The Playhouse occupies 5-7 Artillery Street in Derry, in a building that was formerly home to St Mary's convent and St Joseph's school in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Pauline Ross established the arts centre in 1992 with a grant of just three hundred pounds, and it has grown into a 175-seat theatre with a dance studio, gallery space and an education and outreach programme. The building's refurbishment won a major architectural award and featured on the BBC's Restoration programme. Today it hosts professional and community theatre, contemporary art exhibitions, arts training and annual events including a Special Needs Festival, and is home to several resident cultural and arts groups. It operates as a single, neutral-site venue in the city centre rather than a franchised arts brand, run as a community arts resource centre.
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