Mac Rating: 5.00 | Votes: 1 | Date: 10/07/2026 04:21:00

When the doors of the magnificent Emboyd Theatre opened on May 14, 1928, Fort Wayne gained both a movie palace and a vaudeville house that would become northern Indiana's showplace for nearly a century. Designed by local architect A.M. Strauss and famed theater designer John Eberson, the Emboyd was built with a Grande Page theatre pipe organ containing over 1,100 pipes and an attached seven-storey, 250-room Indiana Hotel wrapped around its north and west sides. Television and talking pictures eroded vaudeville's popularity, and in 1952 the Emboyd Theatre and Indiana Hotel were sold to the Alliance Amusement Corporation, which renamed the venue the Embassy Theatre. While other downtown Fort Wayne theaters succumbed to demolition, a group of organ enthusiasts became the Embassy's unofficial guardians. In 1972, the Save the Embassy campaign raised 250,000 dollars to prevent the wrecking ball. The theatre was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1975. A 1995 renovation expanded the stage to meet modern touring-production standards and upgraded seating to the current 2,471-seat capacity. In 2016, a 10-million-dollar renovation of the Indiana Hotel added a two-storey ballroom, a rooftop patio, and a rehearsal studio. Today the Embassy is Indiana's largest self-sustaining historic theater, hosting Broadway shows, concerts, symphonies, comedians, and family entertainment. The STAR Bank Box Office is at 125 West Jefferson Boulevard, Fort Wayne, IN 46802. Phone: 260-424-5665. The Embassy's concert calendar brings a broad range of performers through Fort Wayne, from classic rock tribute acts and country headliners to comedians and children's shows. The Grande Page organ is still played before select performances, providing a direct link to the venue's 1928 origins. The Embassy Theatre Foundation, a nonprofit, manages all programming, operations, and ongoing preservation.