The Washington Center for the Performing Arts

The Washington Center for the Performing Arts, South Puget Sound’s beloved performing arts facility, is committed to providing a wide variety of entertainment and cultural activities for the residents of five counties. Located in the heart of Washington State’s capital city, The Center has become a community gathering place, providing a focus for the performing arts unique to the region.

We present our own season of nationally and internationally touring artists from a broad spectrum of genres and styles. We are also the home of over 20 local performance groups, otherwise known as our Artistic Partners.

Opened in 1985, our facility has played host to thousands of events, with almost 2,000,000 people crossing our threshold. Our history did not start in 1985, however. The Washington Center is really the grandchild of the old Liberty Theater, a 1924 vaudeville house which stood on the same ground The Washington Center does today. The Liberty Theater was renovated and refurbished in 1948, becoming the Olympic Theater movie house. The Olympic was then taken down to just a few exterior walls in the early 1980s and completely rebuilt as The Washington Center. While the building’s facade still retains elements of the 1924 architecture, the interior is contemporary and modern.