Shea's 710 Theatre, the building you face, began in the 1920s as the Studio Arena Theatre, a humble company of local enthusiasts. It was founded by a group of local enthusiasts, including the Buffalo Players, and evolved as both a theatre and a theatre school into Western New York's only professional regional theatre. In 1927 Jane Keeler, a teacher of speech and drama, and Lars Potter, President of the Buffalo Players, established the Studio Theatre School; performances and classes began in a second-floor lodge meeting hall on the corner of Elmwood Avenue and Anderson Place.
By 1934 the company moved to a concert hall on the second floor of the Teck Theatre, where it remained until that building was converted to a movie house three years later. The Studio Theatre School and playhouse were incorporated in 1936 under the New York State Board of Regents, and in 1937 the organization purchased the former Universalist Church at 305 Lafayette.
This building you face has its own modern chapter: after a brief closure in 2008, citing three million dollars in debt and staff layoffs, it reopened in 2012 as the 710 Main Theatre, now managed by Shea's Performing Arts Center. Picture this façade reopening in 2012 after the 2008 closure and debt.