Venice Island Performing Arts & Recreation Center — Attraction in Philadelphia

First off great architecture and design...not that I'm an expert in either... so many people including myself appreciated the beauty of the building. The issue I had was with a point person/staff member in particular. I did not get her name and I am sorry I didn't. During our dress rehearsal she told us we couldn't run through one of the dressing rooms because a meeting was taking place. Our choreographer asked if the meeting would be all night and if the dressing room was the only place the meeting could happen. The response was that the meeting was scheduled way in advance and that it takes 10 seconds to run from one side to the other. We needed to practice exits and entrances in order to make sure dancers had enough time. We also only had this one 2 hour rehearsal to feel out all the kinks before the show. I was not happy about the response bc running back stage is part of the rehearsal and she treated it like it didnt matter...like we didn't matter. I tried to let it go but then the day of the show I kept hearing consistent concerns from some of the attendees that there was a woman with a very angry disposition ushering people out the space after the show. Sure enough it was our good good friend whose name I regretfully didnt get. She had people feeling some kinda way. I don't know if her beef was with our group in particular but she came off as if we were an inconvenience. I wouldn't use the space again but that was my experience with the lady. I couldnt give it 4 or 5 stars bc of her poor service. Like I said the facility itself is beautiful and other staff may be pleasant, accommodating and welcoming...lastly the bathroom behind dressing rooms could use some febreze air or Lysol...

Cute little playhouse - but MAJOR inconveniences. Decent venue for small productions but not so catering to patrons.

Only 2 entrances in/out of theater. If sitting up high, you have to climb all the way to the mid bottom seating area to get out ICOE.

Very steep climb to upper seats with NO RAILINGS. So folks with ambulatory issues or who have trouble navigating stairs, beware! Bulk of seating requires using stairs, up or down. Get there real early if you hope to nab the small crop of seats that don't require stairs to get to them. They go fast.

Ample parking, but no signs offer guidance to newcomers or out of towners on how or where to pay for parking. There is only one kiosk to pay for parking. One! It's at the entrance to the lot.

You can't drive up to it. It's stationed where you can't get out of your car to get a ticket and drive over and park without blocking traffic.

You have to find a spot, walk ALL THE WAY back to the kiosk and pay for a timed ticket - then walk ALL THE WAY back to put the ticket in your car dash - before you go in without incurring an unreasonable surcharge if you do not pay.

Bathrooms are not atrocious but ok. First time, there was no toilet paper. You might need to BYOTP some nights.

A good show reduces most of these to minor annoyances; however, bad weather...

As part of ComedySportz, I was honored to play on January 3rd at The Venice Island Performing Arts Center.

A HUGE thank you to Noah Herman and his amazing crew! I can not more highly recommend The Venice Island Performing Arts Center!

One of the best tech crews I have worked with in a long time! Kelly on lights and John on sound made us look and sound great! Very much appreciated!!!

Whether performing on stage, or just watching as a patron, I look forward to seeing future shows here and supporting the efforts they're...