Until recently, the Performing Arts Center at Aquinas College in Grand Rapids, Mich., offered a charming but cramped and rundown park pavilion. Now, patrons and performers alike can take advantage of their beautiful new facility by Holabird & Root, Chicago, in association with Fishbeck, Thompson, Carr & Huber, Grand Rapids. Aquinas College, Catholic Secondary Schools and Circle Theatre collaborated on the project.

The designers made every effort to recreate the theater’s former home, while almost doubling the audience size from 210 to 410. They struck a balance between respecting the heavily wooded site that fronts a ravine and enhancing visibility of the performing arts in the community by placing the center’s entrance directly off a main street. Exterior decks and terraces allow people to enjoy the surrounding natural beauty and accommodate pre-performance receptions, audience circulation, concession stand, box office, and public restrooms.

The theater has a thrust stage, and its stepped, stadium-style seats all are within 36 feet of center stage. Two vomitories allow actors multiple access points to the set. Dressing/makeup rooms and green rooms, instructional areas, production, and storage all are tucked under the seating at a lower level. A 180-seat black-box theater, fully equipped for lighting and sound, includes flexible staging and separate access for actors. The black box duplicates the main stage size to double as a rehearsal hall.

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