State-of-the-art Facilities and Resources

State-of-the-art Facilities

The School of Theatre and Dance operates out of the Stevens Building, which houses the Black Box Theatre, the O’Connell Theatre, the Sally Stevens Player’s Theatre, and Theatre Corner, as well as our numerous rehearsal spaces, classrooms, shops, and labs. In addition to on-campus spaces, our students have access to extensive resources in the DeKalb community and surrounding areas.

Performance and Learning Spaces

The three-story Black Box Theatre is the jewel of the Stevens Building.  The flexible 50’ x 70’ venue, features a trapped stage floor, mezzanine level, and catwalk lighting system.

The 440-seat O’Connell Theatre is the original proscenium venue in the Stevens Building. It has a removable orchestra pit cover and a fly system with 34 linesets.

The more intimate Sally Stevens Players Theatre is also original to the Stevens Building. It is a single-story, flexible black box theater that typically seats 90-100 patrons.

In addition to the performance spaces, our performance programs rehearse in dedicated acting, movement, and dance studios.  The dance program operates out of Gabel Hall, next door to the Stevens Building, and has three large dance studios. 

The 10,000 square-foot scene shop can support multiple projects simultaneously and has dedicated space for carpentry, welding, painting, and rigging. Scenery can be built, painted, tested, and transported directly into the Black Box and O’Connell Theatres.

The costume, lighting, and props shops all have dedicated spaces for storage, instruction, and construction work, including sewing, dyeing, fitting, 3D printing, and soldering, as well as a 1/12” light lab.

In addition to the shops, design and technology courses take place in our manual design and drafting studio, the computer lab, and other classrooms within the Stevens Building.

Resources and Environment

DeKalb, NIU's home, offers three distinctive environments: easy access to a major metropolitan area, the warmth and security of small-town living, and the range of shopping, living accommodations, and entertainment associated with a university campus town.

The university community and locale provide a wide variety of sources of stimulation and opportunities for learning and development. Exhibitions, lectures, concerts and recitals, as well as local theatrical productions, have established a tradition of excellence and distinction and contribute significantly to NIU's reputation as an important cultural center for northern Illinois.

Located 65 miles west of Chicago, the university has convenient access to educational, cultural, business, and entertainment activities of the nation's third-largest metropolitan area.

In addition to its world-class museums and galleries, Chicago has established itself as a stimulating home for the performing arts. Joffrey Ballet, Court Theatre, Goodman Theatre, Chicago Shakespeare and Steppenwolf Theatre Company are all prominent, highly respected and even cutting-edge companies in Chicago, but there are also numerous smaller companies, such as Deeply Rooted Dance Theatre, Remy Bumppo Theatre and Congo Square Theatre, that are highly regarded by the arts community. Combined with the national theater and dance companies that tour the city, these are all important resources for the School of Theatre and Dance and are important adjuncts to our school's professional training program.