Kendall Square's New 400-Seat Theater Opens Saturday With a Free Day of Performances

The Platform, a 45,000-square-foot performing arts and community space at 585 Third St. in Kendall Square, opens to the public Saturday with a free day of performances, Cambridge Day reported.

It is the first dedicated venue for Global Arts Live, the Cambridge nonprofit that has presented international artists in rented halls around Boston and Cambridge since 1990.

Additional reporting

by Anna AlbrechtWednesday, November 4, 2026Wednesday, November 4, 2026 The entrance to The Platform, a new performance venue in Kendall Square that will offer community space as well as artist residencies. Credit: Qiyuan Wang Over 55,000 terracotta tiles pattern the exterior 585 Third St. with a gradient of blue to orange, mimicking the colors of a New England sunset. Their pleats are meant to resemble a rising theater curtain. This is the facade of The Platform, a new performing arts and community space six years in the making, that joins the skyline of Kendall Square.

The Platform will serve as the main performance space for Cambridge nonprofit Global Arts Live, which has been presenting arts groups from around the world in venues around Boston and Cambridge since 1990. Before now, it has never had a dedicated performance space. Global Arts Live and The Platform will host a free, public opening day Saturday to celebrate the project’s completion.

The Platform’s 45,000 square feet houses performance venues, rehearsal spaces, dressing rooms and greens rooms alongside state-of-the-art technology that artists can now utilize in upcoming seasons. On the second floor sits the 400-seat Takeda Theater, named after the venue’s lead sponsor. The theater is home to extensive equipment, so artists do not have to rent and install it separately for their performances, said Connie C. Chin, CEO of Global Arts Live and The Platform. Rehearsal space at The Platform is the same size as the Takeda Theater, allowing artists, some of whom will be in residency there, to rehearse in a space comparable to the where they will perform. Below the Takeda Theater is the cabaret-style Tempo Stage, with 125 seats in the heart of the lobby, which allows for simultaneous performances in both theaters.

The lobby was designed to be “a living room for everyone in the community,” Chin said. A bar, cafe and community seating allows for gathering from the morning to the night in the space, with large glass doors that allow for passersby to look right in.

“It’s limitless, the kind of social interaction we can create surrounding the arts in that space,” Chin said. The space is versatile, she said, with livestream technology in the theaters that allow it to be booked for conferences and other events and plans for a winter market that will spill over from the inside to outside.

The planning for The Platform started years ago but was disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic, said Maure Aronson, founder and artistic adviser of Global Arts Live. But the community need for a midsize theater and accessible performing arts space remained, he said. “It’s a real game changer,” Aronson said of the theater, which helps address a need for more mid-sized performance space.

Jean Appolon, founder and artistic director of Haitian-Folkloric dance group Jean Appolon Expressions, has been in residence as an artist even before The Platform was opened, preparing for its performances of Pouvwa (Power) Nov. 13 and 14.  The work is a collaboration with Cambridge poet and writer Jean Dany Joachim and composer Val Jeanty. Appolon, who started teaching Haitian folk dance at The Dance Complex in 1996, said a more intimate space like The Platform allows for artists to feel connected to the audience.

The site was acquired in 2018 by BioMed Realty, originally for the purpose of building a lab and office space, said Salvatore Zinno, senior vice president of development. But he said early on BioMed Realty realized there was an expectation of incorporating an arts space for 585 Third St, and that they were going to honor that.

What is inside

The building houses the 400-seat Takeda Theater on the second floor, named for the lead sponsor, and the 125-seat cabaret-style Tempo Stage in the lobby, which allows two shows at once, according to Cambridge Day. A rehearsal room matches the size of the main stage. The lobby includes a bar, cafe and community seating. The exterior is covered in more than 55,000 terracotta tiles in a blue-to-orange gradient.

"It's limitless, the kind of social interaction we can create surrounding the arts in that space," said Connie C. Chin, CEO of Global Arts Live and The Platform.

Access for local artists

Global Arts Live plans to program about one-third of the nights and open the rest to other artists and organizations. Chin said 25 nights a year will be offered free of charge on request. The Takeda Theater already lists 40 shows through June 2027, and the Tempo Stage 19, Cambridge Day reported.

Founder Maure Aronson called the venue "a real game changer" for a region short on mid-sized stages. Jean Appolon Expressions, a Haitian folkloric dance company in residence, will perform "Pouvwa (Power)" Nov. 13 and 14.

How it was built

BioMed Realty bought the site in 2018 for lab and office space and agreed to include an arts venue, said Salvatore Zinno, senior vice president of development. Takeda, the state's largest life sciences employer, will occupy floors above the theater; that portion is still under construction and has a separate lobby.

The vertical dance company BANDALOOP will perform on the building's exterior Thursday and Friday and at 12:30 and 3 p.m. Saturday.

What is still unknown

Cambridge Day did not report how community groups will apply for the free nights or the venue's rental rates.