Designed by internationally renowned architect Cesar Pelli, the Benjamin and Marian Schuster Performing Arts Center became a reality due to the persistence, dedication, and generosity of a variety of individuals and organizations across the Miami Valley and beyond. The project began in April 2000 and was completed in February 2003. The facility includes 388,000 square feet and cost $121 million to complete. Dayton Live owns, operates, and maintains this world-class facility to the tune of at least $900,000 annually.
Dr. Benjamin Schuster and his wife Marian played an integral role in the realization of the performing arts center that bears their names, donating $8 million to the project. Dr. and Mrs. Schuster have provided an incredible legacy for the arts in our community.
The Grand Opening Weekend of February 28 – March 2, 2003 brought together an impressive array of events and performances to celebrate the Schuster Center’s completion. It all began with the amazing aerial ballet of Project Bandaloop on the exterior of Performance Place, followed by the elegant Gala Dinner. The Gala Evening of Stars performance brought together national celebrities, such as Walter Cronkite, Ray Charles and Allison Janney, as well as many local arts groups. Thousands braved the cold weather on March 2 to attend the Community Open House.
A state-of-the-art facility providing the best in local, national, and international performing arts events, the Schuster Center has created opportunities for resident companies, such as the Dayton Performing Arts Alliance, to expand their season lineups. Without the Schuster Center, Dayton would never have hosted The Phantom of the Opera, Disney’s The Lion King, Wicked, The Book of Mormon, and many other top touring Broadway titles. For the 2021-2022 Premier Health Broadway in Dayton series, the Schuster Center will host HAMILTON for the first time.
The Theatres
At the heart of the Schuster Center is the 2319-seat Mead Theatre with state-of-the-art acoustics, superior sightlines, comfortable seating, and intimate ambiance. There are three lobby levels and four seating levels. At the center of the concentric circles at the top of the Mead Theatre ceiling is a starfield created by fiber optics. It depicts the Dayton sky on the eve of the Wright Brothers’ first flight in 1903. The diameter of the upper ellipse is 40 feet, the length of the wingspan of the Wright flyer. From the last row of the upper balcony to the center of the stage is 120 feet, approximately the distance the Wright Brothers flew that day in Kitty Hawk, NC.
The flexible Mathile Theatre is a black box theatre that can be used for rehearsals, special events and meetings, as well as smaller performances. Dayton Opera and Dayton Philharmonic use it regularly for rehearsals.
Architectural Features
The Schuster Center’s most spectacular statement is the six-story high Kettering Wintergarden, a block-long, wrap-around glass atrium with a magnificent grove of 35-foot palm trees. It features 1900 panes of glass, each with a ceramic frit between the double panes to control the transmission of heat and light. The floor consists of 13,000 square feet of cashmere travertine marble. A 40-foot-high Dayton Foundation staircase leads from the Wintergarden up to the balcony lobby levels of the theatre.
Since its grand opening, the Schuster Center has hosted more than 2700 performances. In addition to performances and catered events, thousands enjoy the Rike’s Holiday Window displays each season, as well as the acclaimed Visual Voices art exhibit. More than 3.7 million people have attended performances and more than 672,000 have attended catered and other events, for a total of more than $4.4 million. Approaching its 20th anniversary in 2023 and having weathered the COVID-19 pandemic, the Benjamin & Marian Schuster Performing Arts Center will approach the 5 million visitors mark by the end of the 2021-2022 season.
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