About the djd theater

The mission of the DJD Theater is to be a cultural hub for arts, entertainment, and education for the greater Birmingham community and the students of Alabama School of Fine Arts.

With 500 seats, Alabama School of Fine Arts (ASFA)’s 19,000 square-foot Dorothy Jemison Day (DJD) Theater offers the arts community a much-needed alternative to both smaller and larger facilities. It also benefits all areas of the school, providing a professional environment in which students will learn the inner-workings, challenges, and opportunities of performing on a professional stage. The theater is located at 800 19th Street North in the heart of Birmingham’s downtown arts district. Craig Krawczyk of Birmingham’s LIVE Design Group was the architect for the $8.5 million project. Theater acoustics were designed by David Kahn of Acoustic Dimensions (New Rochelle, New York), and technical theater design was by Michael Ferguson of Theatre Project Consultants (Norwalk, Connecticut). Included in the building is a 40 x 75 foot sprung stage floor with a mechanical orchestra lift, a 60-foot fly loft for changing the scenery, and a Wenger orchestra shell. The acoustically tune-able listening environment also has a Steinway concert grand piano and a complete set of Marley dance flooring. There are two large audience restrooms, a green room, dressing rooms with full bath facilities for performers, laundry/kitchen facilities, and a scene shop for the set construction. The building is equipped with WiFi, Ethernet voice/data connections, and a large high definition movie screen. Constructed by B.L. Harbert International, the theater will help stimulate the economic development and revitalization of the downtown art district, which has a shortage of mid-sized performance venues available to local performing artists.