A group of musical theater students performed Thursday at the newly built AISD performing arts center near the Mueller development, along with McCallum’s advanced steel band and groups from other schools, for the tuning of the hall. The performances were being filmed and evaluated by a group of engineers evaluating the acoustics with a variety of sound types. Senior Sage Stoakley, one of the musical theater students who performed, said she thinks the facility will be amazing.
“It’s like a professional stage, which is really cool,” Stoakley said. “The stage was built by the same people who built our performing arts center. It was really cool testing out the acoustics in the room. We didn’t have microphones, but you could hear us, no problem. It was awesome.”
Stoakley said she anticipates schools from around the district, especially middle schools without a theater facility, will really appreciate performance opportunities at the new center.
“I went to Murchison, which didn’t have a real theater,” she said. “We had a ‘cafetorium,’ as they call it, which is like a cafeteria/stage, but it was like the smallest thing in the world and wasn’t really at all like a theater. I would have loved to have done our shows on a real stage. I think for things like [UIL] One Act play festivals that they have for middle school students and high school students, it will be a great place too.”
Performing arts groups from all over the district, including the all-city choir, will perform at the opening of the center Jan. 24.
A look inside the new performing arts center