Facilities, Equipment & Technology – Albright College

Facilities, Equipment & Technology

In 1990, with a lead gift by philanthropist Doris Chanin Freedman and a major grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, Albright College launched a $6.5 million building project under the direction of architect Adele Santos, who collaborated with sculptor Mary Miss to create the central plaza and amphitheater that form the heart of our Center for the Arts (CFA).

Around this central artwork, Santos designed a south wing to house the Art Department, with studios for drawing, painting, printmaking, ceramics and woodworking. The north wing houses the Freedman Gallery, with a small outdoor sculpture court separating it from the northeast wing, which is home to the Music Department and its studios, practice rooms and Roop Hall performance space. The costume and fashion sewing lab connects this floor via a breezeway to the Campus Center. On the second floor of this wing sit the Recording Studio, AlbrightTheatre, box office and mezzanine, where special events and receptions are held. Klein Hall, which serves as a space for class lectures and is home to the International Film Series, directly connects the CFA to the Campus Center on this level.

Facilities and Equipment

  • Recording Studio | This acoustically sensitive suite of three adjoining rooms, outfitted with state-of-the-art digital audio recording, editing, and music production technologies, serves as the creative production epicenter for all electronic music projects. The studio is located on the second floor of the Center for the Arts.
  • Roop Hall | This multi-use classroom/recital space seats 150 and includes a small stage and Yamaha C7 grand piano. As a performing venue, Roop Hall is home to our annual Concert Series, hosts multiple student performance events each semester by the Albright College Thespian Society and Albright Improv, and serves as the practice space for the numerous choral and instrumental ensembles on campus that offer 8-12 student concerts per year. 
  • Albright Theatre | A 275-seat proscenium theatre with adjacent workshop, control room, box office, green room/dressing rooms and costume/sewing lab; home to the Domino Players Company, the Albright College Thespian Society, Albright Improv. Collectively, these groups produce 4-5 main stage productions and 12-20 student projects per year.  This space also serves as a lecture and recital hall for various performing groups and campus guests. 
  • Lighting/Projection | The lighting and projection capabilities in the Wachovia Theatre rival those of any professional house — six moving lights, nine four-foot led bars, and 100 conventional fixtures controlled by an ION control console using two color touch screen displays. The touch of a finger can reshape the look of the stage. The audio and projection system allows for total manipulation of the sound and video elements of a production. Three high output projectors, augmented by two smaller units, can all be controlled individually, flexibly, and dynamically. The result is an extremely adaptable system that allows the student designer the freedom to realize any aesthetic they can envision.  

Technology

Depending on the courses taken and the experiential learning opportunities in which you partake, you may come into contact with and develop skills for the following databases, programs, and equipment:

  • ProTools (digital sound and video editing software)
  • Digital Performer 8 (mac centric audio and midi manipulation software)
  • Q-Lab (multimedia playback cue-based software for video and audio)
  • Vectorworks (computer-aided drafting, technical drawing, and 3-D modeling software)
  • ETC ION console (running the popular EOS operating system for lighting control)
  • Reason (digital music and audio workstation)
  • SchoolDude (online space/venue scheduling software)
  • Sibelius (music notation software)
  • University Tickets (online ticketing system and subscriber database)
  • WebPort and Citrix (financial accounting and budget reconciliation software)
  • WIX Website (a free and flexible website creation tool)
  • Microsoft Office (many courses require Word, PowerPoint, and Excel projects)