Performance Spaces

The Apollo Theatre in Oberlin is synonymous with consistent family friendly movies shown at reasonable prices. For 96 years, the downtown movie theater has opened its doors to enthusiastic patrons, ready to see the latest offering shown reel-to-reel from a single screen. The recently renovated theater, at 19 E. College St., has 840 seats, an indoor ticket center, an expanded concession area, a new sound system and digital projector, updated handicapped-accessible restroom facilities, and its signature 1950s-style marquee in the front.

Jazz students and faculty have joined their classical counterparts in the new Bertram and Judith Kohl Building that opened in spring 2010. The building features a third-story, glass-walled, cantilevered section that reaches across to the main conservatory complex. The building has flexible rehearsal and performance spaces, teaching studios, practice rooms, music archive and exhibits, instrument storage, a lobby, and a world-class recording studio. In addition to jazz studies, the facility houses the music history and music theory departments. The building has received a gold Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design certification from the U.S. Green Building Council, making it one of the few, or perhaps, only, music conservatories in the world with this distinction.

The Cat in the Cream is a coffeehouse-style venue run entirely by students. Here you'll find classic coffeehouse entertainment-folk music, jazz, and poetry readings, for example - interspersed with improv and sketch comedy, student theater productions, dance, and storytelling. Bookings showcase homegrown talent along with national and even international acts. Reasonably priced coffees, teas, and juices, along with the Cat's famous giant cookies, also make this a favorite gathering place.

Between college and town lies a 13-acre, wooded green space that serves as a gathering place for picnics, bonfires, and festivals of all kinds. Erected in 1987 in Tappan Square, it also is the site of many small gatherings and concerts for both College students and members of the Oberlin community. Most performances are free, particularly in the summer. The pavilion's architecture evokes the image of a carnival cart from India. Julian S. Smith's design was chosen from among 50 entries.

This underground nightspot attracts a variety of alternative bands, along with many top-notch musical combos formed by Oberlin students. Located on the ground floor of Wilder Hall, the 'Sco has an impressive selection of beers on tap, as well as games of darts, billiards, and foosball. Student DJs keep the dance floor spinning on nights when there are no live acts.

The centerpiece of Bosworth Hall is Fairchild Chapel, a 150-seat facility that features a pipe organ based on building principles of the early 17th century. The chapel was inspired by the work of German organ builders Gottfried Fritzsche and Friedrich Stellwagen. It is named for James Harris Fairchild, who served as College president from 1866-89.