Ashland University offers a variety of venues for live theatre. The AU Theatre Department provides several additional facilities, such as a fully equipped scene shop and an on-site design studio.
Hugo Young Theatre
The Hugo Young Theatre is a proscenium house that seats 724 people. This venue houses many of the Theatre Department's main stage and student productions, the Music Department's major concerts, Ashland Symphony Orchestra performances and a variety of other campus and community activities.
The proscenium opening is 66 feet wide by 20 feet high and the distance from the back wall of the stage to the orchestra pit opening is approximately 30 feet. The theatre is equipped with a removable orchestra pit cover and eleven motorized linesets for lighting and scenery.
The control booth at the back of the house can access the lighting catwalks over the audience. Lighting is controlled via an ETC Ion Console equipped with a 2 x 10 fader wing and both a Radio Focus Remote and iPod with iRFR remote software. The dimming system is a Strand CD80 Supervisor rack with Strand C21 upgraded control modules. There are 138 2.4k dimmers devoted to stage lighting, including six non-dim modules which can be swapped in when necessary.
Sound is controlled from a mix position in the house and runs through a 32-channel Mackie analog mixing console with a dedicated digital audio workstation. Inputs include a Denon CD player, two wireless handheld Audio-Technica microphones, 12 ear-worn wireless Audio-Technica microphones and other wired microphones available for a variety of needs. Output is through a Bose Panaray for the house with optional front fill speakers and Community wedge monitors.
Studio Theatre
Adjacent to the Hugo Young Theatre is the hexagonal Studio Theatre. The Studio Theatre is a black box space with seating for about 75 people in a semi-permanent thrust configuration. Mainstage, experimental and student productions are produced in this theatre. The theatre is 48 feet at its widest point and has a permanent lighting grid at 17 feet above the stage floor. There is a small backstage area and entrances and exits can be made from several directions.
The control booth is located above the back row of seating and is accessed via ladder and catwalk. Lighting control is via an ETC Nomad Puck 512 with an Eos programming wing, running 36 Strand CD80 2.4k dimmers.
Sound is controlled from the booth and is run through a 24-channel Allen & Heath analog mixing console with a dedicated audio workstation. Inputs include a Tascam CD player and a small selection of wireless microphones. Output is through a pair of Electro Voice EVID 6.2 speakers. The space has its own Hog 3PC lighting control board with a Road Hog Programming wing, 36 dimmers, dedicated lighting instruments (ETC Source 4s and Source 4 PARs with lenses), three Martin Mac 250 Entour Moving Lights (that float between both spaces) and a sound system.
Lighting is shared between the venues and include a selection of more than 250 conventional lighting instruments, including an ETC Source 4, Altman Shakespeare and Altman 360Q ellipsoidals, Altman 65Q 6" fresnels and ETC Source 4 Pars, as well as Chroma-Q LED strip lights and Martin Mac 250 Entour Moving lights.
A Clear-com two channel system is available in each space for communications, which includes front of house panels in the box office and outside each set of Hugo doors. Hanging microphones in both spaces can be patched in to provide monitoring to 70-volt systems in the booths, dressing rooms and backstage.
Additional Spaces
Ashland University offers a fully-equipped scene shop with wood-working and metal-working facilities, located directly behind the Hugo Young Theatre and adjacent to the Studio Theatre.
Each theatre has easy access to the costume shop with five standard and two industrial sewing machines, three sergers, professional mannequins and laundry facilities.
Scenery, costume and properties storage areas are located on site. In addition, the department utilizes an off-campus storage area for furniture.
A design studio is available, complete with drafting tables, light box, art supplies and a light lab. The lab consists of a Rosco Horizon lighting control system with 2 x 10 fader wings, twelve dimmers and dedicated lighting instruments (Altman 3" Fresnels, Par 16's and Chauvet LEDs) for student instruction and student designers to explore lighting in a lab space.