Morris Performing Arts Center (originally Palace Theatre and formerly Morris Civic Auditorium) is a 2,564-seat concert hall located in South Bend, Indiana. It opened in 1922 as a vaudeville house and later became a movie palace. It was developed along with the neighboring Palais Royale Building by the Palace Theater Corporation. It is a four- to five-story, rectangular, Spanish Renaissance Revival style brick building with finely crafted terra cotta ornamentation. It was planned for demolition in 1959 but was saved from demolition, and between 1998 and 2000, it was restored and remodeled.

Today, Morris Performing Arts Center's interior features a rose, blue and cream color scheme, as it originally did when it opened. The theater's stage, which measures 56 feet by 57 feet and contains a red and gold main curtain, dates from the 2000 restoration. The theater is home to the South Bend Symphony Orchestra and also hosts Broadway shows, concerts, and other special events, including Marian High School's annual commencement ceremony. The theater's interior is notable for borrowing from European architectural styles. More than half of the seats at Morris Performing Arts Center — 1,282 are in the balcony. The remainder of the seats are in the lower level.

Morris Performing Arts Center

In 1985, the center was listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It qualified for historic designation both because of its place in the area's history and because of its historically significant architecture.

Morris Performing Arts Center

In 2022, the theater celebrated its 100th year in existence, and on November 2nd of that year, a documentary commemorating the anneversary aired on the local PBS affiliate, WNIT.

Morris Performing Arts Center

References

Concert halls in Indiana

Music venues in Indiana

Theatres on the National Register of Historic Places in Indiana

Performing arts centers in Indiana

Renaissance Revival architecture in Indiana

Theatres completed in 1922

Tourist attractions in South Bend, Indiana

Buildings and structures in South Bend, Indiana

National Register of Historic Places in St. Joseph County, Indiana