Manship Theatre celebrates 20 years as a downtown cultural hub

November 25, 2025

Located inside the Shaw Center for the Arts, Manship Theatre’s mezzanine venue has provided a unique performing arts and cinema experience to downtown for the past two decades.

The theater was founded as part of a broader effort to revitalize downtown and to attract great performers to Baton Rouge, according to Jason Langlois, executive director. LSU, the Baton Rouge Area Foundation and the state partnered in the early 2000s to create an off-campus arts hub in the LSU Museum of Art and new nonprofit theater, which would become Manship Theatre.

Jason Langlois, who today serves as the theater’s executive director, started working at the theater as a bartender in college and has been with the venue for nearly its whole 20-year tenure. Photo by Sean Gasser

Inspired by European opera houses, the two-tiered design offers 325 audience members an intimate view of the stage. Since opening in 2005, Manship Theatre has hosted a variety of acts, from TEDxBatonRouge to jazz musician Jon Batiste.

“The design was intended to make an intimate opera house,” Langlois says. “It’s rare for a venue to have that intimate setup for the artists and audience. Because of its design, it’s like everyone has a front-row seat.”

Langlois, who first started working at the theater as a bartender in college, has been with the venue for nearly its whole 20-year tenure as it has evolved to meet the needs of the community.

Over the years, Manship Theatre added an entrance from North Boulevard and later remodeled the workshop and black box spaces so Manship could host multiple events on the same night—such as a concert in the main theater and a comedy show in the black box.

Theater programming initially focused on live music, education, dance and community events but later added film screenings as Baton Rouge’s own film production industry grew.

To stay up to date, the nonprofit theater adds a $3 facility maintenance and enhancement fee to each ticket, which is deposited into a restricted fund used only with board approval.

Another longtime leader: Like Langlois, Stephen Pitzer has also been with Manship from day one and currently serves as its director of production. In the past 20 years, Pitzer has helped execute performances from John Waters and Henry Rollins to Martin Short and Brian Posehn. “He has seen it all,” Langlois says. Photo by Sean Gasser

Now in his second year as executive director, Langlois is focused on the theater’s future and how it can continue to serve as a cornerstone for Baton Rouge’s arts community. The theater will continue to offer educational programming for the region’s students and independent films, but the staff is looking for more opportunities to partner with film festivals and comedy shows.

“We’ve got a roadmap and a vision that we have to make sure we execute,” he says. “We have to make sure we hold onto the brand we’ve built all these years. We’re in our 20th year now. Our goal is to bring in great performers for the city of Baton Rouge to enjoy.”

Roll the credits

Fun facts about Manship Theatre

• It is named after local newspaper mogul Douglas Lewis Manship Sr.

• In the 2022-23 season, Manship Theatre offered 15 performances for more than 11,000 school-aged Capital Region children.

• Pitch Perfect used Manship Theatre’s mezzanine stage for filming.

• Manship Theatre’s 20th anniversary gala held in the spring featured Italian classical crossover star Matteo Bocelli.

This article was originally published in the November 2025 issue of 225 Magazine.