business Chronicle. 26 January 2005. Retrieved 2007-09-17.
  4. ↑ "Atlanta Performing Arts Center Receives $10 Million". Foundation Center. 25 September 2005. Retrieved 2007-09-17.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Monroe, Doug (2007-09-17). "Virtuoso Performance". Georgia Trend. Archived from the original on 2007-06-18. Retrieved 2007-09-18.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 Fox, Catherine (9 September 2007). "Arts center concept falls short in execution". The Atlanta Journal-Constitution . Retrieved 2007-09-17.
  7. 1 2 Opdyke, Tom (2007-09-13). "Cobb Energy Centre, $145 million facility for events big and small". The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Retrieved 2007-09-17.[ dead link ]
  8. ↑ Mattison, Ben (11 May 2006). "Atlanta Opera to Move to New Suburban Theater". Playbill . Retrieved 2007-10-23.
  9. ↑ Brett, Jennifer (29 September 2007). "Skeptics take to opera's new digs in Cobb". The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Retrieved 2007-10-23.[ dead link ]
  10. ↑ King, Michael (8 December 2010). "'Walking Dead' Blows Up Cobb Energy Centre On Screen". WXIA=TV News. Archived from the original on 10 July 2013. Retrieved 2015-02-04.
  11. ↑ "SMITE World Championship". Hirez Studios. Archived from the original on 2014-10-10. Retrieved 2015-02-04.
  12. ↑ Scott, Wendell (4 January 2015). "SMITE World Championship". WUPA News. Retrieved 2015-02-04.
  13. ↑ "How to watch the ELEAGUE finals online: A viewer's guide | the Daily Dot". The Daily Dot . Archived from the original on 2016-08-01. Retrieved 2016-07-29.
  14. ↑ "Hit zombie series shows CDC blowing up after generators fail". @politifact. Retrieved 2015-10-13.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.