Synetic's move to a new theater empowered them to take artistic risks, like the water stage used in 'King Arthur.' (Photo: Graeme B. Shaw)

Finding theater space in Arlington has been like a game of musical chairs, and this fall, the music has finally stopped. To review the space swapping that’s happened since August:

Arena Stage has moved out of its temporary Crystal City space and back to its Southwest Waterfront home. Synetic Theater has moved into Arena’s old Crystal City space. Which means Synetic has vacated the Spectrum in Rosslyn, a space that will now be used for concerts, lectures, and special events as a part of the Artisphere. And the just-opened Artisphere is the new home for the Washington Shakespeare Company, which had to vacate the Clark Street Playhouse. No one will be taking the WSC’s place, though — the ailing theater will be demolished.

“It’s coincidence and opportunity, and it happened at the same time,” said Norma Kaplan, division chief of the Arlington department of parks, recreation and cultural resources. “I don’t think it’s anything at all that was planned.”

Kaplan facilitated the move from Clark Street, a theater plagued by structural problems such as ceiling leaks and rotting floors.

“We took out a lease on it in 1994 and spent a year turning it from a rental car place into a theater. We made dressing rooms, a lobby, the theater and everything,” says Christopher Henley, the WSC’s artistic director. “We were month-to-month, thinking we would be there for a little while. No one thought it would be as long as it was, which was 15 years.”

In those 15 years, the WSC has adhered to its mission of presenting Shakespearean works in a new light, staging memorable productions, including an all-nude version of Macbeth in 2007, and recently, an evening of Shakespeare in Klingon. This fall, it will present two shows in repertory: Richard III and Mary Stuart, both opening Oct. 21.

Though the Artisphere opened to much fanfare last weekend, the WSC hasn't fully vacated its Clark Street space quite yet — the development of a park and recreation center planned for where the theater now stands has continued to suffer delays. Henley says that the company will continue to use their old space for rehearsals and storage until they're forced to leave.

"At a certain point the development of that area will require that they cut the utilities off, and it will be unusable for rehearsals and meetings, because of lack of heating or electricity or water," says Henley. The company has no idea when the end will come for the decrepit theater — it could be weeks, months, or years.

"There's a long and interesting history of Clark Street managing to lurch on without the final ax falling. It's so unpredictable that it's not worth speculating about until something real happens."

The company will continue to use Clark Street because, even though the Artisphere is sleek and modern and won’t drip water through its ceiling, it’s not fully theirs.

“In Clark Street we had the run of the building — we could be there anytime,” says Henley. “At Artisphere, we will have office space, but not rehearsal space or storage space, so we’ll be needing to find that other place. There will be costs involved with the new arrangement for us.”

When you use a county theater, you can also use county rehearsal space, but it is located at the Gunston Arts Center and the Theater on the Run, neither of which are Metro-accessible for actors who don't have cars.

"It's good for us to be able to rehearse outside of other county places for as long as possible," says Henley. "We can always go into the system if we're strapped, but then you share space and there's a curfew” — a non-negotiable curfew — “because there's [county] staff waiting to go home, and if you add commute time to actors it eats into rehearsal time."

At the same time, Artisphere, which occupies the former Newseum space, will change everything for the assorted groups moving into the new center. In addition to the Spectrum and the black box space WSC will use, the Artisphere contains three art galleries, a ballroom, a movie theater, a cafe, and a lecture space.

“The opportunities are in terms of the synergy of an arts center, where people will be coming there for other reasons,” says Henley. “I hope we’ll be getting people saying, ‘Who are they? I’ll give them a try.’ Clark Street is in Crystal City but it’s not in the center. It’s in the north in a sketchy-looking warehouse area, with no amenities, no restaurants or anything. It’s cut off. We’re hoping that being in downtown Rosslyn, as part of the community, it will be easier and more attractive. That will more than offset the budget increases.”

Artisphere is also absorbing the Rosslyn Spectrum, a theater less than one block away that has been the part-time home of Synetic for several years. The Spectrum was never an ideal theater space — it’s a converted movie theater, and it was used for other events. 

“The Spectrum wasn’t a dedicated venue for us,” says Salma Qarnain, managing director of Synetic, which opened its first production, King Arthur, in the Crystal City space, another converted movie theater, formerly used by Arena Stage. “This will be dedicated ... we have complete control over productions."

Arena occupied 1800 S. Bell Street in Arlington for the duration of their construction on its Southwest Waterfront theater, which was completed in August.

"Our 2 1/2 years in Crystal City were nothing but positives for Arena,” said Arena’s managing director, Edgar Dobie, in a statement. “We found all of the merchants and our landlords at Vornado to go beyond the call of duty in making our residency there a great success."

Synetic's theater is not a county property. It is managed by developer Vornado/Charles E. Smith. County theater venues have a standardized agreement with Arlington that pays the county 10 percent of all of their ticket income, says Kaplan, which enables smaller theaters to take risks. Qarnain could not disclose the terms of the theater's private agreement with the developers.

Qarnain says that Arena left some necessary equipment, such as its lighting grid, in Crystal City. Like many converted movie theaters, the space is convenient and adaptable, but since the seats are not on as steep of an incline as other theaters, cross your fingers that you won’t be seated behind a tall person.

Synetic is already exercising its freedom within the new space, where it’s built one of its most ambitious sets yet: a stage with a climbing wall and three inches of water, which enhances the fight choreography in the sword-clashing tale of King Arthur.

"We had this idea and concept, but not the space to do it," says Qarnain. "In a brand new venue that we control, we could build to our heart’s content."

The new location has also allowed Synetic muckety-mucks to meet new donors and to foster partnerships that would not otherwise have been possible — including one particularly beneficial to King Arthur.

"We struck a deal with the Crystal City Marriott to provide towel service," says Qarnain.  "They’ll drop off towels to wipe off the actors and the stage. It saves us quite a bit of laundry."

Like Henley, while Qarnain is happy to move into a new space, she acknowledges that there will be a few drawbacks — mainly financial ones.

"We don’t pay much in rent, but we do pay operating costs," she says of the new space. "We run the facility and outfit the venue ... it’s an increase in terms of our budget for last year."

But Synetic, too, finds that the growing pains have been more than offset by the benefit of their new space — a benefit that extends beyond their own company.

??"It’s all been opportunistic in terms of moving around," says Qarnain. "If somebody vacated a space that was no longer needed, it became viable for a smaller space to take it and fuel our growth."