The Performing Arts Center, Purchase College Used As Filming Location For PBS July 4 Special

The Performing Arts Center, Purchase College (The PAC) was selected as the location for shooting a portion of PBS' upcoming A Capitol Fourth celebration concert, which will air on Saturday, July 4. The portion filmed at The PAC will feature a performance by Brian Stokes Mitchell.

The shoot for the event took place in The Performing Arts Center's Concert Hall on June 22, 2020.

Seth Soloway, Director of The Performing Arts Center, was onsite from the first in to the last out, to oversee social distancing and appropriate COVID-19 precautions were being adhered to. A very small team of The PAC's skilled full time production crew worked diligently to get the job done just a few hours.

The Performing Arts Center's Concert Hall was selected thanks to The PAC's reputation in the field. The PAC has been used a location for a number of film and TV productions throughout the years as part of its thriving rental business, including Mozart in the Jungle, Happy, Law and Order SVU, and the feature film BLACK SWAN. Emmy-award winning lighting designer David Grill (Purchase College '86; co-director of the Theatre Design/Technology Program at Purchase College) is working on the PBS special and was instrumental in making the connection.

"In these challenging times the thing I'm hearing most from arts colleagues is the struggle to find ways to help people and make a difference under the current circumstances," comments PAC Director Seth Soloway. "This shoot was an opportunity for Purchase College to put our best foot forward by helping give the world the 4th of July gift that this program will be. It was an honor to do our part, and it felt wonderful to once again be able to pool our collective talents to do so."

The 40th annual broadcast of A CAPITOL FOURTH airs on PBS Saturday, July 4, 2020 from 8:00 to 9:30 p.m. ET, as well as to our troops serving around the world on the American Forces Network. The program can also be heard in stereo over NPR member stations nationwide. The concert will also be streaming on Facebook, YouTube and http://www.pbs.org/a-capitol-fourth/home/ and available as Video on Demand for a limited time only, July 4 to July 18, 2020.