Woolfe Street Playhouse

About the Playhouse

A History

Originally built in 1914 as part of Consumers Ice Co., 32 -34 Woolfe Street spent nearly half a century in service to the Meddin family. The Meddin Bros Meat Packing Company was a highly successful meat storage operation in the heart of industrial historic Charleston. While the company was headquartered in Savannah Georgia, the Charleston plant was one of two satellite facilities making it one of the largest meat packing companies in the region. At it’s height Meddin Bros supplied meat to much of Southeast Georgia and Coastal South Carolina. Owned and operated by Hyman Meddin, the Charleston plant was a bustling and successful fixture on Woolfe Street for 50 years. Hyman and his wife Doris were prominent community leaders and raised their three children, Eve, Stuart and Ann on the peninsula.

The business closed in the early 1980’s and the building was briefly used as a storage center for the College of Charleston in the 1990’s. For nearly a dozen years the Meddin Bros building sat empty, used on occasion for short term rental.

The Renovation

After more than a decade of award winning professional theatre in Mount Pleasant, The Village Repertory Co. had outgrown the founding home in a suburban shopping center and was looking to relocate to a larger facility. The Village Repertory Co has become not only one of Charleston’s most celebrated performing arts organizations but one of the largest as well. For the Village to continue to grow and fulfill the mission the producing director and the board needed to find a home that reflected the caliber of performances on the Village stage. The results of a 2011 comprehensive study funded in part by the Gaylord and Dorothy Donnelley Foundation confirmed this conviction.

Doris Meddin to the rescue!

Mrs. Meddin has been a long time supporter of the Village Repertory Co. A lifelong arts patron Mrs. Meddin knew that her families’ century old warehouse would make an ideal performing arts venue and had been patiently waiting for the right company to see the unique beauty in a dusty former meat packing facility on a lonely block.. Upon seeing the building it was almost instantly clear to Producing Director Keely Enright and Managing Director Dave Reinwald that the Meddin Bros. building would make a fantastic home for the Village Rep. The problem was money. The building was badly in need of extensive renovation and it would take at least half a million dollars to complete the project. The Village Board took a deep breath and agreed to meet the challenge to raise the needed funds. Funding has been secured through PNC Bank. The designs were done by award winning architect Bill Huey and the Phase One renovations have been spearheaded by regional construction company Chastain Construction.

A new Playhouse

After eleven years in less than 3600 square feet the Village Rep moved into the new Woolfe Street Playhouse in December 0f 2012. The Playhouse is a 17,000 square ft complex that serves as a cultural anchor of the rapidly transforming and vibrant upper King section of peninsula Charleston. The Woolfe Street Playhouse boasts not one but two theatres located in the facility- the mainstage known as the “Davis Theater” and the “Shop Stage” where innovative new works are performed. The Playhouse has dedicated rehearsal, classroom and music spaces, as well as both a lobby wine bar, a full service theater bar and a private parking lot for patrons. We are excited to offer extensive children’s programs, and productions aimed at K-12 including Saturday matinees, school shows, after school programs, kids camps,and Village Teen Troupe. The new programs are in addition to the Village Rep on Woolfe’s Season 14 offerings of dramas, comedies and musicals. The Woolfe Street Playhouse is an excellent example of an adaptive re-use of a historic facility that serve the entire community. It is not only the perfect home for our theatre in residence The Village Rep but is an ideal venue for other arts organizations in Charleston as well.