AN EPIC VENUE FINALLY OPENING.Byline: Carol Rock Staff Writer VALENCIA - The curtain will rise this week on the first major performing arts center A performing arts center, often abbreviated PAC, is a multi-use performance space that can be adapted for use by various types of the performing arts, including dance, music and theatre. in Santa Clarita Santa Clarita, city (1990 pop. 110,642), Los Angeles co., S Calif., suburb 30 mi (48 km) NW of downtown Los Angeles, on the Santa Clara River; inc. 1987. Situated in the Santa Clara valley and nearby canyons, Santa Clarita includes the former towns of Canyon Country, , one of the state's fastest-growing communities but one that has been notably short of entertainment venues. The $18.3 million, 886-seat EPIC Center for the Performing Arts will open Friday night at College of the Canyons College of the Canyons is one of the fastest-growing community colleges in the state. According to the National Junior College Research Association, College of the Canyons consistently ranks in the top 50 community colleges in the nation. , with a student performance of the Tony Award-winning musical ``Big River.'' The center - EPIC is for Educating, Performing, Informing and Communicating - includes a 125-seat Black Box Theater For the theater in Oslo, Norway, see Black Box Teater. The black box theater is a relatively recent innovation, consisting of a simple, somewhat unadorned performance space, usually a large square room with black walls and a flat floor. and an adjacent dance and music hall that is still under construction. ``We dreamed big and worked together,'' college President Dianne Van Hook said of a partnership with the city of Santa Clarita. ``And here we are.'' Performances booked for this first season range from Jim Gamble's Puppets in ``The Witch's Brew'' to concerts by Paul Anka, Melissa Manchester and the Vienna Choir Boys. Russian dancers will join a local ballet company in presenting the holiday classic ``The Nutcracker.'' Theater manager Karen Schmidt is a veteran, having managed booking and presentation at the Music Center of Los Angeles, the drama division at the University of Southern California The U.S. News & World Report ranked USC 27th among all universities in the United States in its 2008 ranking of "America's Best Colleges", also designating it as one of the "most selective universities" for admitting 8,634 of the almost 34,000 who applied for freshman admission , the resident theater company at University of California, Los Angeles UCLA comprises the College of Letters and Science (the primary undergraduate college), seven professional schools, and five professional Health Science schools. Since 2001, UCLA has enrolled over 33,000 total students, and that number is steadily rising. , and an Equity-waiver theater. Schmidt said she's impressed with the 47,000-square-foot arts center that provides a new and dramatic entry to the Valencia community college The college was founded in 1967 as Valencia Junior College, taking its current name in 1971. It has several campuses in Orlando with additional campuses in Kissimmee and Winter Park. More than 50,000 students enroll each year. . ``I thought it was gorgeous and an amazing place to perform,'' she said. ``I was impressed with the intimacy of the environment, the short distance between the seats and the stage will allow an extraordinary exchange between audience and performers.'' EPIC went from the drawing board to fruition in three years. Part of the college's master plan from the beginning, it was a creative match of state and city money that made it all come together. The newest and largest performing arts center in northern Los Angeles County, it joins a network of arts complexes that includes the Lancaster Performing Arts Center, which seats 758 and the Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza The Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza is a performing arts and administrative center located in Thousand Oaks, California. It was built in 1994 on the former site of "Jungleland" at a cost of $63.8 million. , with a main stage theater seating 1,800. The main stage theater seats as many as 559 in the orchestra section and 327 in the balcony, and an adjacent black box theater has flexible seating that can accommodate up to 125. The 7,500-square-foot, full proscenium proscenium In a theatre, the frame or arch separating the stage from the auditorium, through which the action of a play is viewed. In ancient Greek theatres, the proskenion was an area in front of the skene that eventually functioned as the stage. stage is augmented by a full construction shop; fly space for scenery and backdrops; and wardrobe and prop construction and storage on the second floor of the complex. Of note is the center's specialized acoustic control system, one of only three in the United States. The system augments traditional speakers with sound coming from spots on the wall that function to reflect sound waves. It is designed to electronically adapt the sound for varying types of performances that have different requirements - greater reverberation for orchestral concerts, more clarity for chamber music and other special requirements for choral music, opera, spoken word and ballet. Special software allows guests to check out the best available seating as well as the view from those seats, on their home computers before buying tickets online or on campus. The Web site is www.epiccenteronline.com. Carol Rock, (661) 257-5252 carol.rock(at)dailynews.com |
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