WEB: www.drama.cmu.edu

PHONE: (412) 268-2068

The impressive, neoclassical Purnell Center For The Arts is the performing home to the Carnegie Mellon University School Of Drama.

Founded 1900 as a technical school by industrialist Andrew Carnegie (1835-1919) — and merged with the Mellon Institute in 1967 — Carnegie Mellon University is one of the nation’s leading private research universities. The School Of Drama is the oldest conservatory training, and the first degree-granting drama institution, in the United States. Founded in 1914, the school combines established practice with innovation and pedagogical and technological advancement across all disciplines.

The complex boasts the Philip Chosky Theatre, the mainstage facility with a proscenium stage and a 450-seat house. This Broadway-style theater is equipped with a motorized orchestra pit, an electronic winch system, computerized rigging for scenery and a rear projection bay. Also making the Philip Chosky Theatre a model of modern theater design are lower audience seating on modular platforms and sub-floor troughs that permit the transport of equipment under a flexible stage that can be reconfigured for each individual production. The Purnell also includes the 130-seat Helen Wayne Rauh Studio Theatre, three design studios, a state-of-the-art video studio with a three-camera sound stage and post-production facilities, a world-renowned lighting lab, costume shop, scene shop and faculty offices.

It’s named in honor of Verner S. Purnell (1903-1990), a university alumnus.

STANDARD HOURS:
Call for information.

PARKING:
Various parking facilities are available on campus.

PORT AUTHORITY ROUTES:
61A–61B–61C

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Address
5000 Forbes Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15213 United States