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