230: 'Rooms for Storytelling', with Keith Gerchak

230: 'Rooms for Storytelling', with Keith Gerchak

From TRXL by Evan Troxel

May 19, 2026 · 1h 23m · Episode 230

About this episode

Keith Gerchak discusses the intersection of architecture and storytelling in performing arts spaces.

Keith Gerchak joins the podcast to talk about the double life he's been living for thirty years: designing spaces for storytelling as the Design Principal at TheatreDNA, and inhabiting those spaces as an actor and filmmaker. We explore what makes performing arts buildings unlike any other building type, the surprising parallels between directing a feature film and managing an architecture project, and how technology — from Revit to AI — can either serve a story or quietly strip it of meaning. This episode is especially relevant for architects and design technologists who feel the tension between the tools they use every day and the purpose those tools are meant to serve. Keith makes the case quietly and specifically — drawing from three decades of bespoke theater design and a twelve-year independent film that made it into 500 theaters nationwide — that knowing why a building exists, and for whom, is the one thing no technology gets to replace. To learn more about Keith Gerchak, see the full show notes with links at https://trxl.co/230 To get more great conversations with AEC technology leaders on the TRXL podcast please visit https://trxl.co _____ Episode Sponsors: AVAIL AVAIL's…

People in this episode

Host: Evan Troxel

Guest: Keith Gerchak

Topics covered

  • storytelling
  • architecture
  • performing arts
  • design technology
  • film direction
  • theater design

Keywords

  • architecture
  • storytelling
  • theater design
  • film direction
  • design technology
  • Revit
  • AI

Sponsors

AVAIL, Confluen

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: TheatreDNA

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