Warwick first visited the theatre in 2006, during the company's production of Don't Make Me Over: In Tribute to Dionne Warwick, and was approached by BET founder Jackie Taylor to direct the design of the theatre's interior spaces, including the lobby, restrooms and other public areas.
The grand opening of the organization's new home, the Black Ensemble Theater Cultural Center, is set for Nov. 18.
Warwick, who has partnered with Bruce Garrick on the designs, told the Chicago Sun-Times, "The color scheme will be in hues of reds, oranges, beiges, browns and grays. It will be a vibrant, classy, comfortable space, with a modern chandelier and memorabilia of the theater’s decades of past productions exhibited on the lobby walls."