Built 2000-2003 Capacity 2,300 | Type Performing arts center Opened 2003 Phone +1 937-228-7591 | |
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Full name Benjamin and Marian Schuster Performing Arts Center Address 1 W 2nd St, Dayton, OH 45402, USA Similar Victoria Theatre, Fifth Third Field, Southview Medical Center, Dayton Art Institute, Boonshoft Museum of Discovery | ||
Schuster performing arts center interior 2
The Schuster Performing Arts Center is located in Dayton, Ohio and was built in 2003 to serve as Dayton's principal center of the lively arts. It is owned and operated by The Victoria Theatre Association and occupies the former site of Rike's department store. The Center opened an additional venue to house the Association's larger touring Broadway productions and presentations. The Dayton Philharmonic, the Dayton Opera, and the Dayton Ballet rent the building for their performances. The Schuster Center and the Metropolitan Arts Center, occupying the former Metropolitan department store building next to the Victoria Theatre, stage a variety of performances of any size and form the basis of the performing arts district in downtown Dayton.
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The Schuster Center comprises restaurants, a large Winter Garden, a 15-story office and residential tower, and a blackbox theater and rehearsal space.
Architect César Pelli, in designing the center's 2,300 seat Mead Theatre, included a fiber-optically illuminated domed ceiling depicting the Dayton sky as it appeared on the eve of the Wright Brothers’ first flight - December 16, 1903. The Winter Garden houses exotic palm trees and a café with a large glass and steel wall that looks out onto downtown Dayton.
Since its opening, the Schuster Center has hosted a number of top musical shows, including Wicked, Jersey Boys, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat and Beauty and the Beast.