Benjamin & Marian Schuster Performing Arts Center
1 West Second Street
Dayton, Ohio 45402
Built in 2003, the Benjamin & Marian Schuster Performing Arts Center is a world-class facility for the best in local, national and international entertainment. The Schuster Center includes the Winsupply Theatre, the Mathile Theatre, and the Wintergarden featuring palm trees set against a block-long, glass-enclosed atrium. The Schuster Center is also available to rent for meetings, parties, receptions, and performances.
The Schuster Center is regularly open to the public 6 a.m.-6:30 p.m. Monday-Saturday and 8 a.m.-5 p.m. on Sunday. Holiday hours may vary.
At the heart of the Schuster Center lies the 2,300-seat Winsupply Theatre, a state-of-the-art facility designed to accommodate a diverse array of performing arts, including orchestral music, opera, theatre, and dance. The Winsupply Theatre delivers stunning aural and visual experiences for audiences. That experience begins with the look of the theatre. Architect Cesar Pelli’s design invokes the feeling of an evening under the stars. The cool blues and orange-reds of the theatre’s interior reach all the way to the domed ceiling, where concentric circles of fiber optic lights depict the Dayton sky as it appeared on the eve of the Wright Brothers’ first flight, December 16, 1903. Careful attention to layout and acoustics further enhances the experience. World-class theatre planning and design consultants worked to create an intimate setting, with the last row a mere 120 feet from the stage. Seating options include orchestra, loge, and lower and upper balconies. Acoustical experts customized the theatre to meet the unique needs of performances requiring both acoustical and technical excellence. In addition to delivering outstanding concert hall acoustics, the use of cutting-edge sound isolation technologies in Winsupply Theatre ensures that external noise will not distract from the performances.
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Seating Chart
The 56' x 36', 150-seat black box Mathile Theatre provides a rehearsal facility for the Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra and Dayton Opera and offers an intimate setting for smaller-scale performances. The careful attention to detail in the Schuster Center’s design allows it to be used concurrently with the main theatre. The space can also be rented for receptions, arts education programs, meetings, and performances.
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The Kettering Wintergarden, a spectacular six-story glass atrium, ties the individual pieces of the Schuster Center together in grand fashion. The open air space is available for weddings, charity balls, corporate functions, formal dinners, and special events. The facility can accommodate events of up to 1,000 people. It features a fabulous elliptical staircase leading from the Wintergarden to the balcony lobby level, and 1,900 panes of patterned glass that keep heat out and energy in the building. The Wintergarden also includes the Charles D Berry Foundation Stage.
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Address
1 West Second Street
Dayton, Ohio 45402
From I-75
Take the Main Street (Rt. 48) exit, follow Main Street south to Second Street. The Schuster Center occupies the entire block between Ludlow and Main Streets, along Second Street.
From US-35
Take the Main Street (Rt. 48) exit, follow Main Street north to Second Street. The Schuster Center occupies the entire block between Ludlow and Main Streets, along Second Street.
Address
107 North Ludlow Street
Dayton, Ohio 45402
From I-75
Take the Main Street (Rt. 48) exit, follow Main Street south to Monument Avenue. Turn right onto Monument Avenue heading west, then turn left onto Ludlow Street, heading south. The Arts Garage will be on your right, behind the Schuster Center.
From US-35
Take the Main Street (Rt. 48) exit, follow Main Street north to Monument Avenue. Turn left onto Monument Avenue heading west, then turn left onto Ludlow Street, heading south. The Arts Garage will be on your right, behind the Schuster Center.
Origins
Designed by internationally renowned architect César Pelli, who passed away in July 2019, the Benjamin & 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. Encompassing the entire Second Street block between Main and Ludlow Streets where the old Rike’s department store once stood, the project began in April 2000 and was completed in February 2003. The facility includes 388,000 square feet, cost $121 million, and was completed on time and on budget. The project was supported financially by a variety of individual, corporate, foundation and state entities. 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
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. The crown jewel of the Dayton arts community celebrated its 10th anniversary with a series of festivities in 2013. Since its grand opening, the Schuster Center has hosted more than 3,400 performances. More than 3.5 million people have attended performances in the Winsupply and Mathile theatres, while more than 700,000 people have attended nearly 6,800 catered events on the premises.
Building Details
At the heart of the Schuster Center is the 2,325-seat Winsupply Theatre with state-of-the-art acoustics and superior sightlines. With three lobby levels and four seating levels, the space was designed to have no seat more than 120 feet from the stage. The stage and theatre house can be configured to best support any form of live entertainment - from live orchestra to a rock show, from grand opera to Broadway. At the center of the concentric circles at the top of the Winsupply Theatre ceiling is a starfield created by fiber optics, which were just renovated in June 2019. The starfield depicts the Dayton sky on the eve of the Wright Brothers’ first flight in 1903. It is 93 feet from the floor to the starfield. 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, N.C. The flexible Mathile Theatre is a black box theatre that can be used for rehearsals, special events, and meetings, as well as smaller productions. The Schuster Center’s most spectacular statement is the six-story high Kettering Wintergarden, a block-long, wrap-around glass atrium with the magnificent Reynolds & Reynolds Palm Grove. It features 1,900 panes of glass and 13,000 square feet of cashmere travertine marble. The Charles D Berry Foundation Stage serves as a presentation stage for gala events and weddings and doubles as a performance area. The 40-foot-high Dayton Foundation Grand Staircase leads from the Wintergarden up to the balcony lobby levels of the theatre.
In Remembrance of Dr. Benjamin Schuster
From extremely humble beginnings in Wisconsin, Dr. Benjamin Schuster and his beloved wife Marian became two of Dayton’s most treasured humanitarians. A generous and gracious man, Dr. Schuster possessed a vision of a Dayton with a flourishing arts community and he lived to see it happen. Marian Schuster was a trained musician and the entire family embraced the arts as an integral part of their lives. Through their love of the arts, dedication to the community and generosity of spirit, the Schusters laid a foundation of support and trust by making the lead gift to establish a world-class performing arts center in downtown Dayton, a gift that gave birth to the Benjamin & Marian Schuster Performing Arts Center. Dr. Schuster’s legacy and leadership continue to have a far-reaching impact in the Miami Valley and especially within the Arts community. Always with a smile and an encouraging word, Dr. Schuster helped make it possible for hundreds of thousands of Miami Valley citizens to experience world-class performing arts events that would not have been possible without the state-of-the-art facility that bears his and his late wife Marian’s name.
