WHERE
Address: Lisner Auditorium is at the corner of H & 21St Streets, NW, on the campus of George Washington University, with the front facing 21st Street. This map shows the location of Lisner in relation to parking garages, metro, nearby food etc:
NOTE: 21st Street is one-way south, and the door you enter is on H Street, not on 21st Street.
Entering the Theater: Performers, crew and volunteers may only enter and exit Lisner through the stage door, which is located up a set of outside stairs near the rear of the building on the H street side. If you were to google map it, enter 2112 H St. NW.
For security reasons, there will be a GWU security officer at the stage door. Please have an ID and your Revels nametag with you when you arrive at the theater. If you do not have a name tag, one will be provided for you when you first come to the theater. Your name tag will be our primary identifier and serve as your “badge” If you are in costume, you need not wear your name tag.
Note that in the past there has been an access code to get through this door. This is no longer the case: the security guard will grant access to the building.
PARKING
Street parking options are very limited – carpooling or Metro are recommended if you do not wish to pay for garage parking. Street parking is free on Sundays but finding open spaces can be difficult; street parking on all other days is metered and time-restricted in ways that don’t work for performers.
Parking in the Lisner loading dock is for loading and unloading only.
Garage Parking
The closest garage to Lisner is the University Student Center Garage which is on H street between 22nd and 21st streets. Note that H street is one-way traveling east, and the garage will be on the left side of the street, almost directly across from the stage door:
https://business-services.gwu.edu/visitor-parking
Note that parking rates in all the garages on or near the GWU campus drop sharply (by nearly half) at 5pm. For the 5pm calls, we ask that folks park a minute a two after 5pm to save money and then get to the theatre by 5:15.
The campus garages close at midnight and do not accept cash.
Metro is always a great idea! The Foggy Bottom Metro stop (Blue/Orange line at 23rd and I Streets) is the closest, just a 2-block walk to Lisner.
Over the past 40 years incidents in the streets have been extremely rare and have never involved a Revels person. Nevertheless, we always suggest that you not walk alone to Metro or the parking garages.
COVID SAFETY AT LISNER AUDITORIUM
Highlights of this policy:
- All performers should remain masked except when onstage.*
- All non-performers should remain masked at all times when inside Lisner.*
- Performers will be asked to submit results of three negative rapid tests on 12/6, 12/9 and 12/16
- Lisner Auditorium encourages but does not require its audience members to wear masks.
*exception made for eating, drinking, applying makeup or when communication requires
FINDING YOUR WAY AROUND LISNER
Stage Left (Actors, Musicians, Children’s Dressing Rooms)
When you enter Lisner by the H Street stage door you will find yourself on Stage Left. To your right is the Green Room — on either side of the Green Room are dressing rooms and bathrooms for actors and musicians, plus the Green Room makeup/quick changes room. You will find your name posted outside your (shared) dressing room. All green room dressing rooms are lockable.
All specialists who are in Green Room dressing rooms should sign in on the call board at the H St. stage door as soon as they arrive; please check the board daily for notes and initial any that apply to you.
Stage Right (Chorus /Teen/LoD Dressing Rooms, Makeup Room)
For most chorus, once you enter the stage door, turn left and walk to backstage left. Then turn right to cross to stage right upstage of the set. On stage right you will find a call board to sign in as well as notes for you to read. The staircase leading upstairs takes one to the chorus makeup and dressing rooms (LoD dancers, you will dress here). The staircase leading down goes to the basement area where we warm-up and meet for circle before performances, and where water/tea are available starting on Thursday.
There are two restrooms located in the basement near the food table. Also accessible from the basement is the tunnel that leads to the Lower Lobby of Lisner Auditorium. The tunnel is used for any entrances made from the voms. Please be quiet when using the tunnel, as there are often performances in GWU’s black box performance space located there.
Food and Drink
In general, you should bring your own food and drink to rehearsal and to the theater with you. You’ll want to bring a water bottle; label it clearly. Do not depend on Revels to provide your dinner – they will only provide water and tea setup if you make it below the stage. You may wish to come early and pick up food at one of the many places to eat near Lisner. There are often food trucks right outside the stage door; There is a Starbucks ½ block down H Street and a Whole Foods, and several fast casual chains a few blocks away, just steps from the Foggy Bottom metro.
Security in the Theater
Do not bring any valuables or a lot of cash into the theater; while thefts in the past have been rare, they do sometimes happen. Washington Revels and Lisner/GWU cannot be responsible for lost or stolen items.
Photographs/Video and Audio Recordings
There will be a professional photographer taking pictures from Wednesday to Friday of tech week, both onstage and backstage. We will take the “family photo” right after the run thru on Friday, Dec. 9.
Saturday Performance On-stage Picnics
Between the matinee and evening performances on both Saturdays, the entire Revels family is invited to bring a bag supper and picnic on stage and in the house. Be aware that there isn’t a lot of time before we need to get ready for the evening performance so you may not want to go out for food. On the second Saturday, we will also use this time to honor and thank our directors and volunteers with some small presentations.
Strike – After Final Performance
Immediately following the final Sunday performance we will pack up our costumes and props to take back to Glen Echo and our Costume Shop in Rockville. Further instructions on strike will come later in the run, but know that for veterans this will be a much shorter and less labor intensive process than in the past. Please take your personal belongings out of the dressing rooms or Green Room ASAP; if you wait too long, you’ll find your things packed on the truck to go back to Glen Echo!