{"id":22988,"date":"2025-09-29T16:19:03","date_gmt":"2025-09-29T20:19:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/campusconnection\/?p=22988"},"modified":"2025-09-29T23:48:38","modified_gmt":"2025-09-30T03:48:38","slug":"udm-opens-new-black-box-theatre-on-mcnichols-campus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/campusconnection\/2025\/09\/29\/udm-opens-new-black-box-theatre-on-mcnichols-campus\/","title":{"rendered":"UDM opens new Black Box Theatre on McNichols Campus"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"AnUniversity of Detroit Mercy opened a theatre on its McNichols Campus Monday, Sept. 29, that it hopes will become a venue not just for the school\u2019s Department of Performing Arts<\/a>, but for artists and community members across Detroit who need a place to come together.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re thrilled to bring live theatre back to campus,\u201d said Detroit Mercy President Donald B. Taylor. \u201cThis will enhance our student engagement on campus and provide community engagement opportunities for our neighborhood in ways we are only beginning to imagine.\u201d<\/p>\n

The state-of-the-art Detroit Mercy Black Box Theatre<\/a> is designed to be a flexible, professional-quality space that allows students and faculty to explore innovative forms of storytelling. Located on the Lower Level of the Student Union, the venue will also be made available to Detroit\u2019s varied community organizations and businesses for meetings, performances and presentations.<\/p>\n

Though there have been performances at various spaces on the McNichols Campus for decades, this is the first dedicated theatre space there.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe new Black Box Theatre will be a catalyst for creativity,\u201d said Greg Grobis, associate dean of the College of Humanities, Arts & Social Sciences (CHASS) and associate professor of Theatre. \u201cIts flexible design ensures that no two productions will ever feel the same, empowering students and faculty to dream bigger, take risks and explore new forms of storytelling.\u201d<\/p>\n

Most important, it will be the new home to the award-winning Detroit Mercy Theatre Company<\/a>, which will open its 55th season on Nov. 7 with a new adaptation of William Shakespeare\u2019s comedy \u201cTwelfth Night\u201d adapted by Marc Palmieri. Most recently, the company produced its works at the Marlene Boll Theatre at the Detroit YMCA.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Department of Performing Arts and Detroit Mercy Theatre Company cannot wait to return home to UDM\u2019s McNichols Campus after more than 10 years away,\u201d said Sarah Hawkins Rusk, managing director of DMTC. \u201cThis new theatre space will be a vibrant home for creativity on campus \u2014 giving our students a professional-quality space to learn and grow, whether they\u2019re performing on stage or working behind the scenes.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"TwoThe 13,000-square-foot space cost just under $3 million and funded through investments by many donors, including several alumni who work in the entertainment industry across the country. It will seat up to 109 people, depending on the configuration of the stage, which can be adapted to each production. Lighting and sound technology is of a caliber being used in professional theaters across the country, allowing students to develop skills they can take directly to the workforce. The theater also includes a costume shop with laundry, individual changing rooms and a greenroom where performers can prepare and relax before and after a show.<\/p>\n

The Detroit Mercy Black Box Theatre will also strengthen arts and culture connections beyond campus said Jocelyn Boryczka, CHASS dean, noting its wider impact on both the University and surrounding neighborhoods.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Detroit Mercy Black Box Theatre will energize arts and culture on UDM\u2019s McNichols Campus, in our Northwest Detroit neighborhoods and across metro Detroit,\u201d she said of the Livernois and Six Mile corridor of Detroit. \u201cThis space will host student productions, lectures, spoken word and musical performances, and other events that will drive community engagement. Our new theater exhibits how UDM lives its mission by creating a space where we can all reach for the\u00a0magis<\/em>, the more.\u201d<\/p>\n

The theatre also represents a significant step forward for Detroit Mercy\u2019s Department of Performing Arts. Andrew Papa, chair of the Department of Performing Arts, emphasized the impact it will have.<\/p>\n

\"The\u201cThe Detroit Mercy Black Box Theatre is set to become a game-changer for not just the Department of Performing Arts, but for the entire Detroit Mercy community,\u201d he said. \u201cHaving a permanently designated space for our theatre productions is an invaluable learning experience for our students. It will give them more opportunities to experiment, to work with technology that mirrors the real world, and even to develop their own student-produced work.<\/p>\n

He continued: \u201cDetroit Mercy is a \u2018learn by doing\u2019 institution, and laboratories are a key method for teaching our students. We have Chemistry lab spaces and Architecture lab spaces and even lab spaces for our Nursing students. And now, the student artists at Detroit Mercy have a laboratory space, too.\u201d<\/p>\n

Following a ribbon-cutting scheduled for 10 a.m. Monday, Sept. 29, the University will hold an invitation-only gala during the run of\u00a0Twelfth Night<\/em>. Discounted tickets are available at special high school students and community members during the run of the show.\u00a0Visit the Detroit Mercy Arts website for tickets<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe look forward to seeing what our students can do with this incredible resource, and how the commitment to arts on campus will echo through the community,\u201d said Grobis.<\/p>\n

Learn more about Detroit Mercy Theatre Company<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Detroit Mercy brings live theatre back to campus on Sept. 29 with the opening of its state-of-the-art Black Box Theatre, designed to be a flexible, professional-quality space that allows students and faculty to explore innovative forms of storytelling.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":677,"featured_media":22985,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[6,6438,4404],"tags":[7123,6164,6165,2095,7124,216,38],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sites.udmercy.edu\/campusconnection\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/106\/2025\/09\/blackbox-full.jpg?fit=1900%2C758&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pbwnTV-5YM","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/campusconnection\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22988"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/campusconnection\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/campusconnection\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/campusconnection\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/677"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/campusconnection\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22988"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/campusconnection\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22988\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22997,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/campusconnection\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22988\/revisions\/22997"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/campusconnection\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22985"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/campusconnection\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22988"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/campusconnection\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22988"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/campusconnection\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22988"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}