Joshua Grossman

Detroit Symphony Orchestra Hall was originally constructed in 1918 in a record 4 months and 4 days. Saved from the wrecking ball by a renovation in the 70’s, the DSO moved back downtown to Orchestra Hall in 1988. This most recent project commenced in 1997 and included completing the restoration of Orchestra hall and constructing 135,000 square feet of new space.

Schuler Shook provided full service theatre consulting. We provided programming, space planning guidance and equipment design services for the refurbishment, re-seating and equipping of the 2,064-seat Orchestra Hall, the Music Box – a variable-form second hall that seats up to 450 – the Jacob Bernard Pincus Music Education Center and the Robert A. and Maggie Allesee Rehearsal Hall. We also worked closely with the architect to provide much-needed public, backstage and administrative spaces.

Orchestra Hall now includes a refurbished orchestra shell and motorized rigging, a forestage lift, a proscenium super-grid and new lighting system and mounting positions – all designed and specified by Schuler Shook. The Music Box includes a flexible lighting system for its multiple forms and uses, as well as extensive automated acoustical adjustment systems.

Victory Gardens Theater, Chicago’s Tony Award®-winning home for new plays, had outgrown its space in Lincoln Park. Victory Gardens turned to Schuler Shook to lead a programming effort, identifying their goals for an expanded theatre. We worked very closely with the Artistic Director and Managing Director at that time — Dennis Zacek and Marcelle McVay — to refine Victory Gardens’s goals for a new home.

When the nearby Biograph Theatre became available for purchase, Victory Gardens saw a unique opportunity in their own neighborhood. They purchased the famed cinema and began an extensive adaptation, developing a new 299-seat theatre that offers their playwrights a larger, more capable stage.

Schuler Shook advised Victory Gardens on theatre and backstage planning, designed the stage rigging and lighting systems, and assisted during construction of the project. In addition, Robert Shook designed lighting for the opening production of Charles Smith’s Denmark.