None of the 300 seats is more than ten rows from the stage, providing an intimate performing venue for drama, music lectures and campus events. Additional stage area, for actors and musicians, is incorporated into the theater sidewalls providing excellent sightlines and acoustics from all seats. The design extends the aesthetic of the firm’s earlier University Center expansion and the use of local building materials. The 300-seat theater is clad with regional red sandstone, a homage to the Smithsonian Institution’s Castle. A glass lobby with heavy timber beams and wood decking connects to the adjacent University Center. Wood chair legs are assembled into chandeliers suspended from the lobby timber structure, clay pipe covers lobby columns, and Toyota Sienna dashboard liners serve as acoustical reflectors in the theater. Within the theater, 1,000 LED diodes and 10,000 openings in the curvaceous metal stage side-walls allow a multiplicity of house lighting opportunities for pre- and post-performance presentations.