The dream of a performing arts center for Notre Dame might still be just a dream were it not for the generosity of the late Edward J. DeBartolo, a 1932 graduate, and the ongoing generosity of his children, Denise DeBartolo York and Edward J. DeBartolo, Jr. Their magnificent 1989 benefaction was the catalyst for a decade of planning, design, and construction that culminated on September 29, 2004 with the dedication of this glorious building, named in honor of their beloved wife and mother, Marie.
The exterior of the Marie P. DeBartolo Center for the Performing Arts became a landmark even before the doors opened to students at the beginning of the 2004 academic year. The building completes DeBartolo Quad, capping its southernmost end with a facility that is a splendid gift to both the campus and the community. This superb rendering of Notre Dame's traditional, collegiate gothic architecture--on a massive scale--is entirely harmonious with its surroundings. And yet, it is what lies within that will surprise and delight.
Entering through the main north doors one might stop and wonder, "Where do I go now?" It is a fair question. This 150,000-square-foot building has 177 rooms and 384 doors! The left side of the main lobby presents a grand stairway to the second floor, the office of the executive director, the Regis Philbin Studio Theater, the Patricia George Decio Mainstage Theater, and finally the lobby of the Chris and Anne Reyes Organ and Choral Hall. On the right are the ticket office, coat check, concessions, and the Judd and Mary Lou Leighton Concert Hall. On the second floor one finds entrances to the Michael Browning Family Cinema, the Department of Film, Television, and Theatre, and the balconies of both the Mainstage Theatre and the Concert Hall.
The University's goals for the performing arts are as bold as the building itself. The DeBartolo Center for the Peforming Arts was carefully designed for both public performance and for teaching and learning. Sprawling across the entire lower level are classrooms, editing studios, a rehearsal hall, a costume shop, a makeup studio, a recording studio, a lighting lab, a creative computing lab, dressing rooms, and a student lounge. The benefit for Nore Dame's students and faculty has been dramatic and immediate. Each of the spaces allows our academic departments to teach and present the arts in ways that were simply not possible in the past.
The benefits to the community are almost as great, with the addition of an unparalleled facility at the gateway to campus, enlivened by a menu of great guest artists, concerts, plays, and films. It is a center for the arts and for artists, for learning and for doing, for enjoyment, inspiration, creation, dialogue, and exploration. And it is especially a place committed to the strengthening of community through a shared appreciation of the world's cultural treasures.
Anna M. Thompson, most recently executive director for fine arts programming at the College of Saint Benedict and St. John�s University (CSB/SJU), has been appointed executive director of the Marie P.DeBartolo Center for the Performing Arts and the Judd a [ more ]
The Ticket Office is open Monday through Friday from Noon to 6 p.m. and one hour prior to performances and cinema screenings. Online sales are suspended effective June 22, 2007 for web site maintenance updates. [ more ]
