The Presiding Bishopric announced Jan. 8 that an engineering study is underway on the Promised Valley Playhouse in downtown Salt Lake City and that the building will be closed pending a review of the results.
The 91-year-old Church-owned facility - one of the largest community theaters in the nation - is in need of substantial renovation and repair, said Church officials.For the past quarter-century, the Church has staged a wide variety of theatrical productions at the playhouse, the most recent being the holiday show, "The Gift of Christmas," which ended Dec. 28.
For several years, the theater was the site of the Church's annual summer production of its namesake, "Promised Valley." More recently, it has been used for stake and regional productions, with large-scale summer and winter productions sponsored by the Church, including "Celebrating the Light" and "Celebrating Utah: Our Unspoken Song."
Before the Church took over the Playhouse in 1972, the theater was known by a variety of names, including the Wilkes Playhouse, the Roxy, the Lake, and for 15 years before 1972, the Lyric.
