This 18,500 square foot addition to an existing independent day school complex features a theater with 580 seats, an orchestra pit, state-of-the-art lighting and acoustics, and fly space. The project intention was to design the theater cohesively into the existing school structure to utilize its spaces for gathering areas, green and dressing rooms. The facility also had to be easily accessed by the community, while still securing the school’s existing complex.

The exterior is aesthetically complementary of the school’s white vernacular and the interior has a full-sized stage and professional theater fittings. The new space hosts school meetings and lectures in addition to musical and theatrical performances that will unleash students’ artistic potential to untold heights of creativity. The space also welcomes the LCDS Family for special assemblies, graduation, and presentations, all of which will enhance a core component of the school’s culture: inclusiveness among students of all grades, as well as faculty and staff. As a community partner, the school encourages their theatre to be used as a prime venue to host speakers and workshops open to the public for creative collaboration within region, which further enhances the school’s programmatic goals.

Technical elements, like catwalks that are railed and accessed from staircases, are designed so students can safely participate in all elements of theatrical production. The theaters undulating walls are finished in white oak panels that angle to amplify acoustics and hide indirect lighting. A transparent louvered wall above the proscenium hides rigging and lighting while allowing symphonic sound through. Sound is controlled with perforated seating and acoustic drapes. The theatre’s entry halls lead to adjacent school spaces that serve double duty as green rooms and the lobby merges with the adjacent Physical Education & Athletics Center lobby to accommodate larger crowds for both venues. Old fashioned white glass school lamp shades dance playfully above a large donor plaque that is located in the lobby.