Swine Palace 3.25

Swine Palace is a non-profit professional theatre company associated with the Louisiana State University Department of Theatre in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The theatre companies home is located in the Reilly Theatre on the campus of LSU.MissionThrough the presentation of celebrated works of Southern literature and the innovative exploration of classic and contemporary theatre, Swine Palace strives to have a significant impact on the cultural and economic landscape of Louisiana.HistoryIn 1992, an historic livestock judging pavilion called the Swine Palace was slated for demolition. It was the first building constructed on the current campus of LSU and was identified as the future home of the Swine Palace theater company. The theater company founded in 1992 by Barry Kyle (former Artistic Director of the Royal Shakespeare Company’s Swan Theatre) in association with LSU Department of Theatre was named after the original name of the building in which it would be located. The theater company was established with the goal to become Louisiana's premier professional theatre. A capital campaign to raise $3.5 million for the renovation of the structure was undertaken. The offspring of a public/private partnership, the 500-seat flexible theatre opened during the 1999–2000 season and was funded by the State of Louisiana and a generous grant from the Reilly Family of Baton Rouge. The Swine Palace building was renamed the Reilly Theatre and was designed to maintain the architectural integrity of its original origins. The first play presented in the Swine Palace building was not a Swine Palace theater company production, but an LSU Theatre student production of Shakespeare's Twelfth Night, during the spring of 1973.