Christopher Sprague

In just one year, with construction occurring only between performance seasons, this 1926 opera house received a renovation and expansion that reached from its 3‑story lobby skylight down to the enlarged orchestra pit.

Schuler Shook’s theatre planners brought to this fast-paced project their years of technical experience working in many other U.S. opera houses. We worked to improve both the technical systems available to the performers and artists as well as to enhance the audience’s experience from the new seating. Our scope covered stage areas and auditorium areas, the orchestra pit, new stage lighting and rigging systems, an LED-based stage titling system, and improved sightlines within a newly configured seating arrangement that allows for almost 160 additional seats.

North Central College advanced the fine and performing arts on campus with a series of projects involving new construction and adaptive reuse. Opened in the fall of 2008, the 57,000 SF Wentz Concert Hall and Fine Arts Center is now a beacon for the arts on campus and in the greater community.

To further foster learning, practice and performance. North Central College included a flexible performance space in their plan as well. The College renovated the 95-year-old former Grace Evangelical Church for this purpose and helped preserve an important part of the College’s and the community’s history in the process.

Schuler Shook provided theatre consulting and architectural lighting design services for the new Fine Arts Center, including the 650-seat Wentz Concert Hall and the 150¬seat Madden Theatre. The studio theatre includes flexible seating and staging options, providing the perfect setting for theatre, dance and music performance. We worked closely with Talaske Sound Thinking, the acoustician, and Loebl Schlossman & Hackl, the architect, to create an appropriate concert hall for groups such as North Central College’s Concert Winds, Women’s Chorale and Concert Choir. Our lighting designs are seen in the concert hall, studio theatre, lobby and gathering spaces.