Welcome to Our New TheatRE

The beautiful new Commonweal Theatre opened in July 2007. Located on Lanesboro’s historic main street, the theatre offers patrons a comfortable, intimate experience in a 200-seat house. The exterior façade recreates three charming Lanesboro shop fronts and the interior design, created by Lanesboro artist Karl Unnash, focuses on the natural beauty and history of the region with barn doors acting as bathroom stalls, stone walls mirroring the surrounding bluffs, concrete floors reflecting the building’s prior life as a cheese factory, and seats reclaimed from the original Guthrie Theater.

The new facility offers:

A state-of-the-art theatre with no seat more than 35 feet from the stage
Expanded lobby with a concessions area, accessible restrooms and a place to hang coats
Easily accessible box office
Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) compliance throughout the building
Fully outfitted classroom/rehearsal space
Modern heating and cooling and an allergen-free building

Commonweal Stash
When we began to consider the look and feel of the public spaces in our new home, we knew ordinary would not suffice. Enter Lanesboro native, Karl Unnasch. It just seemed right to entrust this blank canvas to an artist – one with sensibilities similar to the artists of the Commonweal. To our delight, Karl created the Commonweal Stash, an installation that encompasses the foyer, lobby and rest rooms. (You have to see it to believe it!)

Click here to visit Karl’s website – get his own thoughts on the work and take a virtual tour of the space.

Click here to download a pdf of the self-guided tour for your next trip to the Commonweal.