# 9 – Harvard Square Walking Tour: Entertainment and Performing Arts
Loeb Drama Center
The Loeb Drama Center opened in 1960, and it houses the ART, as well as the Harvard Radcliffe Dramatic Club (HRDC). The building is mid-century modern, with glass walls and industrial materials. There is a large main theater, as well as a black box experimental theater, between which there are four hundred shows per year. The Loeb is an important center for all dramatic arts at Harvard.
Brattle Theater
The Brattle Theater opened in 1890 and originally served as a live performance space, home to the Cambridge Social Dramatic Club. The club was known for performing a wide variety of shows, and the theater even hosted dances and lectures. The theater became a beloved haven for artists. In the 1950s, the theater was rebranded as an art film house, screening independent and foreign films. It still runs today as an independent, repertory cinema operated by the non-profit Brattle Film Foundation.
The Sinclair
The Sinclair is a live music venue and restaurant that opened in 2012. The Sinclair is operated by The Bowery Presents and hosts concerts for over 500 people, as well as private events. It has an industrial chic appearance and boasts three balconies inside. Its late-night food offerings make the Sinclair a new hub of nightlife in Harvard Square. Its performances also bring in patrons from the surrounding area and attract a new crowd to the Square.
Club Passim
Club Passim is a folk music venue that has been open since 1969. Prior, the venue had been home to Club 47, which was a restaurant and jazz venue that eventually became a private club. Passim was owned by poets who were interested in having a coffeehouse, but the patrons’ love for music caused the venue to evolve. In 1995, the club became a non-profit organization, and it hosts about 400 shows per year. In 2000, they also opened a music school, and in 2009, they began hosting Summer Stage, free outdoor concerts.
Harvard Square Theater
The Harvard Square Theater opened as the University Theater in 1926. It originally showed motion pictures, as well as vaudeville performances. It eventually went on to host a variety of live performances, including magic shows and rock concerts. The Rocky Horror picture show was famously screened there every week with live performances from the FullBodyCast. In 1986, the entrance moved from Mass Ave to Church Street, and the large auditorium was split up into 5 movie screening theaters. Although it has been closed since 2012, there are plans in place to reinstate the theater.
Farkas Hall
Farkas Hall is home to the Hasty Pudding Theatricals, the oldest theater company in the country. The Hasty Pudding was founded in 1770 as Harvard’s first social club, and in 1844, they put on their first staged performance. The show was historically an all-male drag show performing original musicals with elaborate kicklines. Today, it is a broadway-scale production with forty shows in Farkas Hall every Spring. Farkas Hall is now owned by Harvard, and many Theater, Dance, and Media department productions are held there.
Oberon
The Oberon was the second stage of the ART. The building has a modern, glazed design with neoclassical elements, including a concrete base, columns, and arches. The Oberon was known for its club theater, with a full bar and cabaret seating. The theater was fit for experimental performances, and it became a hub for nightlife. Unfortunately, the Oberon unfortunately closed at the end of 2021.
Jose Mateo Ballet Theater
The Jose Mateo Ballet company was founded in 1986 and was initially located in Boston. The company moved to its current location inside the Old Cambridge Baptist Church in 2001. The Church was built in the Gothic Revival style, resembling an English church on the exterior but with the form of the Old New England meeting house on the interior. The Jose Mateo Ballet company is the only New England ballet company to produce an entire repertoire by its own choreographer. The company is involved with many community outreach programs and hosts the annual Dance for the World Community Festival.
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