Lancaster Country Day School broke ground on the Gardner Theatre on Sept. 17. The school has raised almost $11 million of the theater's $15 million cost. Gardner Theatre is named after Class of 1953 graduate Eugene Herr Gardner Sr., who passed away in 2016 and whose stewardship of Lancaster Country Day's endowment ensured the school would continue on a secure financial foundation.
The modern performing arts center will provide a venue to foster myriad types of artistic expression, both for the school's students and for community partners otherwise unaffiliated with Country Day. The Gardner family, four generations of whom have graduated from Lancaster Country Day School, has pledged $5 million toward the project, the largest gift by a living donor in the school's history.
Gardner Theatre will have 580 seats, an orchestra pit, state-of-the-art lighting and acoustics, and fly space. With a full-size stage and professional theater fittings, the new space will be able to host professional-quality musicals, plays, recitals, orchestral concerts, and dance events. It will also allow the school to forge performance partnerships with the broader Lancaster community.
The theater has a planned completion date of December 2020.
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