OCTOBER 7 • 2021 | 17

plans for producing world-
class events at the latest iter-
ation of the Bonstelle, which 
promises to revisit its Jewish 
roots.
With 1,300 seats, Fox says 
the Bonstelle will also double 
as an event space. By being 
paired with the new AC Hotel 
by Marriott, she believes it will 
offer another option to Metro 
Detroiters who want to hold 
celebrations like weddings or 
even bar or bat mitzvahs in a 
beautiful, historic space, while 
providing their guests with 
lodging options just a few 
steps away.
“It fills a gap,” Fox says of 
the Bonstelle. “Detroit has the 
largest theater district outside 
of New York, and we have all 
of these fantastic venues, but 
there’s a gap in this size venue. 
To host an event where you 
can put people up in a hotel, a 
limited number of venues can 
do that.”
To maximize flexibility 
within the theater, the Roxbury 
Group received approval from 
the National Park Service, 
which is involved in main-
taining the National Historic 
Register, to flatten the floor. 
This was an important step in 
creating an accessible event 
space, Fox says.

The theater’s historic balco-
nies will also be maintained, 
with the existing seats redone. 
“It’s going to be so exciting 
to bring this back to the little 
jewel box that it was as a syn-
agogue,” Fox explains. 
“Being able to incorporate 
this rich historic property into 
a brand-new hotel, we think 
that it’s going to pair beauti-
fully and be a really wonderful 
place for the community.”
The Roxbury Group was 
even able to uncover the orig-
inal interior design. “We’ve 
been able to remove some of 
the paint and pull up those 
patterns and pull out some 
of those colors,” Fox says of 
the original temple that Kahn 
spearheaded. “We’ll add all of 
that back to the theater.”
After the temple-turned- 
theater is completely restored 
to its original glory, Fox 
hopes that it can once again 
serve as a gathering point for 
Metro Detroit’s Jewish com-
munity.
“We’re very excited about 
the history of the synagogue 
and hope that the Jewish com-
munity embraces this venue,” 
she says. 
“We would love to see cul-
tural performances that cele-
brate Jewish history.” 

1964 PHOTO COURTESY OF DETROIT HISTORICAL SOCIETY.

The Bonstelle Playhouse

