Housed in the newly renovated, turn-of-the-century Pi Eta Society clubhouse building, the Market Theater celebrated its grand opening Saturday night. Located just off of JFK Street next door to Grendel's Restaurant & Bar, the new theater is the latest venue for the arts in Harvard Square.

"We hope to produce fresh, challenging theater for the Cambridge community," Jane A. Beall, director of marketing and press, said.

The 110-seat performance house, complete with classic, gilded, Louis XVI-style chandeliers, was funded completely by the Carr Foundation. Created in February of 1999, the foundation concentrates on human rights education and the arts.

Greg A. Carr, formerly chair of Prodigy Internet, and the main benefactor behind Harvard's Carr Center for Human Rights, said he hopes to further his commitment to human rights through the funding of this new theater.

"Any good art will reveal human soul and character," Carr said, who was at the opening Saturday night. "It helps us all to understand one another."

The Market Theater is a private, independent performing arts organization that hopes to attract and focus on new theatrical talent in the Boston area.

"This [goal] is often too hard for commercially produced theaters with 30 dollar ticket prices to do." Beall said.

For its premiere presentation, the Market Theater features two one act plays. The first, Amazons, is an apocalyptic monologue about a man striving to uncover the mystery surrounding his female next-door neighbors, directed by Robert Auletta. The second is entitled The Imperialists at the Club Cave Canem; a play of surrealist humor that explores modern relationships, directed by Charles L. Mee.

This double bill of one act Boston premieres will run at the Market Theater through May 6.

Carr said that both of these plays attest to the theater's focus on fresh, edgy art and local talent.

"They are both exploring pop culture, relationships between men and women, and changing roles," he said.