Wilson School District recently opened their new Wilson Performing Arts Center with their first show to be held in the theater, Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella. The Performing Arts Center, designed by Crabtree, Rohrbaugh and Associates, includes a new 1,200 seat auditorium featuring balcony seating, a 50-person orchestra pit, stage and house floor extensions for the orchestra pit, fully motorized rigging systems, and state of the art theatrical lighting and audio systems. The theater also features precise acoustical features, uniquely designed into the space making it a truly distinctive experience.
Click here to view this Instagram video produced by Wilson School District on the grand opening!
Supporting backstage spaces include expansive dressing rooms with ample costume storage, a media and control room for media and content creation, editing and livestreaming and a scene shop for scenery and prop production. Additional performing arts rooms include a band room, choral room, and new to Wilson High School, a dedicated orchestra room, all with supporting offices, practice rooms and storage spaces. These rehearsal rooms comprise the High School’s previous auditorium, adaptively reused for these new functions.
“This new space is going to shape the Performing Arts program by expanding the opportunities that we can offer our students, the groups that we can bring in to perform and work with our classes, [and] the classes that we are going to be able to develop as a result of having dedicated spaces. I am really excited to see how we can grow as a program and a district because of the spaces that we now have,” says Kelly Kuhn, Director of Orchestras.
The new Wilson Performing Arts Center, directly adjacent to the existing 2,000-seat gymnasium, incorporates a new grand lobby shared by the PAC and the gymnasium, now called the Wilson Athletics Center. This lobby features a showstopping curtain wall entryway with vertical solar shades, a ‘Bulldog Events’ counter for ticketing and support for both venues, and a brand new interactive Bulldog Hall of Fame. Emblazoned with Wilson’s signature black, red, and blue accents and logos and featuring numerous digital displays for upcoming shows, athletics events, and competitions, this space will welcome students and visitors alike to events for generations to come.
Wilson School District Instagram Video
