The Walter Kerr Theater was designed by Herbert J. Krapp and built as the Ritz Theatre in 1921 by the Shubert family. It operated as a radio and then television studio between 1943 and 1965, and remained vacant from 1965 to 1971, when it reopened with the musical Soon, which closed after three performances. The last production to be housed by the Ritz was Chu Chem. After it closed, Jujamcyn hired EverGreene Architectural Arts to renovate the interior. In 1990 it reopened, now renamed for theatre critic Walter Kerr, with August Wilson's The Piano Lesson. Since then it has housed six winners of the Tony Award for Best Play: Angels in America: Millennium Approaches, Angels in America: Perestroika, Love! Valour! Compassion!, Proof, Take Me Out, and Doubt.