The Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center, which opened in 2001, is a state of the art performing arts "village," comprised of ten interconnected structures on the campus of the University of Maryland, College Park. Occupying 318,000 square feet and situated on a 17-acre site at the northwest end of the University of Maryland's College Park campus, the Center is designed to serve the music, theatre, and dance divisions of the University, and in so doing be a true center of performing arts for regional audiences and national and international professionals.

Facilities include the Joseph and Alma Gildenhorn Recital Hall (250 seats); the Kay Theatre (650 seats); Concert Hall (1100 seats); Studio Theatre (200 seats); Dance Theatre (180 seats); Theatre Lab (100 seats); and the Prince George's County Room for educational and outreach activities.

In addition, the Center houses the University of Maryland Performing Arts Library (23,000 square feet); the Grand Pavilion; 30 classrooms, lecture halls, and seminar rooms; 50 practice and rehearsal rooms; 100 faculty/staff offices; and Café Applause.

The Center engaged internationally respected firms to assure the highest-caliber professional facilities: architects, Moore Ruble Yudell, in association with Ayers Saint Gross; acoustical consultant, Kirkegaard and Associates; theater consultant, Theater Projects Consultants, Inc.; lobby interiors, Gensler; construction, Turner Construction Company.

The $128 million Center has been made possible with funding from the State of Maryland, Prince George's County, and University of Maryland sources. The Center is named for Virginia artist and collector, Clarice Smith, a long-time friend and alumna of the University who recently pledged a $15 million gift to the Center's endowment fund. Co-chairs Joseph and Alma Gildenhorn are leading the endowment campaign currently valued at approximately $23 million.

In its mission to combine scholarship and training with community-based activities and professional presentation, the Center annually serves more than 5,000 students, 200 faculty and staff, and numerous regional, national, and international audiences and professionals.

The Center features the following spacious and well-equipped production facilities:

Costume Shop

• Professional fitting room
• Laundry room
• Dye room
• Costume Storage with mechanized (dry cleaner's) storage rack
• Abundant natural light

Electrics Production Shop

• Provides lighting, projection and electrical support for over 800 events per year
• Inventory of over 1,500 units including: ETC Source 4 750W ellipsoidals and pars, Strand fresnels, Vari-Lite moving lights, Morpheus color faders, gobo rotators, and custom gobo projectors
• 1,800 dimmers controlled via Strand ShowNet Ethernet-based lighting network
• Strand 550i Main Console with real-time tracking backup, dedicated file server, wireless remote control, monitoring, and multiple virtual consoles via 802.11b, and distributed Bi-directional DMX control for intelligent lighting & accessories;
• Projection equipment including: two 10,000 lumen XGA Sanyo LCD projectors, one 3,300 lumen Toshiba DLP projector, and four 42" Panasonic Pro Plasma monitors

Scenic Production Shop

• Produces sets for the Department of Theatre and the School of Music with 3000 sq. ft. space large enough to build a complete stage set-up
• Load-in door access to truck dock and to the Kay and Kogod Theatres; CNC Router (computer controlled router)
• Full welding unit
• Full woodworking and metal fabrication equipment
• Dust collection system
• Props and scenic warehouse located on campus, in addition to in-house scenic storage

Paint and Properties Shop

• 2000 sq. ft. work area adjacent to the Scenic Production Shop
• Independent stock of power tools
• Spray booth
• Color mixing system

Computer Aided Design (CAD) Lab

• Fifteen computer stations including: ten Dual 2.5 Apple G5's with 20" Flat Panel Studio Displays, two G4 Print Stations, one G5 Server, and two Dell GX620 Desktop PC's for sound editing with PRO TOOLS Sound Editing Suite
• Two HP 500PS large format printers and one HP110Plus medium format printer
• One Epson 1680XL large flatbed scanner
• A/V rack with LCD projector
• Software included on each computer station including: Vectorworks 12, Maya 3D , Adobe Creative Suite, LightWrite 4, Cool Edit, Final Cut Express, iLife '06, Microsoft Office, Adobe Audition, and SFX

Classrooms and Studios

• Two dedicated design teaching studios
• Multi-purpose and design classrooms feature an A/V rack with projector and wireless internet access
• Large design studio provides several drafting tables and model construction power tools

Contact us via email with questions, comments and feedback, or call us at 301-405-6676.
Department of Theatre, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland 20742-1610