Paramount Center

The Paramount Center is a restored Art Deco cinema palace in downtown Boston that now serves as a multi-use performing arts complex for Emerson College. Originally built as a 1930s movie house, it closed in 1976 and had fallen into disrepair by the time Emerson bought it in 2005. The restoration revived its Art Deco character, and today it hosts performing artists and film screenings under one roof, alongside space for Emerson’s own production work.

The complex holds three main performance spaces. The Paramount Mainstage is a 596-seat theater with a new stage and orchestra pit, designed to evoke cinema’s golden age. The Jackie Liebergott Black Box, known as The Jackie, is a flexible 150-seat room with exposed brick and tall windows. The Bright Family Screening Room seats 170 and shows film in 16mm, 35mm and digital formats as well as hosting live performance.

What to Know

• The Black Box is named for Jacqueline Liebergott, a former Emerson College president.
• The screening room honors the family of Emerson alumnus and trustee Kevin Bright, a producer of the series “Friends.”
• Behind the scenes the building includes a scene and prop shop, rehearsal studios, four classrooms and six practice rooms.
• The building also contains 20 faculty offices and an Emerson residence hall.