On November 10, Rollins College broke ground on the new 16,165-square-foot Tiedtke Theatre & Dance Center, which will include the first custom-built black box theater on campus. The $5 million project is a gift from Philip and Sigrid Tiedtke the Florida Charities Foundation and Sally Albrecht, a composer who double-majored in theater and music at Rollins. The college plans to complete the new theater and dance center sometime in 2022.
In a recent press release, Rollins stated its plans for a 1,900-square-foot black box theater that will hold up to 142 guests. According to Rollins, the dance room will feature mirrors, barres, and specially designed floors for dancers. The center will also feature a 2,400-square-foot costume design and technology lab to store props and set decorations for live events while integrating a costume shop, fitting rooms, and a draft room.
In March, Rollins College President Grant Cornwell announced that a $3 million grant from the Florida Charities Foundation was gifted to the school for the development of the new state-of-the-art theater and dance facility as a show of support for the college’s commitment to its educational programs amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
“The theater project is critical to the educational excellence and rigor of one of our top-ranked academic programs,” President Grant Cornwell said. “Generations of students will benefit from this investment.”
The Tiedtke Theatre & Dance Centre, which was designed by Baker Barrios Architects, Inc., will be located just north of the college’s music department at R.D. Keene Hall, adjacent to the Annie Russell Theatre.
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