If the ART is a showcase for world-class directors, the Huntington has turned into a mecca for the excellent actors, directors, and designers whom Martin has attracted to Boston, such as Michael T. Weiss, the star of ”Burn This,” and Alexander Dodge, the set designer of ”The Rivals.”

Still, the best part of the Huntington season was the fall openers, when the Huntington renewed its longtime association with August Wilson on the main stage (”Gem of the Ocean”) and then opened the doors to the new Calderwood Pavilion at the BCA with Lopez’s ”Sonia Flew,” a rich investigation of ethnicity and assimilation with references to the Cuban revolution and the war in Iraq. It also showed off the Wimberly Theatre, the larger and warmer of the two spaces, with smooth stagecraft, good sightlines, and a generally positive theatrical experience.

Except for the dreary ”36 Views,” the rest of the Huntington main-stage season was pleasurable but tame. Even the edgier fare at the Wimberly after ”Sonia Flew” — ”Culture Clash in AmeriCCa,” ”Trumbo,” and ”Laughing Wild” — seemed pretty safe. Playing host to the African American Theater Festival was an example of good citizenship, but it didn’t produce great theater.

And while the Wimberly is warm, the new BCA configuration is altogether too cold. Think of the Public Theater lobby in New York and how welcoming it is to theatergoers. The Calderwood is like a fortress, with a tiny outer lobby and a narrow inner one providing only a handful of seats. There is room to congregate outside, which is fine in June and September and useless the rest of the year.