Hilton U. Brown Theatre To Be Torn Down

INDIANAPOLIS, IN (CelebrityAccess MediaWire) — Butler University has announced plans to tear down the 4,000 seat Hilton U. Brown Theatre to make way for a 400 space parking lot, more student housing and a fitness center. The total cost for the project: $50 million.

The theatre has been used as a football locker room and set storage for the last four years and was only used sparingly since the Starlight Musicals closed in 1993 due to financial difficulties. For decades prior to the demise of the theatre such celebrities as Liza Minnelli, Liberace and Jack Benny entertained at the venue.

Levester Johnson, vice president for student affairs at the university, told the Indianapolis Star, "I think there was a strong consensus that for the greater good of moving forward, as far as where the institution was going, the theater didn't fit into its needs." –by CelebrityAccess Staff Writers