The John R. Emens College-Community Auditorium, or Emens Auditorium, is an auditorium on the campus of Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana, United States.

Venue: John R. Emens College-Community Auditorium
Town: Muncie, US

The John R. Emens College-Community Auditorium, or Emens Auditorium, is an auditorium on the campus of Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana, United States. The facility is used to host Broadway shows, plays, multi-genre concerts, and university events, as well as regional events for eastern Indiana. Emens Auditorium has a seating capacity of 3,581. The Auditorium was opened on March 14, 1964, when Fred Waring and his Pennsylvanians performed. Attached to the rear of the facility is a smaller theater used for performing arts shows. Emens cost US$2.975 million to build in 1964. The architect was Walter Scholer, and the contractor was Hagerman Construction Co., Fort Wayne, Indiana. The stage is 144 feet wide by 45 feet deep, and stage floor to gridiron is 78 feet. The proscenium arch is 82 feet wide. A sixteen-ton fireproof curtain divides the stage from the house. Its opening date or "Sneak Previews" for the public was on March 14 and 15, 1964, dedication, October 25, 1964. The official name of the venue is John R. Emens College-Community Auditorium. To build Emens, a charity fund-raising was begun in 1960 and succeeded its goal of US$1.5 million by $10,532 on January 25, 1964. The auditorium was named for the president of the school at that time John R. Emens. The university honored his wife five years after the opening by naming the art-filled lounge on the auditorium's second floor the Aline Brainerd Lounge. The auditorium adds more than US$2 million to the local economy each summer and presents concerts to the public. Planning for the auditorium began as early as 1947, but the U-shaped building was not actually built until 1961. The structure includes the Hargreaves Music Building, Arts and Communications Building, and the 410-seat University Theatre. In its first 25 years, more than 3.6 million people visited the then 3,581-seat auditorium to see 2,335 programs. The acoustic scalloped ceiling and state-of-the-art sound capabilities of Emens Auditorium account