On Monday, dozens gathered at the Firehouse Theatre to commemorate the life and legacy of founding artistic director Carol Piersol by naming the stage after her.

As family, friends and associates of Firehouse and 5th Wall Theatre watched, Nathaniel Shaw, executive director of the New Theatre at Firehouse, and Emily Vial, Firehouse associate technical director, pulled down a covering to reveal fresh silver lettering on the wall of the theater’s lobby.

“The Carol Piersol Stage,” it read, along with a quote from famed acting teacher Sanford Meisner, who Piersol studied under: “With a developed imagination, there’s no place you can’t go.”

“It’s absolutely amazing,” said Morrie Piersol, Carol’s husband and a local theater director, of the naming. “It’s more than I could have imagined.”

Carol Piersol died on May 9 of this year from brain cancer, leaving behind a legacy of staging edgy, modern work and helping foster the local theater community.

The Firehouse started in 1993 around the Piersols’ kitchen table with co-founders Harry Kollatz Jr., Janet Wilson, Bill Gordon and Anna Senechal Johnson. Soon, they were renting out former Fire Station House No. 10 near the corner of Broad and Lombardy streets for shows and fundraisers. When the city put the property up for sale, Roy and Barbara Sutton purchased the building, eventually donating it to the Firehouse.

Piersol led what was then called the Firehouse Theatre Project for two decades before she was ousted by the theater’s board. Board members said they were frustrated by Piersol’s leadership, desiring the Firehouse to grow beyond its shoestring budget and small staff. Piersol’s ouster created a rift within the local theater community, sparking protests and candlelight vigils outside of the theater during performances for a time.

Piersol went on to found 5th Wall Theatre, continuing her mission to stage bold new work.

Standing on the Firehouse’s stage before the unveiling, Shaw lauded what Piersol did for Richmond theater.

“For 30 years she carried the torch for thought-provoking, contemporary work in this community,” said Shaw, the former executive director of the New Theatre who now oversees the conjoined New Theatre at Firehouse. “She started in ’93 when it wasn’t hip to do that work. It was risky.”

As part of the naming of the stage, Shaw raised funds to replace the theater’s lighting and sound equipment, as well as add new flooring and add small aesthetic touches.

“We’re really transforming this venue so that it can meet all the demands of contemporary production, and it can be that home of contemporary theater that Carol envisioned in ’93,” said Shaw, who previously served as artistic director of Virginia Repertory Theatre.

The Firehouse has also increased financing for productions, artist compensation and pay for playwrights developing new works. The nonprofit recently has tripled board membership and hired four new staff.

“We’re investing in giving our artists the tools necessary and the resources to elevate the production values in this space,” Shaw said.

In his remarks before the unveiling, Morrie Piersol praised Shaw’s push to name the stage after his late wife; in Shaw’s first week at the helm of the Firehouse, he met with the Piersols to get their blessing for the stage renaming.

Noting that his wife produced roughly 100 shows over a 20-year period at the Firehouse, Morrie Piersol said that Carol wanted to stage the works of modern American playwrights “so that we could learn from them about the beauty of the human condition and become better people because of it. Carol always felt that theaters were spiritual, almost holy places, because what happens in these places is spiritual and almost holy.”

After a performance of a short scene from Steven Dietz’ play “Lonely Planet,” performed by Adam Turck and Eddie Webster, it was time for the unveiling. With champagne in hand, onlookers counted down from ten to see the new name unveiled.

“What a thing to see,” said Morrie Piersol of the gathering. “It’s really incredible.”

Correction: The original version of this story misspelled the name of Roy Sutton, the developer who purchased the theater space.