Multi-purpose Performing Arts Center |500-seat Theater | 53,000 SF
The design for the Performing Arts Center at Montclair State University creates a new signature for the campus and an exciting destination for theatre and art patrons.
The 500-seat Kasser Theatre features a main stage and two side stages, rehearsal and dressing rooms, green room, set workshop, gallery space, loading dock and a large lobby suitable for university and community special events. The theatre's design creates intimacy between performers and audience with close seating and a sophisticated acoustical plan that brings the highest level of sound quality to every listener.
The Performing Arts Center also houses the notable Partch Institute—a collection of specially created, very large percussion instruments that travel the world when not at Montclair State University.
Since the 53,000-square-foot Performing Arts Center occupies a pivotal site on the Mission-influenced campus, the design features a series of ceremonial entry steps with a view of the University's main circulation entry. A curved loggia completes the semi-circle of the adjacent 1930’s curved amphitheater. Both animate the University's entrance and provide an enhanced campus focal point. Another loggia leads directly from the Performing Arts Center's fourth level theatre lobby to the neighboring parking structure— permitting easy, covered access.
