Klein Theatre
An intimate 233-seat proscenium stage, Klein Theatre has served as the primary venue for the Department of Theatre & Dance’s main stage productions since 1952. The theatre, a state-of-the-art facility, is an invaluable department resource that allows students to apply the classroom-taught concepts in an experimental learning-based environment. Each academic year, the department produces four main-stage productions in the space. The theatre also serves as the primary classroom setting for Technical Production and Scene Painting.
Features:
- 196 2.4kw ETC Sensor Dimmers
- Dedicated iPad with iRFR
- Extensive lighting fixture inventory that includes
- 6 ETC Source Four Revolution Automated Lighting Fixtures
- 12 ETC Source Four LED Series 2 Lustr
- 12 Dicroic Color Filter Sea Changers
- ETC Source Four Fixtures
- ETC Source Four PARNELS
- Altman T-3 3-Cell Cyc Lights
- L&E MR16 Strip Lights
- Martin Atomic 3000 DMX Strobe Lights
- Martin Magnum 850 Fog Machine
- Look Solutions Unique Hazer
- 23 Line Set, Double Purchase Counter Weight Fly System with Off-The-Floor Working Rail
- Motorized-Driven Winches for Overstage Electrics
- 2-Channel Kenwood Radios to facilitate safe and efficient communication within the facility.
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Albert R. Klein
Albert R. Klein joined the Mary Washington faculty as an instructor of dramatic arts in 1952. This year was also the premiere of the Little Theatre in duPont Hall, in which the Mary Washington Player’s opened their season with a production of Blithe Spirit. Klein served as technical director for the production with Mark Sumner, the head of the department, as director. This began a decade of “high quality dramatics [on] the stage of duPont Hall.” Klein and Sumner alternated roles as director and technical director throughout the season with Debbie Klein designing scenery or costumes for the productions.
Klein also performed other roles in the shows at Mary Washington College. In a production of Harvey, Sumner directed Klein as Elwood P. Dowd; Alvey, in “History of Mary Washington College: 1908-1972” comments that, “one could see the white rabbit that Klein made so believable.” In 1955, Klein’s Masquerade for Linda, an original play, was produced by the Mary Washington Players.
With his unexpected death on October 6, 1970, the Albert Klein Memorial Fund Committee was established “to provide scholarship for drama majors.” In the alcoves of the theatre hang plaques honoring the recipients of the Department’s scholarships and awards. Additionally, it “announced that the theatre in duPont Hall would be named in his honor.”
On October 22, 1971, Mary Washington College dedicated the theatre in memoriam to Dr. Klein for his “rich contribution to the college.”