UCLA obtains historic theater with donations from Susan Bay Nimoy, unnamed donor
Brett Steele, dean of the UCLA School of the Arts and Architecture, and Kristy Edmunds, artistic and executive director of CAP UCLA, helped acquire the Crest Theater. (Courtesy of UCLA Newsroom)
By David Gray
Oct. 25, 2018 5:56 p.m.
UCLA recently acquired a historic theater in Westwood.
The UCLA School for the Arts and its performing arts program, the Center for the Art of Performance at UCLA, announced its acquisition of the Crest Theater in Westwood on Thursday.
The Crest will be renamed to the UCLA Nimoy Theater, in honor of the late actor Leonard Nimoy. A portion of the funding necessary to acquire the theater was donated by actress and director Susan Bay Nimoy, the wife of Leonard Nimoy, as well as an anonymous donor.
The theater, previously named the UCLAN Theatre due to its proximity to UCLA, was founded in 1941 by Frances Seymour Fonda. Fonda created the UCLAN because Westwood previously did not have any live entertainment theaters. The landmark was declared a Los Angeles City Historic-Cultural Monument in 2008.
The UCLA Nimoy Theater is expected to open in 2021 after undergoing renovations and upgrades to the venue. It will be operated and managed by CAP UCLA, and plans to collaborate with campus, local and national arts organizations for live performance programming at the venue.
