The community of Dayton, Ohio celebrated the opening of the $121 million Schuster Performing Arts Center on the weekend of February 28, with many gala opening events. The center features the 2300-seat Mead Theatre, the flexible Mathile Theatre, the Kettering Wintergarden atrium, and the adjoining 18-story Performance Place office and condominium tower.

A crowd gathered on Main Street Friday afternoon to see the rededication of a block long section of Main Street as the "Avenue of the Arts" and an aerial dance performance by Project Bandaloop on the Performance Place tower.

On Friday afternoon Architect Cesar Pelli spoke before an audience of more than 300 at an event organized by the University of Dayton and AIA Dayton. In describing his approach to design, Pelli emphasized the importance of his long-term collaboration with Theatre Projects Consultants, GBBN Architects, and other members of the Schuster design team. "We understand how to work together, which keeps things from falling through the cracks. This is important because in performing arts centers there are many, many cracks!"

Theatre Projects Consultants worked with architect Cesar Pelli and Associates on the programming and design of this center in downtown Dayton. TPC also designed all the performance equipment systems for both theatre spaces. The Mead Theatre will be home to the Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra and the Dayton Opera Association. Other primary users will be the Victoria Theatre Association's Broadway Series and the Dayton Ballet.

Friday night 580 people celebrated the center's opening with a black tie dinner in the Wintergarden. Saturday night saw the "Gala Evening of Stars" performance in the Mead Theatre, featuring performances by local talent and nationally recognized performers including master of ceremonies Walter Cronkite, Ray Charles, Patti Lu Pone, Allison Janney, Bob Newhart, and Roberta Peters. A day-long open house on Sunday featured performances by many local arts groups.

The TPC team was led by project manager Gene Leitermann and theatre designer Brian Hall. Gene describes the center's main performance space for music performances: "A truly multi-purpose theatre, the Mead's stage platform can be brought forward of the stage opening into the house, creating the "one-room" design of the finest concert halls. A unique overhead canopy is deployed in front of the proscenium completing the sensation of sharing the room with the musicians. It can quickly be reset to the proscenium form for Broadway shows, opera and ballet."

"The challenge for opera was to assist the singers to project their voices into the room, also to bring audience as close as possible to the performers. This was achieved by narrowing the proscenium and forestage areas while widening the curving balconies giving the room its distinctive shape. This compression also helped all the other users as well as enabling the auditorium to be placed on the narrow dimension of the site. The room is designed to be highly intimate, despite its 2300 seats. This was achieved by its 3 balconies and galleries that tightly embrace the audience and performers," Brian Hall explained the philosophy of the room design. The ceiling of the Mead Theatre is crowned by a spectacular sky-blue dome that spirals upward to a fiber-optic star field. Within the dome are follow spot positions, performance lighting and sound equipment.

Performers and shows already scheduled to appear at the Schuster include, Broadway shows Blast, Phantom of the Opera, and Blues Clues Live, David Copperfield, Dayton Philharmonic SuperPops with Doc Severinsen, Three Mo'Tenors, Andre Watts, Ben Vereen, Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg among many others.

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