The Campaign for a Permanent Home
A Home. A Legacy. A Future.
For more than 25 years, ABCT has built its work without a permanent home. Now we are preparing for the next chapter: a cultural home designed to serve New Orleans and the generations to come.
Conceptual rendering · not a final design
All building images on this page are conceptual renderings created to illustrate a vision. They are not final architectural plans.
The Vision
A permanent cultural home for a new generation.
For more than 25 years, the Anthony Bean Community Theater & Acting School has brought generations together through professional theater, actor training, arts education, and the preservation and celebration of Black American culture.
From young people discovering the stage to adult and veteran artists creating serious professional work, ABCT has built a place where artists of every age belong. A permanent home will let that work grow, and make sure it continues.
“Build the human being, and the artist will emerge.”Anthony Bean
The Building
The Building
One Building. Many Doors to Possibility.
- 300-seat Main Theater
- Acting School & Bean Method classrooms
- Teen Talk TV Studio
- Media & Editing Suite
- Voice, Dance & Movement Studio
- Writing & Play Development Lab
- Lighting, Sound & Technical areas
- Costume, Wardrobe, Scene & Prop Shops
- Lobby & ABCT Legacy Gallery
- Community gathering & administrative spaces
Inside the Vision
Main Theater
A fully equipped stage for ABCT productions, youth performances, community events and visiting artists.
Bean Method Studio
Dedicated classrooms for discipline, imagination, character and truth.
Rehearsal Studios
Space for acting, dance, movement and creative development.
Teen Talk TV Studio
Young people gain real experience in cameras, sound, editing, interviewing and production.
Lighting & Sound
Training in lights, sound, video and stage management.
Legacy Gallery
Where 25+ years of ABCT history is preserved, shared and passed forward.
Box Office & Lobby
A welcoming front door for audiences, families and students.
Green Room & Backstage
Professional space to prepare and take the stage.
Costume & Wardrobe
Where characters come to life.
Scene Shop
Build. Create. Transform.
The Legacy
A life in theater. A legacy for New Orleans.
For more than five decades, Anthony Bean has devoted his life to theater, Black American culture and the development of young people in New Orleans. In 2000 he founded ABCT, where professional theater and serious actor training live alongside youth development and cultural education.
At the center of his teaching is the Bean Method, grounded in the belief that artistic development begins with the development of the human being. The purpose has never been simply to create actors. It is to develop discipline, confidence, responsibility, cultural awareness, imagination and the courage to use one’s own voice.
The building is not a monument to Anthony Bean. It is a promise that the work will continue.
- 25+years of ABCT
- 104+productions
- 1,500+students trained
- 10 of 10August Wilson plays staged
Why This Matters
New Orleans is celebrated around the world for its culture. But culture does not preserve itself. It needs places where artists can be trained, young people can be developed, stories can be told and history can be protected. A permanent home will give ABCT room to grow, and give future generations a place to inherit.
The work didn’t begin with a building. The building will ensure the work continues.
How We Build It
ABCT is developing a blended plan that brings many partners to the table:
- Site & propertyLand, buildings or underused properties
- Philanthropic investmentFoundations and individual donors
- Corporate partnershipsInvestment in youth, arts, education and community
- Public & community developmentCapital and economic-development opportunities
- Naming & legacy giftsPermanent investments in spaces and programs
- Professional partnersArchitecture, engineering, construction, finance, technology and media
Join Us at the Table
We are not asking one institution to build ABCT’s future. We are asking New Orleans to help us build it together.
“You don’t have to leave your community to find opportunity. We brought opportunity home.”Anthony Bean
Schedule a campaign conversation about a lead gift, a property or site partnership, corporate or foundation investment, professional services, or another role. Email info@anthonybeantheater.com or call (504) 862-PLAY (7529).