Theatre alights in Tacoma. (Tacoma, WA, Broadway Center for the Performing Arts)

The neon lights are a bit brighter on Broadway these days ... in Tacoma, WA. Opened last winter, the $7.5 million Theatre on the Square completes the final leg of the citys revitalized theatre district, joining the neighboring Pantages and Rialto houses as the Broadway Center for the Performing Arts. The 30,000-sq.-ft. venue was designed by Portland, OR-based BOORA Architects as the new home of the Tacoma Actors Guild repertory company, now in its 16th season.

Abutting the south side of the circa 1911 Pantages and built atop a new city bus terminal, the theatre posed a structural and acoustical engineering challenge, says principal architect Robert Oringdulph. "We …