Café One, a renovated concession and performance area, will open in 2014 on the east side of the Muny in Forest Park — the place where theater-goers have long gathered for preshow picnics and music.

A $1 million donation from the David B. Lichtenstein Foundation will fund the renovation. In 2004, the foundation built Lichtenstein Plaza at the top of the Muny, another area with concessions, ameneties and preshow events.

"The Muny experience starts before the show starts, before the actors are onstage and the musicians are in the pit," said Dennis M. Reagan, the Muny's president and CEO. "It starts as soon as people arrive, and we want to help them make the most of it."

Davida B. Layer, president of the foundation, added that "the preshow experience ... should be of the highest quality, equal to what is presented onstage."

The new performance area will be well-suited for entertainment by small professional ensembles. Café One will also include expanded and upgraded concessions.

Reagan said he was touched that the donation was made in memory of of "three special friends of the Muny," David and Doris Lichtenstein of the foundation, and Christine Ivcich, who was the theater's director of development. She worked on the Lichtenstein Plaza project. 

Café One will be planned in 2012, with construction slated for the fall of 2013. It will be ready for opening night 2014.

The 2012 Muny season opens June 18 with "Thoroughly Modern Millie," followed by "Chicago," Disney's "Aladdin," "Dreamgirls," "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat," "Pirates! Or, Gilbert & Sullivan Plunder'd" and "The King and I." For ticket information, visit the Muny website, or call 314-361-1900.

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Editor's note: This story has been updated to correct the spelling of Doris Lichtenstein.