Signature Theatre was founded in 1989 by
Eric D. Schaeffer and Donna Migliaccio with Schaeffer serving as artistic director from the company's founding until his resignation on June 23, 2020, amidst multiple allegations of sexual harassment and assault.
Gunston Signature began production in the Arlington County Gunston Arts Center. This original venue was in the library of a middle school which had been converted to a black box theater.
The Garage Having rapidly outgrown the Gunston facility, Signature in 1993 acquired a defunct Auto Bumper Plating shop, AKA "The Garage", which was converted into a 136-seat black box theatre. The first floor of the building houses the Shirlington Branch of the Arlington County Public Library, the upper three floors house the theater. The complex has an industrial decor with exposed particle board, pipes and metal sheeting. The pair of state-of-the-art black box theaters are each built as a "square box within a square box, floating on hockey pucks. At $30 a puck. It is built like a soundstage." •
The Max — the larger of two flexible theatre spaces, named in honor of
Maxine Isaacs, seats between 275 and 350 patrons. •
The Ark — the smaller theatre space, seating up to 99 patrons, named in honor of
Arlene and
Robert
Kogod. In addition to the two performance spaces, the complex contains a lobby, meeting rooms, three rehearsal spaces, four individual dressing rooms, three shared dressing rooms, three showers, a cast greenroom, a separate orchestra greenroom, three kitchen areas, scene, prop, and costume shops. The large lobby was named by donors Gilbert and
Jaylee Mead in honor of Gilbert's late son Rob Mead. – in recognition of artistic excellence. == Stephen Sondheim Award ==