Seattle's A Contemporary Theatre will move to its new home in September at the Kreielsheimer Place (the former Eagles Building) in downtown Seattle in the heart of the retail coe. The new theatre, which required $30.4 million of renovations, will open Sept. 10 with the world premiere of Cheap by Tom Topor, a new adaptation of Moliere's The Miser.

ACT's new facilities includes two main theatres -- a thrust stage similar to its old facility on Queen Anne Hill, and an arena stage for theatre-in-the round. Each of these new theatres will seat approximately 390, and the season's plays will alternate between these two main stages. In addition, there will be a cabaret theatre which will provide a venue for smaller productions, readings, radio dramas, dance, music performances, and workshops. The building houses two rehearsal halls and all of the administrative, technical, and production offices. There are scenery, paint, costume, and property shops contained in a rooftop addition. Built in 1925, the building is a city and state historic landmark and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

The fund-raising efforts to raise the money have been a community-wide project. Campaigns to name two of the performance spaces in the new building have already started, and a seat campaign is also underway, offering patrons an opportunity to permanently attach their name to one of the seats in the theatre for $1,500. Perhaps most impressively, the Allen Foundation for the Arts recently donated a $2 million gift to the capital campaign, one of the most complex of such campaigns in Seattle's history. The campaign hopes to be finished by October 1.

The old facility at Queen Anne Hill has been bought by On The Boards.

Tickets and information for Cheap, the first production in the new facility, can be obtained through the ACT box office at 206-285-5110. Effective Aug. 12, the phone number is 206-292-7676. -- By Katie Webber