Church Hill Studio

Church Hill Studio space is located at 33a Morningside below the main stage theatre

View Larger Map Church Hill Theatre History Church Hill Theatre, built in 1892, was formerly Morningside Free Church. By 1929, this was converted to the Morningside High Church and in 1960 the building was vacated as a result of the merger between Morningside High Church and Morningside Parish Church. The transformation from Church to theatre then began in the early 1960's when Edinburgh Corporation purchased the building for £6000.  Scottish actor, Tom Fleming, officially opened Church Hill Theatre in 1965 and the first performance to celebrate was Oscar Wilde's ‘The Importance of Being Earnest’ by The Scottish Community Drama Association (SCDA). Other past performances have included June Geissler School of Ballet, display of ballet 1967-1970, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre, ‘Quintet’ 1968 Edinburgh International Festival SCDA, Skerryvore 1972 and Edinburgh's Peoples Theatre, ‘Come Blow Your Horn’ 1973, Eartha Kitt, ‘Yes’ 1994 Edinburgh Festival Fringe. Church Hill refers to the name of a street and small surrounding area in Edinburgh and is part of Burghmuirhead, together with Holy Corner. All of Burghmuirhead was once part of the lands of Greenhill. Church Hill Theatre uses the former church building close to the top of the hill itself.  The rest of the area is made up of Georgian and Victorian villas, and Victorian tenements, often with shops at ground floor level. It is a key facility and an integral part of the local and surrounding communities and it was important to take into account it's importance and success when the development commenced. A successful campaign to modernize the facility led to securing funding from Edinburgh City Council, with additional contributions from The Scottish Arts Council Lottery Fund and The Theatre Transformation Fund. During the closure period of October 2005 until August 2006 the alterations for Phase 1 included the installation of a lift to improve accessibility as well as retractable seating and automatic doors for wheelchair users.  Improvements have also been made to the interior and lighting and modernization of the café bar facilities, now operated by a franchisee, Loopy Lorna’s Tea House.  The objective of the first phase was to offer a welcoming environment to all visitors. The next phase of the extensive Capital Refurbishment is to be extended to upgrade back of house facilities. Church Hill Theatre is currently recognized as one of Scotland’s leading venues for non-professional drama, dance and music. Audiences for the Church Hill Theatre currently average 67,000 annually, with 1,000 performers participating in events, and over 500 volunteers regularly assisting with various aspects of production and front of house. The venue is currently used by many of the city's amateur theatre companies including Lothian Youth Arts, Tempo, SMYCMS, Edinburgh Music Theatre Company and Showcase in addition to being the home of American High School Theatre Festival during the Festival Fringe.