The Big Easy has a new entertainment & events venue and it is located in a well established, world-renowned  and award winning  meetings venue. Since its debut in 1999, the New Orleans Morial Convention Center’s Conference Auditorium has wowed convention and exhibition attendees its convenient turnkey production capabilities and plush theatrical setting. Recently, Center officials saw opportunity to beef up Center’s bottom line by opening the auditorium to non-traditional "meeting" events. Thus, a decision was made to re-invent the venue as "The New Orleans Theater at the Convention Center." This re-purposing of the Center will open open up several new revenue streams for the Convention Center as well as create new opportunities for New Orleans audiences. The plan is to continue to host private corporate and association events in the theater by day, and make use of the space as a concert and theatrical venue by night. The first use of the venue as the New Orleans Theater at the Convention Center will be for a public concert featuring the 70’s/80’s hit band Chicago on September 21, 2008. The New Orleans Theater at the Convention Center features: 3,600 permanent, inclined seats; acoustically divisible into three separate sections of about 1,200 seats each or varying size; Elegant interior decor in royal blue tones with plush theatrical seating; Pre-function areas and a mid-house level balcony overlooking Convention Center Boulevard; in-house extensive inventory of rigging, lighting and drapery; state-of-the-art video production room comparable to a small studio, with capabilities of converting media sources (printed copy, transparencies, slides, computer graphics) to video pictures on screen and a permanent sound system that includes 18 high fidelity sound speaker clusters, separated or combined with the appropriate space set-up. In addition, a permanent, full-time front-of-the-house theater manager assists clients with coordination and scheduling and three full-time technicians, skilled to operate various technical systems, staff the theater.  "The re-invention better reflects the room’s outstanding production capabilities which make it an ideal fit for musical events, concerts and theatre," said Bob Johnson, president/general manager of the New Orleans Morial Convention Center. "We’re excited to offer an additional theatrical venue to the community. " For information on booking the New Orleans Theater at the Convention Center, please call: (504) 582-3023.