Steel River Playhouse features a contemporary façade with a programmable marquee and outdoor plaza. Inside you will find a large lobby with food/beverage and retail concessions, a box office and performance area. Our second-floor houses our Newberry Loft performance area, education workshops and classrooms, administrative offices, a conference room and warming kitchen.
Main Stage
Our Main Stage is a black box theater, a simple, unadorned performance space with black walls, a flat floor, and a pipe grid on the ceiling for suspending lighting instruments and other technical elements. It seats up to 250 using platforms or scaffolding that can be easily changed based on the needs of the production.
Black box theaters are ideal for intimate works focusing on the human elements of performance, rather than extravagant performances focusing on complex technical effects. Our theater facilitates inventive set designs and lighting, reminiscent of the imaginative origins of theater before big budgets and special effects. Audience members are in close proximity to the performers, augmenting the excitement of LIVE! theater — the energy exchanged between actor and audience. Black box theaters emphasize storytelling and acting, and captivating the imaginations of audience members. Our black box main stage is 92′ long by 38′ wide with high-end, built-in lighting and sound. Our productions often use every part of the theater, including scaffolds and audience sections.
Newberry Loft
Our second-floor loft is an even more intimate space, with a sky-lit brick wall and a sprung marley dance and performance floor. While it can be divided into three separate rooms, opened wide it creates an exciting performance space for smaller musical and dance productions for audiences of about 100. The space is 92′ long by 30′ wide.
Backstage
Backstage, we have scene and costume shops, a prop room, light booth, private instructional studios, and a green room complex with five variously-sized dressing rooms and two full bathrooms for performers.
