Adelphi programs in acting, design/technical theatre, music, and dance have grown to become some of the country’s most esteemed, attracting exceptional students and delighting audiences with acclaimed performances. Performing Arts Center  Since 1938, when internationally renowned choreographer and dancer Ruth St. Denis became the head of Adelphi’s dance department—the first such department at an American college—Adelphi has set a high standard for performing arts training. Students from across the country and around the world attribute the programs’ appeal to the close attention they receive from world-class professors. Yet, for all their successes, these departments are hampered from further development by cramped and outdated quarters. Dance students practice in makeshift studios in Woodruff Hall gymnasium. The Music Department is crammed in Post Hall, without adequate practice rooms or instrument storage, and must perform in the University Center ballroom, rather than an acoustically appropriate space. Olmsted Theatre’s main stage is showing its age after more than 30 years, and the black box theatre in the basement is not only inaccessible to individuals with disabilities, but also inadequate for proper instruction. A new performing arts center incorporating Olmsted Theatre will bring Adelphi’s music and performing arts departments together under one roof, and provide for the first time appropriate performance and rehearsal spaces.