Detroit Country Day School
Detroit County Day School: Advancing Theatre Education with SkyDeck™
Founded in 1914, Detroit Country Day School is a private, secular college-preparatory school serving students from Pre-K through 12th grade across four campuses. Established by Alden Shaw as a boys’ school with a strong emphasis on academics and athletics, the school began welcoming girls in grades K–6 in 1940 and became fully coeducational in 1972. Today, Detroit Country Day School continues its tradition of providing students with opportunities to explore academic, artistic, and extracurricular interests in a dynamic learning environment.
The Seligman Family Performing Arts Center opened in 2000 as a professional, state-of-the-art performing arts facility designed to support a broad range of productions and educational programs. Equipped with advanced digital sound, sighting, and projection technology, the venue provides an adaptable environment for performances, film presentations, lectures, and other creative programming.
In April 2015, the performing arts center underwent a major expansion, adding new spaces and resources to further support the school’s growing arts curriculum. A key addition was the Nicole and Stephen Eisenberg Family Studio Theatre, a versatile multipurpose performance space designed to give students hands-on experience with the technical and creative aspects of live production.
At the heart of the studio theatre is a 1,779-square-foot SkyDeck™ tension wire grid system, providing a safe, flexible, and accessible platform for theatrical lighting and technical production. The system gives students the opportunity to work directly with professional-style stage equipment while developing practical skills in lighting, rigging, and theatre technology.
For an educational environment, safety and accessibility are essential. SkyDeck™ provides a secure walking surface above the performance space, making it easier for students and instructors to access lighting equipment and other technical elements. Its flexible design also allows the theatre to accommodate changing production requirements, giving students exposure to a wider variety of performance and production configurations.
The addition of SkyDeck™ transforms the Nicole and Stephen Eisenberg Family Studio Theatre into more than a performance venue—it becomes an active learning environment where students can develop technical skills through hands-on experience. By working with theatre rigging and lighting systems in a professional-style setting, students gain valuable knowledge that can prepare them for future work in theatre, entertainment, and production.
The SkyDeck™ tension wire grid demonstrates how thoughtful theatre rigging solutions can enhance both safety and education, giving Detroit Country Day School students a versatile space where creativity, technical training, and performance come together.