Vern Riffe Center for the Arts

The Vern Riffe Center for the Arts opened in 1995 at Shawnee State University in Portsmouth, Ohio. Named after Ohio House Speaker Vern Riffe, it combines public performance facilities with teaching spaces for the arts. The complex includes the Eloise Covert Smith Theater, Kahl Studio Theater, Howland Recital Hall and Appleton Gallery. Its academic wing contains facilities for visual arts, photography, ceramics and game design. The centre also houses the Portsmouth Area Arts Council and serves both university productions and visiting performing artists. On the campus of Shawnee State University, in the southern Ohio town where the Scioto joins the Ohio river, this arts centre serves two purposes at once. It houses the university's theatre and music teaching, with rehearsal and studio space, and it presents a public season of touring drama, dance, music and opera.