Facilities

Designed by William Rawn Associates, Architects Inc., which has designed some of the country’s most iconic performance spaces, including Seiji Ozawa Hall at Tanglewood, the Gordon Center for Creative and Performing Arts emphatically integrates itself into the campus. As a natural bookend to the Colby Museum of Art, it embraces the south end of the College and Mayflower Hill Drive, communicating that the arts are at the core of Colby. With a dramatic exterior that combines glass, limestone, and brick, it beckons students and the broader community to participate in its creative energy.

At the heart of the Gordon Center is the Olentine Forum, a unique common space and performance area connecting to the three major studios, performance hall, and arts incubator. Designed to enable everyone in the building to visually interact with the energy of creating art, it brings together the various disciplines, breaking down independent silos that are often found in performance spaces.

Another key area is the 300-seat performance hall. With a unique set of acoustical options that can be customized depending on the type of performance (e.g. from a full symphony to a solo performer), it includes a large stage and an orchestra pit that can be raised to extend the stage. While the walls and ceiling of the 7,700-square-foot hall are covered in wood, the back of the hall is glass that can be dimmed and shaded as required. Additional highlights include:

Studio 1: Designed primarily for collaborative, experimental performance by all departments, the high-volume, 2,500-square-foot space has a 36-foot-high ceiling and a wall of glass. Acoustics can be tailored to the specific performance/rehearsal; there’s a control booth with projection capabilities; and the space is equipped with theater rigging for attaching scenery, backgrounds, and lighting.

Studio 2: With a unique level of lighting capabilities, this 2,500-square-foot black box theater space can be used for a wide range of performances and productions. It was designed with four points of entry to allow for multiple performance/audience arrangements, has a dedicated control booth and projection screen, and features a light pipe grid on the ceiling and four walls.

Studio 3: The 2,500-square-foot space with a wooden sprung floor and a full wall of mirrors is ideal for movement and dance. It also includes a light pipe grid with programmable theatrical lighting, video projection capabilities, and a roll-drop scrim to cover the mirror for multiple performance/audience arrangements.

The Gordon Center also includes a 50-seat film screening room with a dedicated projection booth that’s complemented by acoustically isolated video editing and recording rooms, as well as a studio production room that has a cyclorama (“cyc”) wall.

Other highlights are a 1,700-square-foot scene shop uniquely infused with natural light, a dedicated costume shop inviting visitors from the east entry to see the actual making of costumes, and a series of dressing rooms as well as a greenroom for pre- and post-performance use by performers. Additionally, there are 28 faculty offices and teaching studios, as well as two seminar rooms, a large classroom, and a general rehearsal room.

The Gordon Center also includes a unique arts incubator, and it is home to the Lyons Arts Lab. Both are focused on facilitating and supporting new ideas, concepts, and content developed by Colby students that can ultimately be performed for and experienced by the public.

Photo by Maine Drone Imaging

Named after Ninetta May Runnals (Dean of Women from 1920 to 1949), the Runnals building is located on the south end of campus near the Foss residence hall and was home to the Department of Performance, Theater, and Dance. This magnificent building was built in 1939 and housed sorority meeting rooms and the women’s gymnasium for about thirty five years. In 1976 the building was remodeled and Strider Theater was constructed where the gymnasium once stood. In 1984, the Performing Arts Program (now Performance, Theater, and Dance) was founded with a course of study including a sixteen course, interdisciplinary major. The founding of the Performing Arts Program coincided with the end of fraternities and sororities on campus so Runnals Union became the Runnals Performing Arts Center. At this time the sorority meeting rooms became offices and classrooms for a growing academic program in the performing arts.

Before the move to the Gordon Center for Creative and Performing Arts, Runnals was primarily used by the Department of Performance, Theater, and Dance and housed offices, classrooms, production shops, Strider Theater (named in honor of Robert E. L. Strider II — Colby President from 1960 to 1979), the Cellar Theater, the Smith Acting and Directing Studio, and the Dunn Dance Studio. Each year over 5000 people, from students enrolled in classes to patrons of our shows, came through the front doors of this special building to participate in the magic that is theater and dance.

The Cellar Theater, located below the lobby in Runnals, was an intimate black box theater with seating for as many as fifty-five people in a variety of staging formats including Thrust, Arena, and End-on staging. A small two-scene preset lighting control with submasters, as well as a four-channel stereo sound system, provided an easy-to-use compliment of technical capabilities.

Located in the heart of downtown, the Waterville Opera House is a magnificent 810 seat proscenium theater built in 1902. Managed by the Waterville Opera House Association, this historic theater is the largest and most active facility of its kind in central Maine. The Department of Performance, Theater, and Dance maintains an active relationship with the Waterville Opera House Association using the facility for musical performances, training, and civic engagement opportunities.

Adjacent to the Opera House, and accessible by an enclosed glass walkway, is the Paul J. Schupf Art Center; an arts and community complex that fronts Waterville’s main street. This is the home of Studio 1902, a small 60 seat theater managed by the Waterville Opera House Association and available to the department and student groups for a very reasonable rental fee. To learn more about these wonderful facilities and the opportunities therein, please visit the Waterville Opera House website.