The New Phoenix Theatre is pleased to announce the forthcoming opening of The Keith Waterhouse Memorial Bar, which will honor Keith Waterhouse (1929-2009), the prolific playwright, novelist, journalist and screenwriter who died last September and who was among our patrons.
The bar, designed and built by David King, will open at the rear of the New Phoenix Theatre, near the foot of the main staircase, for Curtain Up! 2010. Its distinctive, horseshoe, pocket design is modeled on the Algonquin Hotel’s old Blue Bar in Manhattan, which was among Waterhouse’s favorite watering holes.
Although the New Phoenix Theatre currently serves concessions on the second floor, the stairs discourage many patrons. The downstairs bar, which in its opening season will serve complimentary champagne, wine and beer to members and first-night invitees and bottled water, soft drinks and other concessions to all our patrons, will greatly enhance the warm welcome for which our historic theatre has already earned a reputation.
The downstairs bar will also ease the pressure on box office star by offering promotional materials, memberships, and information on the theatre’s season, the work of the Theatre Alliance of Buffalo, our historic neighborhood, and other area attractions.
The Keith Waterhouse Memorial Bar has been meticulously designed by David King in a selection of woods and fittings carefully chosen to preserve the historic charm of the New Phoenix Theatre’s distinctive interior. The bar makes excellent and imaginative use of our existing resources and adds other facilities that will greatly enhance our effectiveness on the mainstage theatre floor.
You are cordially invited to make a tax-deductible donation at one of the levels listed below. Thank you. We look forward to seeing you at the Keith Waterhouse Memorial Bar in the fall.
Yours truly,
Bob Waterhouse
Artistic Director
“And what an incredible mixture I’ve had the luck to stumble across…. Poets, painters, prostitutes, bookies’ runners, bohemians, bums, philosophers, crook, cranks. Dylan Thomas, Francis Bacon, Lucien Freud, John Minton, Frank Norman, French Vera, No Knickers Joyce, Sid the Swimmer, Ironfoot Jack….”
- Jeffrey Bernard Is Unwell by Keith Waterhouse (1989)
POETS’ CIRCLE: Donors contributing at this founding member, $2,500 + level, will be honored on brass plaques set into the bar proper and in our playbills. Corporations and foundations donating at this level will be prominently acknowledged on all our season’s promotional materials. POETS’ CIRCLE donors will also receive honorary memberships to our 2010/2011 season and will be acknowledged from the floor during pres-show house management announcement.
PAINTERS: Donors contributing at this founding member, $1,000 + level will be honored on brass plaques and in our playbills. Corporations and foundations donating at this level will be prominently acknowledged on all our season’s promotional materials. PAINTERS will also receive honorary memberships to our 2010/2011 season and will be acknowledged from the floor during pres-show house management announcement.
BOOKIES’ RUNNERS: Donors contributing at this $500 + level will be honored on printed materials around the bar and in our playbills
BOHEMIANS: Donors contributing at this $200 + level will be honored in our playbills.
PHILOSOPHERS: Donors contributing at this $100 + level will be honored in our playbills
CROOKS: Donors at this level are respectfully invited to contribute funds within their means and/or in-kind donations of beverages, bar supplies, or plastic stemware. No questions asked. Donors at this level will be gratefully acknowledged (by pseudonyms or as directed) in all our playbills.
CRANKS: Donors at this level are respectfully invited to contribute funds within every dollar counts. Donors at this level will be gratefully acknowledged in all our playbills.
All donors will be acknowledged in print unless they direct us otherwise or mark their donation “Anonymous.” Please be sure to include the spelling of your name as you wish it to appear in our acknowledgment.
Please include a return address to which we can send a record of your tax-deductible donation for your files.
Donors are asked to make checks payable to The New Phoenix Theatre and to enter “KW Memorial Bar”, and the level of their donation, on the memorandum.
Donors in GBP are encouraged to consult appropriate rates of exchange.
PLEASE SEND YOUR DONATION TO:
KEITH WATERHOUSE MEMORIAL BAR
NEW PHOENIX THEATRE
95 JOHNSON PARK
BUFFALO, NY 14201