<p>I thought this might be of interest to this forum.....a list of some really neat theater spaces at colleges across the country...</p>
<p>So many gorgeous spaces!! Emerson’s stunning theater was a highlight of the program (D wanted a full liberal arts college, so it didn’t make the final list - but it had some really cool performance spaces) Not that this one article is the “definitive” but I was surprised not to see CCM’s facilities on the list - it was another program that impressed me with really neat facilities (esp their black box) </p>
<p>For those of you looking for a Theatre Major or a VP Major with a MT Minor, I’ll point you to the pic #3 of the beautiful Valley Performing Arts Center at California State University Northridge. Thanks to new dean, the space is no longer limited to outside tours and as of this school year, several theatre / opera / choral VP and student ensemble productions are being staged there each year. It is a truly stunning space and a gem for the San Fernando Valley. As you can tell, I’m a fan of this “best kept secret” program. It’s a STATE school for CA people. Don’t overlook it!</p>
<p>It was fun looking at all of these lovely theatres! </p>
<p>Though Northwestern is listed, they didn’t mention a large number of the dozens of performing spaces on campus, including the 1000+ seat Cahn Auditorium, the gorgeous 1000+ seat Pick-Staiger Hall, or the soon-to-be-opened lakefront 400+ seat recital hall with ceiling to floor glass wall looking over the lake to the Chicago skyline. Our D is a senior, but I still can’t begin to name or locate all of the theatres she has performed in on campus.</p>
<p>All of our kids are so lucky to get experience working in so many spectacular spaces! </p>
<p>Maybe after we retire we can travel the nation to see shows in all these theatres, like some people visit baseball stadiums. :)</p>
<p>The B&W photo of the Lydia Mendelssohn Theatre at the University of Michigan looks like it was taken in 1929! My son just performed there… it is lovely.</p>
<p>@lojosmo - I thought the same thing about the Michigan pic!</p>
<p>I have to laugh at the mention of the Skirball Center at NYU. Tisch drama students as far as I know rarely if ever get to perform there. </p>
<p>D just saw Frankenstein (filmed version of British production) at Skirball last night)!</p>
<p>That’s partly true about the Skirball Center. It is used for a LOT of non-NYU or non-Tisch events. And a lot of Tisch shows are not put on there. I did see a MainStage Tisch show put on there (my D was not in it)…Hair. </p>
<p>My D has performed at Skirball while a Tisch student. I believe when she was in the NYU Reality Show, while performed at Madison Square Garden, she also performed it at Skirball for faculty. I also recall for what I think was the accepted Tisch student event, the Dean chose to have an excerpt put on of a new musical written in Tisch’s Graduate Program for Musical Theater writing and my D was cast in that (was put on in summer too) and that was on Skirball’s stage. She has performed on Skirball’s stage since graduating but not for Tisch. It really is a nice theater and it would be nice if more Tisch productions could be staged there!</p>
<p>In the same vein as Skirball Center, I’ve got to wonder what the Yale Rep is doing there.</p>
<p>And though I absolutely adore the gorgeous Cutler Majestic at Emerson, I have heard the same issue of the theatre department actually using it vs. the school renting it out for other purposes exists there as well. (Somebody correct me if that is wrong.) </p>
<p>I know there was a student production of “West Side Story?” in Skirball my daughter’s freshman year and I remember her wondering how the heck they got their hands on that space when Tisch productions never seem to be able to. Mostly Tisch productions are in black box spaces and given we are talking NYC with a premium on real estate, one can imagine, they are not that large.</p>
<p>halflokum, I realize a big reason that Tisch uses small theaters for many productions is due to the cost of real estate in NYC, though there were times I thought it was frustrating to see shows sell out and many people could not get in (whether it was a Tisch MainStage, a studio production, a student run production) who wanted to attend as seats were really at a premium and so limited!</p>
<p>Chicken egg. Tisch uses small theatres because their spaces ARE all small (except for Skirball which isn’t Tisch’s) and NYU doesn’t have the less expensive land value to build the performance facilities that one might find in Ithaca, Ann Arbor, San Marco etc. For all the fuss about Broadway being the it destination for theatre, many of those theatres also pale in comparison and scale to those one could find in lesser theatre markets.</p>
<p>I agree there is a big disconnect between demand for seating at NYU productions (Tisch studio, NYU Stageworks, Steinhardt or student productions) and supply of seats. On the other hand, there is a heck of a lot of other things to do in NYC on any given night and it’s not like an NYU production could sell out the 800 some odd seat Skirball either with a multi-day run of anything. Other excellent drama programs in less urban locations can enjoy the “only game in town” status that guarantees a very supportive local audience that extends well beyond the immediate school community.</p>
<p>Aaargh as with all of these “lists” that stream through here, this one makes me scratch my head. While I’ve been to several of these theaters and some are figgin’ gorgeous (have not been to the one at Bard but have been told that it is spectacular), others are a mystery. I will tell you with certainty that the Alexander Kasser Theater at Montclair (which is stunning) is a million times nicer than the theater (#2 on this list) at Carnegie Mellon. Jeez I think the theater at my daughter’s high school is nicer than the one at CMU. Not knocking the CMU program, but good grief…</p>
<p>You’d think they could dig up some better photos… </p>
<p>@ThereAreLlamas, Yale Rep, Yale University Theatre, and the Iseman are all jointly used by the Yale Rep professional organization (for productions that often include MFA actors, designers, and crew), the Yale School of Drama student season, and some Yale Dramat (student-led undergrad) productions, so its inclusion isn’t inaccurate.</p>
<p>@Calliene, you made me look! lol! I just had to go online to see pictures of the Alexander Kasser Theater. It’s GORGEOUS!</p>
<p>When I was in college, there was never an undergraduate on the stage at the Yale Rep except on a tour. Yeah, some drama school students were, generally in full-on Equity professional productions. Occasionally, University of Washington MFA (or BFA) students appear at the Seattle Rep too, but it would look pretty weird on that list. For that matter, a handful of Southern Oregon students appear at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival in Ashland.</p>
<p>No mention of one of the great concert halls in the world?</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.music.umich.edu/about/facilities/central_campus/hill/”>http://www.music.umich.edu/about/facilities/central_campus/hill/</a></p>
<p>@rjkofnovi I believe Hill Auditorium is only a concert hall… not a theatre. My son performed there as well (same night as he performed at the Lydia Mendelssohn… crazy story) The acousitics were spectacular.</p>