Glenn Korff Performing Arts Center Support

The Glenn Korff Performing Arts Center is where the Doane experience will come alive—a vibrant home for creativity, collaboration, and community. Made possible largely through the generosity of the Glenn Korff Foundation, the project honors Esther Farley Korff, a 1934 Doane graduate whose lifelong love of theatre began on this campus. The Korff family—Paul and Esther, and their sons, Kenneth and the late Glenn—are known throughout Nebraska for their philanthropy and dedication to the arts.

The new three-level, 24,000-square-foot Theatre Addition will feature a high-tech, multi-form theatre seating 223 guests, with advanced lighting, sound, and staging systems. Backstage, a green room, dressing rooms, and a scenery construction shop will support students from rehearsal to performance.

The Music Addition and renovation will add 13,000 square feet of new space and 6,000 square feet of updated facilities, including rehearsal rooms, studios, and classrooms to support the next generation of musicians. This portion of the project fulfills a vision inspired by the late Dr. Tom Tonniges ’71, whose lifelong love of music and his Doane experience helped shape this dream.

Dr. Tonniges was an active student leader and musician—member of Delta Kappa Pi, Student Congress, and the Inter-Fraternity Council—and a proud performer with Doane’s Varsity Vagabonds, traveling internationally on USO tours. His years singing with the Vagabonds were among his most cherished Doane memories, and his passion for music and education continues to inspire this new facility, which will bear his name as the Dr. Tom Tonniges Hall of Music.

Together, these spaces will unite in a modern, welcoming hub where Doane’s artistic spirit—and the legacies of those who shaped it—will thrive for generations to come.

Now is the time to take part in Doane’s next great act.

Your support for the Glenn Korff Performing Arts Center will help create a home where music, theatre, and creativity flourish—empowering students to find their voices, tell their stories, and inspire audiences for years to come.

Join us in bringing this vision to life and shaping the future of the performing arts at Doane.

Construction cameras for this project can be viewed here.