Run by the Arlington County government, the Gunston Arts Center is a multi-faceted facility that offers space for music and dance productions, as well as theater.

The center, a former county elementary school, offers theater companies two venues, the massive Theatre I, a 460-seat auditorium with a conventional proscenium stage, and the 125-seat black-box Theatre II, which has been converted from the old school library.

The community theater company, Dominion Stage, performs its entire season in Theatre I, while small, professional companies gravitate toward the smaller space in Theatre II, which offers a variety of stage configurations. The American Century Theater and the Teatro de la Luna, which offers productions in Spanish with English interpretation, both perform at the smaller venue. Two of the area's celebrated professional troupes -- Signature Theatre and the Washington Shakespeare Company -- got their starts at the Gunston Arts Center.

-- Leonard Hughes