Rose Wagner Performing Arts Center

Originally a warehouse with clear-span bays, the building that is now the Rose Wagner Performing Arts Center offered a unique opportunity for adaptive reuse. Recognizing both the potential of the existing structure and the need for a permanent home for Utah’s performing arts community, Muir Architects transformed the space into a dynamic cultural hub. Today, the Rose Wagner Performing Arts Center serves as home to the Gina Bachauer International Piano Foundation, Plan-B Theatre Company, Pygmalion Productions, Repertory Dance Theatre, and Ririe-Woodbury Dance Company. In addition to its resident organizations, the facility hosts a wide range of performances year-round, including theater, classical music, ballet, student recitals, and film festivals.

In developing the design, Muir Architects looked to black-box theaters across the country for inspiration, noting that few were specifically designed to support dance. The integration of a black-box theater into a multi-venue performing arts center was highly innovative at the time and, as noted by Muir, represented “a new prototype for the performing arts with few precedents.” The facility includes three distinct performance venues, along with a lobby and mezzanine gallery. The Jeanne Wagner Theatre is a 501-seat proscenium theater featuring four dressing rooms, a green room, and a sprung dance floor. The Leona Wagner Black Box offers 191 seats, flexible configurations with motorized retractable seating, two dressing rooms, and a green room. The Studio Theatre provides a more intimate setting with 75 seats, a sprung floor, and fully configurable stage and seating arrangements.

Design Principals: Prescott Muir & Lisa Arnett

Project Architect: Jack Robertson