Walgreen Drama Center

Sited next to Pierpont Commons on Murfin Avenue near Bonisteel Boulevard, the new Walgreen Drama Center is a compelling addition to North Campus. The Drama Center consists of three components: The Arthur Miller Theatre, a stately glass cube during the day that will transform into a luminous glass beacon at night; a long and elegantly proportioned “learning loft” housing the academic and administrative spaces of the Departments of Theatre & Drama and Musical Theatre, as well as the costume, scene, and sound shops of University Productions; and the North Campus Auditorium, a space with seating for 460 people.

The “learning loft” portion of the Drama Center includes specialized studios for the teaching of theatre crafts, and classrooms designed for such specific skills as voice, acting for the camera, and scenery, lighting, and costume design. The building will include a large studio standing in for the Arena Theatre in the Frieze Building and will be used for productions by Basement Arts. All the studios in the new complex double in the evenings as rehearsal spaces and are of a size appropriate to stagings in the Power Center and Mendelssohn Theatre, thus allowing actors to rehearse more effectively for all productions.