Founder and Artistic Director James Houghton envisioned theatre as an intimate relationship between playwrights, performers, and audience, in perpetual collision, transforming, enriching, and redefining what it means to experience—not just watch—theatre. The experience is cumulative and slowly defined over time. It is organic, rewards commitment, and is always in-process and collaborative. It is human, and therefore flawed, but it is honest and revelatory. It is tangible, visceral and immersive.

Just as the Frank Gehry-designed architecture is, the Signature Theatre visual language is an expression of those ideas—translated into a malleable voice, able to modulate and flex in response to the content and nuances of the play, the playwrights and the performers.

The translation of Signature’s mission of ‘theatre as perpetual collision’ extended into the wayfinding typography and the physical forms of the donor recognition array.

The wayfinding system covers the entire front and back-of-house of the 72,000 square foot complex, featuring three theatres, two rehearsal studios, a central 5,000 square foot public lobby with a bar/café and bookstore, and a substantial administrative wing. The donor recognition system is a collection of silver-backed clear acrylic bars that appear to physically intersect with the concrete donor column and with the individual naming opportunities—staircases, walls, elevators, architectural features—throughout the entire Center.

We also created was a temporary fundraising space highlighting the relationships the Theatre has enjoyed with iconic playwrights and actors, the features of the new complex, and Gehry’s working models and sketches.

Architecture Partner: Gehry Partners

Creative Director: Weston Bingham
Designers: Weston Bingham, Warren Corbitt