Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center

University of Maryland, College Park campus
The Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center
Use	Performance venue and academic building
Style
Erected	2001
Location	Stadium Drive at Route 193, College Park, MD 20742 38°59′27″N 76°57′02″W / 38.99083°N 76.95056°WCoordinates: 38°59′27″N 76°57′02″W / 38.99083°N 76.95056°W
Namesake	Clarice R. Smith
Architect	Moore Ruble Yudell
Trivia	The largest single building ever constructed by the State of Maryland[1]
Website	The Clarice Smith Center Website

The Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center is a performing arts complex on the campus of the University of Maryland, College Park.^[2] The 318,000-square-foot (29,500 m²) facility, which opened in 2001, houses six performance venues;^[3] the UMD School of Music;^[4] and the UMD School of Theatre, Dance, and Performance Studies.^[5] It also houses the Michelle Smith Performing Arts Library.^[6] The Center operates under the auspices of the University of Maryland College of Arts and Humanities.^[7]

The Center presents an annual performance season of music, dance and theatre featuring visiting artists and student/faculty artists from the performing arts academic programs.^[8] Since 2014, the venue has styled itself The Clarice, in what appears to be an effort to seem hip and modern; the introduction of this nomenclature was accompanied by a series of mostly-free-of-charge events called the NextNOW Festival near the beginning of the Fall semester.^[9] The Center also rents performance and meeting space to community groups.^[10]

The building is located on the northern side of the University of Maryland campus, off University Boulevard (MD-193) and Stadium Drive in Prince George’s County, Maryland. It is directly across the street from Capital One Field at Byrd Stadium and the 800-space Stadium Drive parking garage.^[11]

History

The Clarice Smith Center is named in honor of visual artist Clarice Smith, whose late husband Robert H. Smith (UM ’50) was a major philanthropist who supported projects in culture, business and Jewish life. As an alumnus of the University of Maryland, he made major contributions to The Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center and to the Robert H. Smith School of Business.^[12]

The Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center was originally conceived as an academic center for teaching the performing arts, but during the planning stages that mission evolved to include not only presentation of performances by touring artists, but also the creation of programs that focused on the people of Prince George’s County, Maryland, where the University of Maryland is located.^[13] Thus there are now occasionally events organized entirely by outside contractors, for which the Center disclaims responsibility.

Architectural vision

Situated on 17 acres (69,000 m²) of land, the 318,000-square-foot (29,500 m²) facility was the largest single building ever constructed by the State of Maryland. The architect, Moore Ruble Yudell, envisioned the spacious lobby as a kind of Main Street that would welcome people into the building. Five of the Center’s six performance spaces are accessible from the Grand Pavilion, the Center’s main lobby; the sixth is at the top of the stairs in the Upper Pavilion.

• Grand Pavilion^[14]
• Dekelboum Concert Hall^[15]
• Ina and Jack Kay Theatre^[16]
• Joseph and Alma Gildenhorn Recital Hall^[17]
• Dance Theatre^[18]
• Robert and Arlene Kogod Theatre^[19]
• Cafritz Foundation Theatre^[20]
• Leah H. Smith Lecture Hall, which occasionally hosts smaller events, Creative Dialogues, Talk-Backs with performers.

Notable UM Alumni in Performing Arts & Entertainment

• Carmen Balthrop^[21][22] - Opera singer/recording artist;^[23] played title role in Scott Joplin’s Treemonisha in its Broadway premiere^[24] and is featured on the original cast recording on DVD and audio.^[25]
• Gail Berman^[26] - President of FOX TV Network, 2000–2005 ; president of Paramount Pictures, 2005–2007; Broadway producer (Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Hurlyburly); TV producer (“Malcolm in the Middle,” “Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” “Angel”); named one of the “100 Most Powerful Women” by Forbes magazine in 2005.^[27]
• Larry David - Head writer and executive producer, Seinfeld; creator/writer/actor, Curb Your Enthusiasm.
• Jim Henson - Creator of the Muppets.
• Liz Lerman - 2002 MacArthur Fellow;^[28] founder/choreographer, Liz Lerman Dance Exchange.^[29]
• Michael Olmert - Playwright/author; has written three Emmy award-winning documentaries for the Discovery Channel.
• David Simon - 2010 MacArthur Fellow;^[30] writer/producer, Homicide: Life on the Street; creator/executive producer/head writer, The Wire; executive producer, Treme.
• William Lucas Walker^[31] - TV producer/writer, “Will & Grace,” “Frasier,” “Rosanne,” “The Chris Isaak Show.”

References

1. "Mac To Millennium: Letter C". Lib.umd.edu. Retrieved 2014-08-06.
2. "The University of Maryland :: A Public Research University Advancing our State and the World". Umd.edu. Retrieved 2014-08-06.
3. "Our Facilities | The Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center". theclarice.umd.edu. Retrieved 2014-08-06.
4. School of Music (2014-07-12). "Home | School of Music". Music.umd.edu. Retrieved 2014-08-06.
5. http://www.tdps.umd.edu/
6. "Michelle Smith Performing Arts Library, UMD Libraries". Lib.umd.edu. 2014-04-30. Retrieved 2014-08-06.
7. "College of Arts & Humanities". Arhu.umd.edu. Retrieved 2014-08-06.
8. "The Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center". theclarice.umd.edu. Archived from the original on August 11, 2014. Retrieved 2014-08-06.
9. "archive.org copy of theclarice.umd.edu showing 2014 NextNOW Festival". Archived from the original on July 27, 2014.
10. "Rental Inquiries | The Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center". theclarice.umd.edu. Retrieved 2016-04-04.
11. "Google Maps". Maps.google.com. 1970-01-01. Retrieved 2014-08-06.
12. Archived June 13, 2011, at the Wayback Machine.
13. Stamler, Gayle. “In Maryland, a Gateway to the Community Through the Arts,” Metropolitan Universities Journal, Vol. 15, No. 3, October 2004. Abstract asserts that "the Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center ponds [sic. Opens?] new doors to performance and learning for communities within and around the university through collaborative activities on and off campus. These are made possible in part by a unique relationship between the university and Prince George's County." Archived June 9, 2010, at the Wayback Machine.,
16. https://web.archive.org/20100614012124/http://claricesmithcenter.umd.edu:80/2009/c/facilities/venues/kay. Archived from the original on June 14, 2010. Retrieved September 30, 2010. Missing or empty |title= (help)
17. https://web.archive.org/20090131032212/http://claricesmithcenter.umd.edu:80/2009/c/facilities/venues/gildenhorn. Archived from the original on January 31, 2009. Retrieved September 30, 2010. Missing or empty |title= (help)
18. https://web.archive.org/20090221074324/http://claricesmithcenter.umd.edu:80/2009/c/facilities/venues/dance. Archived from the original on February 21, 2009. Retrieved September 30, 2010. Missing or empty |title= (help)
19. https://web.archive.org/20100122043912/http://claricesmithcenter.umd.edu:80/2009/c/facilities/venues/kogod. Archived from the original on January 22, 2010. Retrieved September 30, 2010. Missing or empty |title= (help)
20. Archived December 23, 2009, at the Wayback Machine.
21. "Carmen Balthrop, soprano".
22. Archived August 18, 2010, at the Wayback Machine.
23. "Carmen Balthrop".
24. YouTube.
25. "Catalogue - Deutsche Grammophon".
26. Gail Berman
27. "Gail Berman, The Most Powerful Women - Forbes.com".
28. Archived October 12, 2010, at the Wayback Machine.
29. "Dance Exchange".
30. "Class of 2010 - MacArthur Foundation".
31. "William Lucas Walker". IMDb.