Street Connected to Lakewood Playhouse Could be Named After Marcus Walker

His hands, mind and artistic creativity were intertwined in the Lakewood Playhouse shows, and now there's a push to honor his legacy with a fixture the community can permanently take a good look at.

The City received a request this past month from the Lakewood Playhouse and community members to construct and build a street sign after Marcus Walker. The process of installing the street sign — and potentially more — is underway, said Assistant City Manager David Bugher.

Inland US Management owns and manages a large portion of the property at the Lakewood Towne Center. While nothing is certain, the proposal was briefed to the Lakewood City Council on March 21. They, in turn, endorsed it.

Walker died on March 11 from metastatic melanoma and was the managing artistic director since 2001. He was instrumental in developing the playhouse into a vibrant premier theater in the suburban Lakewood community with an annual attendance of about 14,000 this past year.

He increased the budget by tenfold according to Lakewood Playhouse Board President Duncan Foley. His final piece, "My Name is Asher Lev," was fittingly one of the playhouse's biggest successes in stage performance and sales.

Bugher said the proposed location for the memorial street sign has been reviewed and approved by the city manager and the public works department would not have to change the address pattern.

"Our economic development manager will be speaking with Inland Management to seek approval to mount the sign," Bugher said.

He added that the entire plan rests in the hands of Inland to allow The City to install the sign. Patch will provide an update soon.