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DALLAS TWP. — The Performing Arts Center at Dallas High School no longer serves as just a school auditorium, but also a community theater.
Since the Dallas High School building opened four years ago, the center had served as only as a space for school-related events such as concerts, drama club performances and graduation.
“This is our fourth year in the building and it started just as an auditorium,” said Dallas High School Principal Jeffrey Shaffer. “The premise behind the use of the facility, going back six to seven years, was to turn it into a Performing Arts Center.”
According to high school band director and Performing Arts Director Greg Riley, the intention of turning the auditorium into a place for public events rather than just school events was always in the plan when the new high school building was constructed.
“That was the idea back when they designed this building,” said Riley. “They designed the building to involve the community and have a place that was one, large enough to seat our student body, and two, available for a lot of certain events.”
The auditorium at the original high school building, according to Riley, seated only 400 people, but the newer auditorium seats up to 1,400. It is also wheelchair accessible for up to 24 wheelchairs and can seat up to 40 people in the pit between the front row seating section and the stage.
The stage has a proscenium, a part of the theater stage in front of the curtain, that opens to a width of 60 feet and a length of 25 feet. The Performing Arts Center also features two ensemble rooms, four dressing facilities, private performer restrooms and a private performer entrance in the rear.
Since August 2014, multiple events have been taken place inside the Performing Arts Center, including performances bu the band Twelve-Twenty Four, the Trans-Siberian Orchestra cover band, as well as upcoming performances of “Handicap This” from the Luzerne County Intermediate Unit and a performance of the “Swan Lake” ballet by dancers of the Harris Conservatory.
One of the big events coming in October is the Northeastern Pennsylvania Philharmonic, whose members will teach Dallas High School students classes in woodwind, brass, strings and percussion instruments, all while offering a mentor/lesson program and cancer awareness activities.
“I’m really excited about the Philharmonic coming in,” said Riley. “I think that is such a great moment for our district and for our kids. Considering that our students from kindergarten through 12th grade are going to be active in different programs, free of charge to the district, to me is unbelievable.”
According to Riley, when performers outside the Dallas community perform at the center, there is no cost to the school district.
All money earned at the events goes back into the Dallas Performing Arts Center and other curriculum such as the theater and music programs. Students also volunteer to help with the events.
“We’ve been very fortunate in Dallas,” said Riley. “You see a lot of other school districts dropping theater and we’re not doing that at Dallas; we’re holding the line. That speaks volumes for the community wanting a good centralized education.”
As far as feedback from the community on the Performing Arts Center, Riley said it’s been as good as expected.
“Let’s put it this way, it’s been good enough that we’ve been getting calls to rent it out,”he said.
Riley and Shaffer both believe the Performing Arts Center will continue to flourish through the years.
“I think you’re just seeing the tip of the iceberg and some of these things that are going to be for public viewing are really going to get the word out and increase the interest here,” said Shaffer.