Norton Center From All Angles

A View From Below A Circular Chandelier, Creating An Abstract Swirling Image

By: Addie Osborne
/
July 15, 2025

Norton Center From All Angles

The Norton Center for the Arts is known for captivating performances, striking Frank Lloyd Wright-inspired architecture and diverse gallery exhibitions. But there’s an entire world beyond what meets the eye — spaces essential to the magic experienced by audiences and students alike.

Grant Hall, the academic wing of the Norton Center, is home to Centre College’s music and drama programs. Complete with classrooms, studios and professional creative spaces, Grant provides plenty of ways for students to gain hands-on experiences alongside seasoned faculty. Some of these spaces are dedicated solely to student learning, while others support both educational and professional production needs.

From high above the Weisiger Theatre stage down to the lowest level of the Norton Center, these are just a few of the spaces that bring performing arts magic to life.

A man, left, adjusts a light atop the Weisiger Theatre lighting grid.

Above the Weisiger Theatre stage is a walkable grid, offering students and professionals easy access to stage lights, audio and stage rigging. This allows for quick, safe adjustments and maintenance without disrupting a performance or hauling in scaffolding.

A view from the top of Weisiger theatre, showing the lighting grid at the top and seating at the bottom of the image

Matthew Hallock holds a foam block and writes something on it with sharpie as two students, wearing protective gear, observe

Located just off the Newlin Hall stage, the Scene Shop is a professional-grade workspace where students design, build and create props and scenery for upcoming productions. Touring professional productions, like CATS and Chicago, use this space for props, wardrobe, makeup and more.

The Norton Center scene shop, with a student standing to the right. wooden frames are laying on the floor, mid-painted

A music room with vaulted ceilings, with a piano, gong, drums, xylophones and more in frame

With beautiful vaulted ceilings and rich acoustics, the Grant Hall Orchestra Room sits on the lowest level of the Norton Center and acts as a multipurpose room for the music department. From rehearsals to classes to instrument storage, this room spends its time filled with music.

A music room with vaulted ceilings, a piano, drums and chairs in frame

A wide angle of a costume shop, with a student sitting and sewing at a table in the foreground. The room is packed full of fabric, mannequins and tools.

Students working in the Costume Shop learn sewing and costume creation techniques, used for student productions and more. Many completed piees from the Shop live in costume storage, which holds decades' worth of donated, purchased and hand-made clothing and props, ready for use in future student productions.

Close up shot of a costume shop wall, on one side outfit illustrations are hung and on the other side are spools of thread

Students moving in a dance studio, arms out and smiling

The Dance Studio is the perfect open, bright space for dance practice and movement workshops, with natural light pouring in from the ceiling and mirrors lining the walls. Part of Centre's drama program, dance classes are open to all interested students and culminate in an annual concert showcasing their talents.

A view of the dance studio from a low angle, with the vaulted ceiling windows taking up most of the frame. At the bottom of frame, there is a class of students doing a stretch with arms raised to the ceiling.

Three students in costumes perform in the Blackbox Theatre

On the fifth floor of Grant Hall sits a space painted completely black, created for experimental student theatre productions. The Blackbox Theatre accommodates smaller audiences for more intimate performing arts experiences and is painted black to direct focus to the performers.