The National Sylvan Theater — often simply the Sylvan Theater — is a public sylvan theater on the grounds of the Washington Monument, National Mall, in Washington, D.C., USA. It is located within the northwest corner of the 15th Street and Independence Avenue intersection, about 450 feet (137 m) southeast of the Washington Monument. A wooden stage is set in a graded depression surrounded by a grove of trees and appears as a sort of natural amphitheater integral to the historic greensward of the monument grounds. A gathering of 10,000 event attendees may stretch from the theater stage back to the base of the monument. The Sylvan Theater was the first federally funded theater in the United States.