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George Rowland White Performance Center

The $16 million George Rowland White Performance Center opened in 2008 in the heart of Downtown Pittsburgh. It is a Gold LEED-certified building and one of the few green arts facilities in the region. The 44,000-square-foot center includes:

  • Four floors with extra-height ceilings, comparable in size to a six-story building
  • Eight studios for rehearsals and performances 
  • State-of-the-art heating and cooling systems, ventilation, flooring, lighting, acoustics and equipment
  • Grand pianos and state-of-the-art sound systems
  • On-site student lockers, showers, changing spaces and bike racks

Video by Dylan Letorney, content creator and creative producer of Hybrid Media Productions

Rehearsal and Performance Facilities in the Complex

George Rowland White Performance Studio
This dance studio can be converted into a fully functional performance space to meet the needs of various projects at the conservatory. It offers intimate audience seating for 188 and a 40-foot-by-30-foot performance space, the second largest in Downtown Pittsburgh.

Hilda Willis Tap Dance Studio
Students in the dance and musical theatre programs use this 40-foot-by-50-foot facility, located on the lower level of the center.

George Rowland White Dance Studios Two, Three, Four, Five, Six and Seven
The studios on the first and second floors average 60 feet by 40 feet or 50 feet by 40 feet in size and have extra-high ceilings, offering dancers maximum space for leaps, circular patterns and lifts.

The Award-Winning Pittsburgh Playhouse

PNC Theatre

The award-winning Pittsburgh Playhouse — located at 305 Forbes Avenue in Downtown Pittsburgh — showcased by beautifully preserved historic facades and a restored stained-glass ceiling in the Stock Exchange Building, is a 24/7 operation with:

  • Three different academic and theatre spaces (PNC Theatre seats 550, Highmark Theatre seats 200 and the Rauh Theatre, 99)
  • Scene shop, sound stage, prop shop, costume shop
  • 10,000-square-foot production area, and more than 11,000 square feet of tech space for technical theatre and cinema arts programs
  • Café

The Playhouse offers the public an intimate view of the making of art, as large windows offer an unobstructed view of performance venues typically shielded from observation. A hangar door connects one theatre inside the Playhouse to the outdoor courtyard, providing students the opportunity to perform for the Downtown public at large.

The Playhouse is home to The REP - the professional theatre company - and three student companies: Conservatory Theatre Company, Conservatory Dance Company and Playhouse Jr.

The Pittsburgh Playhouse maintains a rigorous performance calendar, entertaining more than 30,000 patrons annually.

Other Facilities

In addition to the George Rowland White Performance Center and Pittsburgh Playhouse, dance students have the opportunity each year to perform at the Byham Theatre, located in the heart of Pittsburgh's Cultural District.

For more information, check out the campus map, which shows these facilities, as well as other key locations.