“It’s a sexy space, a sophisticated space,” says McLean Fletcher. “I like that you can come through the door, know you’re still in Richmond, but feel like you’ve been transported somewhere else.”

Fletcher is the new artistic director of The Basement; a subterranean facility at Third and Broad Street that used to serve as the home of TheatreLAB, a performing arts company. The space has been reimagined as a nonprofit performance venue, art gallery, bar and lounge.

The Basement officially reopens this weekend, starting with a party and a free burlesque performance. In the weeks ahead, the venue will play host to everything from experimental jazz to figure drawing classes to theatrical productions.

Since TheatreLAB officially closed last fall, a team of women has been working to update and refine the facility in the image of a Roaring Twenties speakeasy. Mercedes Benson, the general manager of Urban Hang Suite, acts as The Basement’s director of bar and facilities and Brianne Oltermann White handles money matters as director of finance and administration.

Conversion to a speakeasy makes sense for the venue: there are rumors that it served as one 100 years ago, with tunnels under Broad Street used to sneak alcohol into the space during Prohibition.

TheatreLAB added a gorgeous, solid wood bar to the venue a few years ago but the lounge area has been further adorned with a series of round tabletops supported by ornate bases. The existing ornamental ceiling tiles have been augmented with decorative wooden drop-fixtures. Benson says the updated look is only the beginning.

“We’ll be bringing in bartenders who are creative and can help create an exciting environment,” she says. “Upstairs [at Urban Hang Suite] we’re focused on food. After more than 20 years in the business, I’m looking forward to finding new ways to leverage this beautiful bar to bring people into a creative space.”

Adjacent to the lounge is a stage area with fixed seating, backed by a huge video screen that can serve as a backdrop to theatrical productions or facilitate movie screenings. “We know a number of local performing arts companies don’t have a home,” says Fletcher. “So we’re in conversation with several of them.”

Almost half of the square footage of the venue is currently hidden to the public but that will ultimately change. “We’re exploring possibilities for offering gallery or workshop space for visual artists,” says Benson. “Our focus is on supporting the community,” adds White. “We’re a nonprofit, so one hundred percent of sales will go to the artists.”

Switching sides

Fletcher may look familiar to Richmonders as one of the original performers for TheatreLAB. She appeared onstage in numerous productions in the 2010s (credited as McLean Jesse) and won a Richmond Theatre Critics Circle award for Best Actress in 2015.

She left town to earn her MFA at George Washington University and subsequently appeared in productions at the Shakespeare Theatre Company and the Folger Shakespeare Theatre. After spending time in Miami and Los Angeles, she returned to Richmond open to new opportunities.

According to White, who has also worked as an stage actress in town, Fletcher’s arrival dovetailed fortuitously with emerging plans for The Basement. “We always knew we needed a third person really dialed into the creative community and we knew it was going to be a woman,” she says. “We all have very complementary strengths.”

Fletcher has always been a multidisciplinary artist: she helped develop a stage play called “Sadie’s Last Painting” where she painted an original piece as part of each performance. She says it has been “inspiring and informative” to go from being the artist to the person booking or supporting the artist.

“My experiences on the other side have inspired me to be more supportive, I think,” she says.

As opening weekend nears, the whole Basement team expresses keen anticipation about the possibilities the space offers. “I like that people may come here just for a drink but get drawn into the art or performance that is happening around them,” says Benson.

“It’s a sheltered and underground space, and I keep thinking in cocoon analogies,” says Fletcher. “It was a speakeasy in its original form, then went dormant before emerging as a theater space. It was dark again for a while but is emerging again.”

Tickets and information on The Basement’s grand opening weekend, Nov. 3 and 4, are available at https://www.thebasementrva.org/events.