Previous Facilities in the Harris Fine Arts Center

PARDOE THEATRE

The Pardoe Theatre is a laboratory for the application of production theory, and the venue for the Pardoe Series. Any type of production is technically feasible on its large stage with a proscenium opening of 19 by 55 feet and 500 seats. The largest of the three theatres, the Pardoe is named for T. Earl and Kathryn Pardoe; a husband-wife team who contributed immeasurably to speech and dramatic arts. T. Earl Pardoe was chairman of the Speech Department at BYU from 1919 to 1928 and 1931 to 1952. He and his wife Kathryn taught thousands of BYU drama students during their years here, and left a valuable and lasting legacy.

NELKE EXPERIMENTAL THEATRE

The Nelke Experimental Theatre is designed as a laboratory for the practicum activities of the acting and directing students, and houses the student-directed weekly Mask Club productions during the school year. It features an elevator stage, sharply raked auditorium seating, and 280 seats. Miriam Nelke was one of the first teachers of dramatic arts at Brigham Young Academy. Her students so appreciated her tutelage that they later formed the Nelke Reading Club in her honor, a Provo organization that existed for decades.

COSTUME SHOP

The Costume Shop supports departments in the College of Fine Arts and Communications, including Theatre and Media Arts, Dance, and Music. It is a professional shop with full-time and student employees working in areas of Costume Design, Draping and Patterning, Wardrobe, Costume Crafts, Costume Construction, and Theatrical Hair and Makeup.

A smaller collection of costumes for use on student’s theatre and film projects are available through the Costume B-Room. Instructions for student access to the B-room can be found here: tma.byu.edu/costume-and-prop-resources/

SCENE SHOP

The BYU Scene shop is responsible for constructing the scenery and props for many Theatre and Media Arts, School of Music, and Dance productions. The scene shop is comprised of fully equipped woodworking, welding, and paint shops. Additionally, it has a vacuform machine for working with plastic, a CNC machine, and a hotwire machine for cutting Styrofoam scenery.

MUSIC DANCE THEATRE

Music Dance Theatre (MDT) classes, show production rehearsal halls, and production offices for MDT are located at the south west side of campus in the Richards Building (RB). For scheduling in this building call (801) 422-2563.

MARGETTS THEATRE

The Margetts Theatre is a black box designed to for flexibility of audience seating and staging. It is home to the Margetts Series each theatre season, and provides a venue for experimental and original scripts. Measuring 30 by 50 feet, the Margetts Theatre seats approximately 125 people. The Margetts Theatre was named for Philip N. Margetts, a leading figure in Utah theatre during the late 1800s and early 1900s. Philip was a cast member in the first play produced in the Old Bowery in 1851 and organized the first stock company in Utah. His success in organizing the Mechanics Dramatic Association so impressed President Brigham Young that he made immediate plans for the construction of the Salt Lake Theatre. Margetts performed in leading roles for over fifty years.

PARDOE LIGHT LAB

The Pardoe light lab is located in D-290 adjacent to the Pardoe stage. It is equipped with a company switch, a 24 circuit dimmer system, a control console, and a 180 degree pipe grid allowing lighting fixtures to be mounted in all typical lighting directions. Supplied with Source 4 junior lighting fixtures and a variety of color media, templates, and accessories the lab is used to mock up and study the effects of lighting angles, color and other properties of light. The lab supports the needs of Arts Production and TMA Design and Technology area classes, students, staff and faculty.

MAKEUP STUDIO

The Makeup Studio supports both the makeup classes and full makeup application for the main season productions. Located in the heart of the theatre complex, the studio is equipped with lit portrait makeup mirrors, student and faculty makeup storage bins, a kitchen facility for prosthetic mixing and baking, and a hair and effects station. Each year close to 300 students are supported in their production training for makeup basic application, hair styling, prosthetics, air brush techniques and other contemporary makeup techniques.

PROP SHOP

The BYU Prop Shop purchases, locates, or constructs many of the hand props, furniture, and set decorations for Theatre and Media Arts, School of Music, and Dance productions. The prop shop has a small construction and assembly space, as well as a large area dedicated to hand prop and furniture storage.

MEDIA ARTS OPEN LAB

The Media Arts Open Lab, located in F-233 HFAC, is an Apple computer lab run and maintained by the Theatre and Media Arts department. Though this lab is open to all students, it is primarily dedicated to the support of Theatre and Media Arts classes, and its software suites reflect these needs. All computers are equipped with the following software: Final Cut, AVID Media Composer, Adobe Premier, and the full Adobe Creative Cloud suite. Select computers also have Final Draft and ProTools.

HIGH-END EDITING LAB (“THE CAVE”)

The Cave is the Media Arts’ high-end editing environment. This state-of-the-art editing facility has 5 high-end edit stations, capable of working with multiple streams of uncompressed HD/4k/6k footage.

Software Available: Final Cut X, Adobe Master Collection CC, Avid Media Composer, DaVinci Resolve, and more.

The Cave is a limited access facility restricted to Advanced Editors. The Cave is not a general editing room, and all projects using the Cave and its facilities must be cleared through MA Access Meeting.

MEDIA ARTS CHECK OUT

The MA Check Out is a storage and check out facility located in C-195 HFAC. In conjunction with approved Media Arts classes, it supports the check out of equipment to beginning, intermediate and advanced Media Arts production courses. The MA Check Out’s phone number is 801-422-6902.

For information about the Media Arts Checkout, visit the MAL Equipment Checkout Procedures page at film.byu.edu

TMA SOUND LAB/ADR BOOTH
(“THE POCKET”)

This small facility operates primarily as a stereo mixing and ADR facility. The room is set up to do sound sweetening for stereo mixes, based on the ProTools environment. The Pocket is located in F-236 HFAC (801-422-7300).