Who, What, Why: Laurie McCall, director of the Platt Student Performing Arts House

Laurie McCall is the director of the Platt Student Performing Arts House, as well as staff coordinator of the PennQuest Pre-Orientation Program. She has been at with University Life since 1992, starting as assistant director of New Student Orientation. Since 2007, she has been at the Platt House, which opened the previous year with support from Penn alums Marc and Julie Platt, first as associate director and since 2013 as director. Her undergraduate degree is in education and her graduate degree in communication.

McCall leads the staff at the Platt House, which supports Penn’s 70-plus groups that stage more than 100 comedy, spoken word, dance, theater, voice, and music events each year, involving more than 1,400 undergraduates. The Platt House also provides trainings, workshops, masterclasses, and career mentorship, connecting students with alumni in the field. And it facilitates youth arts mentorship, community outreach, and engagement with the regional arts industry.

“We provide a scaffold of support with resources, care, and advice to our students who are in performing arts groups who want to perform,” McCall says. “But we are also advocates to make sure that they have what they need to perform on campus.”

A big part of her job is helping to solve problems. A continual challenge is finding and securing and allocating space for rehearsals and performances in buildings throughout the campus. She is very much looking forward to the 2027 opening of the new student performing arts center at 33^rd and Chestnut streets; construction started in September. The Platt House team will manage the programming in the new performance center.

Another role is to support the student Performing Arts Council (PAC), which governs the 45 groups that have priority for show spaces and Student Activities Council funding. McCall and her team of five also are in contact with the 35-some independent groups and help when needed. Two manage the PAC Shop, which helps students with set-building and technical needs.

And part of what McCall does is answer the call when the students are trying to manage a challenge and ask for direction. “They don’t always know how to handle conflicts within their groups, and we are helping them do that,” McCall says. “I focus on trying to make sure that they understand what it means to be inclusive.”

Also, she encourages students to enjoy their time in performing arts, to keep their passion, to try not to get stressed out, and to focus on the friendships and the fun. 

McCall was a stage manager when she was in school: “I’m still stage-managing in the way that you’re getting everyone what they need in the time that they need it." She also manages the PennQuest Pre-Orientation experience, selecting and training Penn student volunteers who lead a group of 130 incoming first-year students on a camping and hiking trip in the summer.

“I’m a person who has been managing student group activities my whole life,” she says.  

Student performing arts are woven into the fabric of the University, included in every formal occasion and other events, she says. And the experiences for the students involved form lasting impressions and friendships, McCall says, and she is proud to play a part.

“I would like every student and every student club to have an advisor who they can come to with their issues. I know the pressure that students have academically and timewise, and I don’t want their extracurricular life to be part of that. Extracurriculars should be where they can release their stress,” McCall says. “My goal is to improve their quality of life, especially through the arts, which encompasses so many life lessons and touches so many people. I want to be able to help them in any way I can.”

A calendar of the dozens of student performing arts productions scheduled for this fall is available on the Platt House website.