Don Baggette Theatre

How do you take a 1970s box and have it say, “This is a creative performing arts center”? Part of Nevada Union High School is the Don Baggett Theatre, home to the theater, orchestra, and chorus program. A further constraint was that the maintenance department ideally wanted just one color—I thank them for their flexibility and open-mindedness in allowing me to specify a few accent colors. Some of the locker rooms and lockers needed to be painted. There was one area in particular where I asked the principal, “Is there a lot of shady stuff going on down here?” She laughed and said, actually, yes. So they allowed me to change the color of the lockers to something brighter and friendlier, with lighter wall colors to lift spirits and chase the gloom away. A few grandparents of high schoolers told me they could never find the entrance to the hall—a good example of how color can also act as a signpost, guiding people toward something. The entry itself was painted in the most vibrant, inviting color.