The theater will replace the Black Swan Theater, a converted cardealership that will now be used for new play development and theorganization's myriad educational events. OSF's other existingstages include the Agnus Bowmer Theater, opened in 1977, and theoutdoor Elizabethan stage where performances have been showingsince the mid-1930s.

The new theater project is beginning despite the continuingefforts of two people to stop it. Psychologist Philip Lang andself-employed architect and builder Colin Swales appealed the cityplanning commission's 8-1 approval of the project to the CityCouncil, and then the City Council's unanimous approval to thestate Land Use Board of Appeals, which isn't expected to rule onthe case for some six months. Nonetheless, Lang and Swales, whocould not immediately be reached for comment, have not attempted toblock construction. It would require the posting of a $5,000 bondand a demonstration of the "irreparable harm" they would sufferfrom its construction.

Their argument is that the design of the building violates apart of Ashland's design code that was crafted to stop big-boxretailers like Wal-Mart, not a new theater by OSF, by far thecity's largest tourist attraction. That part of the design codeprohibits "new buildings or contiguous groups of buildings" largerthan 45,000 sf. Lang and Swales argument is that the theater and anadjacent new parking garage total 78,000-sf. The problem with theargument is the two structures aren't connected, albeit onlyseparated by about four feet.