Southern Repertory Theatre is leaving their longtime home on the third floor of Canal Place, according to a letter issued by the local performance incubator this morning. The Theatre does not have plans nailed down for a new performance space yet, the letter said. Citing "growth within Canal Place," the letter said the space will go to a non-theatre entity Feb. 1. Southern Rep has operated the black box space for more than 20 years.

The move comes on the heels of last weekend's New Play Bacchanal, and as the Theatre is perparing for a late January run of Spring Awakening. That series of performances will go forward as planned, the letter says.

The letter offered no hints at where the future space might be located. 

"We are currently working to identify both interim and long-term venues, including the site from which we will present the second half of our 25th Anniversary Season," it said. "This season, which has been a celebration of new plays, the best of Broadway, and collaborations with our friends and neighbors, will continue as planned, and we look forward to announcing the location of our upcoming productions." 

This is the third loss of a live theatre venue in the downtown area in the last year. Le Chat Noir closed its doors over the summer, and the French Quarter's Le Petit Theatre canceled its season and sold its Jackson Square building to Dickie Brennan Restaurant Group. Brennan plans to bring Le Petit back when the space reopens later this year.

The 5,000 sq. ft., fully-loaded performance space on the third floor of Canal Place was seen as the premiere spot for the development of new theatre work in New Orleans. With a capacity of 145, it hosted a wide range of plays, from works by Edward Albee to a work called "The Vibrator Play" to Christmas-season send-ups to old holiday tropes. The space played host to about a dozen plays a year, and, according to Southern Rep, employed more than 100 theatre artists. The Theatre plans to stage Tennessee Williams' A Streetcar Named Desire this spring, but now lacks a stage to perform it on.

A farewell reading of A.R. Gurney's Love Letters by Times-Picayune social columnist Nell Nolan and Channel 4 anchor Dennis Woltering is slated for Jan. 30.

Read the theatre's entire message at their website.