Prior Performing Arts Center
Our performing arts center is the central hub for shared programming across the arts disciplines, featuring a proscenium theater for music, dance and stage productions as well as additional performance spaces.
Facilities & Venues
Spaces of breathtaking elegance, alive with work that ignites and inspires.
Facilities and venues include performance and gallery spaces, in addition to several locations for classes, rehearsals, studying, and creating. Find a space that sparks a passion within you that transforms how others view art.
Performance Spaces & Galleries
Alden Trust Performance Studio
With sweeping views of Worcester and the Blackstone Valley, this space within The Prior Performing Arts Center is used for dance and music classes, rehearsals, performances and special events.
Boroughs Theatre
The studio theater in The Prior Performing Arts Center is a flexible performance space, inviting artistic experimentation by students, faculty and visiting artists. Configurations include a 80- or 160-seat proscenium option, a three-quarter thrust or seats in the round.
Brooks Concert Hall
Newly renovated with seating for 184, it has superb acoustics and rivals performance halls of much larger institutions. It is adorned by large stained-glass windows and features two concert grand pianos.
Luth Concert Hall
Located in The Prior Performing Arts Center, this world class 400-seat proscenium theater is the College’s principal venue for music, musical theater and dance performances by students and renowned visiting artists alike. Its design creates an intimate dynamic between the audience and the performer. In concert configuration, the stage is framed by a shell of sustainably sourced Makore wood; in theatrical configuration, the shell can be removed, theatrical drapes hung and additional flooring surfaces laid as necessary.
The Pit
Located in O'Kane Hall, it’s used for acting, design and directing classes, as well as guest artist performances. Equipped with a lighting control system, the space is a flexible class and performance venue.
St. Joseph Memorial Chapel
Choral and organ concerts are performed in St. Joseph Memorial Chapel, where the Taylor and Boody Organ, designed in the tradition of 16th- and 17th-century Dutch and north German organs, can be heard regularly at the 11:30 a.m. Sunday Mass.
The Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Art Gallery
An approximately 1,800 square foot exhibit space located in The Prior Performing Arts Center, Holy Cross’ newly opened hub for academic and artistic innovation. The climate- and temperature-controlled gallery space presents five or six original and loan exhibitions every year, comprised of multi-disciplinary contemporary and historically significant exhibitions.
Recent Performances & Exhibitions
Explore some of the dynamic programming we have on campus.
Breakdancing in the Beehives at the Prior Performing Arts Center.
Oklahoma! production in February 2024. Music by Richard Rodgers; Book and lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II; Based on the play Green Grow the Lilacs by Lynn Riggs; Directed by Meaghan Deiter.
"The Good Person of Setzuan" in November 2023. By Bertolt Brecht; Adapted by Tony Kushner; Directed by Edward Isser.
April 2024 production of "The Heiress" By Ruth and Augustus Goetz; Based on Washington Square by Henry James; Directed by Steve Vineberg.
Chertsey Chamber Singers Concert rehearsal in the Beehive of the Prior Performing Arts Center at the College of the Holy Cross on Thursday March 23, 2023 in Worcester, Massachusetts
When Cultures Clash: Destruction and Synthesis, a musical performance at the Prior Performing Arts Center at the College of the Holy Cross on Thursday, February 16, 2023.
Studios, Facilities & More
Booth Media Lab
Located in The Prior Performing Arts Center, this is a place where artistic creativity and technological innovation collide. Classes taught in this space include Designing for Virtual Reality, Digital Studio Art, Audio Engineering and more. Networked keyboards at each custom-designed workstation allow students to compose and perform music together as part of H-CLEF, the Holy Cross Laptop Ensemble Federation.
Brooks Recording Studio
Providing students with a sound isolation booth, professional software and hardware, both analog and digital, and a wide selection of microphones designed for audio recording, engineering and mastering.
Brooks Computer Music Lab
Contains 12 digital audio workstations (DAWs) furnished with an array of professional and cutting-edge software (Pro Tools, Logic, Max/MSP, Audacity, Arduino, Csound, Photoshop Elements) for audio and video editing, arranging, mixing and mastering.
Costume Shop
Costumes for productions are designed and built in our costume shop, located in The Prior Performing Arts Center.
Dance Studio
Located in O’Kane Hall 28, the dance studio is a host to a range of dance classes, fitted with a sprung floor to provide dancers with a safe surface that will ease wear and tear on the body.
Fenwick Music Library
Holding more than 25,000 sound recordings; 10,000 books; 11,000 music scores; and 1,000 videos, the library also has six music workstations with commercial audio streaming services for unlimited, on-demand access to every genre of music.
Foley Scene Shop
The Foley Scene Shop located in The Prior Performing Arts Center is visible to visitors, showcasing traditional behind-the-scenes creations and expertise. It serves as a working laboratory and as a classroom where students can learn the latest technologies.
Millard Art Center
Consisting of two buildings totaling approximately 12,000 square feet, it houses both shared and private studio spaces for painting, sculpture, printmaking, photography and drawing. In addition to several areas where student artwork is displayed, Millard also includes the state-of-the-art Millard Media Lab, which is designed to foster and support creative work in digital imaging; an Equipment Library, where the students can access and loan art equipment; a darkroom; and facilities for welding, woodwork and ceramics.
Practice Rooms
The Brooks Music Center features eight practice rooms equipped with grand and upright Yamaha and Steinway pianos.
Prior Recording Studio & Lovelette Ensemble Room
The epicenter of The Prior Performing Arts Center, the Prior Recording Studio can record sound from anywhere in the building. Students work alongside professional sound engineers to record, mix, and master student performances and collaborate on special projects with guest artists. The adjacent Lovelette Ensemble Room partners with the Prior Recording Studio to facilitate state-of-the-art recording sessions. It also serves as an architecturally stunning venue for classes in several different forms of performance.
Studio 481
Located in O'Kane Hall, Studio 481 hosts a variety of classes and serves as a rehearsal venue for Theatre & Dance productions.