Located at the back of East Campus near the Mary Duke Music Biddle Building, Brody Theater is often used by Duke Players to present the majority of its student productions and serves as the performance classroom for several Theater Studies courses. The original Branson Hall, built in 1899, was a Trinity College men's dormitory, and was destroyed and rebuilt in 1935. The new building was used as the headquarters of the Department of Mechanical Engineering but was remodeled into a theater in 1950, featuring an arena-type theater with a seating capacity of 150, with offices, studio space, and a light booth on the second floor. Branson Hall was renovated again in the 1980s as part of an arts initiative. When it was renamed in 2006 to honor Duke alumnus Harold J. Brody (B.A. Chemistry ’70), the East Campus theater had been the department’s main venue for 34 years.