Student performers take the stage as RIT opens Performing Arts Center

A new state-of-the-art venue for theater, musical theater, music, and dance on the Rochester Institute of Technology campus opens April 10 with its inaugural production.

The 747-seat, 50,388-square-foot Performing Arts Center is the first major theater project in the Rochester region in decades. It will provide a state-of-the-art performance hall, which will be used by students as well as community groups to hold concerts, talks, and other events.

A ribbon-cutting ceremony will be held at 9:30 a.m. on April 10, and the first performance will be held at 7:30 that evening. The 75-minute cabaret-style show will feature 11 acts of RIT students performing theater, song, dance, and instrumental music, including selections by the 66-member RIT Philharmonic Orchestra. An additional pit ensemble of 21 students will accompany some of the performances.

“This building will serve as central stage in the already flourishing performing arts ecosystem, the largest of our performance venues on campus,” said Erica Haskell, director of RIT’s School of Performing Arts. “We anticipate productions and concerts in the Performing Arts Center will be infused with cutting-edge technologies enabled through cross-college interdisciplinary collaborations.”

That ecosystem started in 2019 when RIT began offering Performing Arts Scholarships. To date, more than 3,000 students have been awarded the partial scholarships, including 579 students who joined RIT this year.

“Even before coming here, I knew RIT students had extraordinary performing arts talent,” said RIT President Bill Sanders. “Technology and the ability and desire to perform in the arts go hand in hand. We have thousands of students on campus who seamlessly blend performance with their academic pursuits, often in STEM disciplines.”

The theater has two balconies, an outdoor amphitheater, a large rehearsal studio, costume and scene shops, as well as a box office, an operations office, and an area for food service. And its centerpiece will be an antique Barton Opus 234 theater pipe organ, which is being restored before installation.

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Carlos Ortiz/RIT

The theater features two balconies, an outdoor amphitheater, a large rehearsal hall, costume and scene shops, as well as a box office, an operations office, and an area for food service.

The new building was designed by renowned Los Angeles-based architect Michael Maltzan, who plans to attend the events on April 10. The architect of record is SWBR, a local company that designed RIT’s MAGIC Center.

Maltzan and his firm are known for work with museums, universities, performing arts venues, and high-end residential facilities.

“The Performing Arts Center will serve as a new gateway to the campus, and a destination supporting the extraordinary creativity that is fundamental to the culture at RIT now, and as a part of the dynamic future of the Institute,” Maltzan said.

The opening show’s director, Christopher Ryan, said the title for the performance, “Till There Was You,” is a song from The Music Man, which is the favorite show of retired RIT President David Munson. Munson conceived the idea for the theater and enabled it to become a reality.

“This will be a celebration of all he did during his tenure as president, and a realization of his vision for the university,” said Ryan, assistant professor of performing arts. “We wanted to pay homage to Dr. Munson as well as Dr. Sanders for stepping up to carry on with this vision. Research is very clear about the benefits of the arts across all disciplines, and it’s also very significant that this was built for students who are non-majors of the arts, who are involved in the arts because they enjoy being in the arts.”

The opening show is sold out.