Historic theater to be renamed

Harvard University announced today that it will rename its historic New College Theatre building Farkas Hall in recognition of the generosity of alumnus Andrew L. Farkas ’82.

Constructed in 1888, the stately Georgian Revival building is best known as the home of the Hasty Pudding Club and the Hasty Pudding Theatricals, the nation’s oldest social club and college theater group, as well as student a cappella singing groups the Harvard Krokodiloes and Radcliffe Pitches.

From 2005 to 2007, the University conducted a major renovation and expansion of the facility while preserving the façade and portions of the old structure. Today, the building offers students premier rehearsal and performance space, including a state-of-the-art, approximately 270-seat theater that is open to the public.

Farkas, who served as Hasty Pudding Club president for two years as an undergraduate, is committed to the advancement of the arts and enhancing the student experience at Harvard. He also welcomes the opportunity to contribute to the building’s important historical narrative.

“My Harvard experience was amongst the most formative and significant in my life,” Farkas said. “My times at the Hasty Pudding were amongst the most joyful and memorable. That generations of Harvard students will learn, grow, and flourish in Farkas Hall, in the building that has been the ancestral home of the Pudding and all of the organizations it has spawned, is a great privilege for the Farkas family. To know that the space will be preserved for use by those organizations, and that it will also serve to incubate the creative skills of Harvard’s emerging talent, is extremely gratifying.”

“Over 375 years, Harvard College has forged some of our nation’s foremost creative artists, who have thrived in our rich research environment,” said Michael D. Smith, dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences and John H. Finley Jr. Professor of Engineering and Applied Sciences. “Farkas Hall will serve as a testament to this aspect of Harvard’s proud heritage, and we are deeply grateful to Andrew for his vision and his extraordinary generosity. The impact of his support will touch generations of Harvard students.”

Farkas is the founder, chairman, and chief executive officer of Island Capital Group LLC and C-III Capital Partners LLC. He previously served as chief executive officer and chairman of Insignia Financial Group Inc., a global real estate services company that he also founded. He holds a bachelor’s degree in economics from Harvard College.

He and his wife, Sandi Goff Farkas, have been deeply involved in the theater. Sandi Farkas, a playwright, founded the nonprofit Playwrights of New York (PONY), which provides annual fellowships to emerging writers. She also serves on the board of New York’s Lark Play Development Center.

“The naming of this building is the culmination of a journey for the Farkas family, pioneered by my father, Robin L. Farkas ’54, M.B.A. ’61, and that has included my brother, Bradford L. Farkas ’84, M.B.A. ’90, our cousin Georgette A. Farkas ’86, my nephew Russell I. Krupen ’07, my daughters, Arielle S. Farkas ’13 and Nicole M. Farkas, Barnard College ’15, and my son, George O. F. Farkas, age 5. It is in honor of my father that Farkas Hall is named. It is in gratitude to Harvard that it is endowed,” Andrew Farkas said.