Photos: DLR Group / MVVA

The new performance season at the historic Miller Outdoor Theatre in Hermann Park won’t start until summer. That’s when the current renovations are scheduled to be finished, including a $1.8 million overhaul of the theater’s HVAC units and air distribution system, updates to electrical systems, and upgrades to the stage and orchestra pit for safety features. Not sexy, but necessary for a 100-year-old theater that began life as an outdoor bandstand and evolved into a professional 64-by-41-foot stage with dressing rooms and backstage offices. But what will be pleasing to the eye is the new Gateway Plaza.

It’s all part of Miller Outdoor’s 100th Anniversary Capital Campaign (which you can still donate to here). The century-old Miller is not only a historic amphitheater but also hosts the largest free performance season in the country, featuring family-friendly, diverse performances. Everything from symphony performances to annual cultural festivals.

Updates on the theater itself began in October, but the new gateway broke ground last November 13 with city officials and members of the guiding Miller Theatre Advisory Board in attendance. Situated in the northeast corner, the Gateway Plaza is designed by the international firm DLR Group, which designed Houston’s new Ismaili Center, with gorgeous landscape design by Michael Van Valkenburg Associates. MVVA was the firm Hermann Park Conservancy hired to update the park’s master plan in 2015. The firm also designed the grounds of the George W. Bush Presidential Center in Dallas.

Not just a welcoming gateway to the hillside theater, the Gateway Plaza Project will provide better drainage and flood mitigation, better pedestrian flow, and a makeover of the so-called Dining Bosque picnic area with new tables and shade structures.

“We’re thrilled to have broken ground on the Gateway Plaza Project,” said Claudia de Vasco, Managing Director of Miller Outdoor Advisory Board. “It’s a fitting start to Miller’s next century, an investment in spaces that reflect who we are as both an iconic arts venue and a welcoming public gathering place, inviting everyone to experience the performances and memories that make Miller so special.”

Lead funding for Miller’s Gateway Plaza was provided by the Ting Tsung and Wei Fong Chao Foundation, Brown Foundation, and Houston Endowment Inc., with the Ting Tsung and Wei Fong Chao Foundation securing Plaza naming benefits. Additional support was received from The Fondren Foundation, Cullen Trust for the Performing Arts, The Wortham Foundation, The Elkins Foundation, George and Mary Josephine Hamman Foundation, Edward & Helen Oppenheimer Foundation, Albert and Ethel Herzstein Charitable Foundation, and The Clayton Fund, as well as a host of individual fans of Miller Outdoor Theater, a one-of-a-kind gem in Houston.

by Marene Gustin