pro AV and broadcast · Baltimore
USITT 2027Exhibitor guide: booth costs, dates and deadlines in Baltimore
Lights down, gear up: USITT 2027 Stage Expo booths in Baltimore
- Event dates
- March 17–20, 2027
- Exhibit hall
- March 18–20, 2027 (Stage Expo)
- Venue
- Baltimore Convention Center, Baltimore
4.9 star client rating3,000+ exhibitors10,000+ booths builtSince 2015
Quick answers
USITT 2027 in 30 seconds
The short version for USITT exhibitors. Each USITT figure is sourced further down the page.
- When is USITT 2027?
- March 17–20, 2027, at Baltimore Convention Center, Baltimore.
- When does the USITT exhibit hall open?
- March 18–20, 2027 (Stage Expo).
- What is the all-in cost of a 10×20 booth at USITT?
- $7,500 – $15,000 for a Purple rental at USITT with design, graphics, lighting, install and dismantle. USITT bills space and show services separately.
- At USITT, what is the next exhibitor deadline?
- USITT member presale opens: November 17, 2026.
Official USITT 2027 links: USITT 2027 floor planUSITT 2027 booth space
The lookInner Harbor, Baltimore 2027
Cue the light. Hold the curtain.
USITT27 brings theater technicians, designers, stage managers, educators and students to the Baltimore Convention Center March 17–20, 2027. Stage Expo opens March 18–20, with a Dark Zone for lighting and projection and a Costume Pavilion for costume, wig and makeup companies.
Everything about USITT 2027 in one place
USITT 2027 fact sheet
| Official name | USITT27 Conference & Stage Expo |
|---|---|
| Event dates | March 17–20, 2027 |
| Exhibit hall dates | March 18–20, 2027 (Stage Expo) source |
| Venue | Baltimore Convention Center 1 West Pratt Street, Baltimore, MD 21201 |
| Organizer | United States Institute for Theatre Technology (USITT) |
| Who attends | Theater technicians, lighting, sound, scenic and costume designers, production and stage managers, educators and students |
| Next deadline | USITT member presale opens: November 17, 2026 source |
| Nearest airport | Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport (BWI) |
| Hotels | Connections Housing, USITT's only approved, official housing vendor |
| Official website | usitt.org |
Official USITT resources
USITT 2027 calendar
USITT 2027 dates and deadlines
Every date the organizer has published for USITT, in order, with a link to the page that states it. The next date is highlighted.
01 Purple at USITT 2027
Lights down, gear up: USITT 2027 Stage Expo booths in Baltimore
Theater technicians, designers and students come to Stage Expo to touch the fixture, run the console and ask how it rigs, so your booth has to work like a small stage. At the Baltimore Convention Center we build it, ship it to the show and install with our own project manager, trucking straight down from our Fishkill shop.
- Mar 17–20 · Baltimore
- Stage Expo March 18–20
- Dark Zone + Costume Pavilion
What makes USITT different, and how we build for it
USITT27 is the United States Institute for Theatre Technology's annual Conference & Stage Expo, four days of sessions, hands-on labs and professional training with an expo floor in the middle.Stage Expo carves out the Dark Zone, where lighting, projection, special effects and console demos run without house light, and the Costume Pavilion, reserved for costume, wig and makeup companies. The crowd mixes working technicians, designers and educators with students hunting for their first jobs, and the Betty Blyholder National Poster Gallery and the Emerging Creatives Showcase put student work on display. In 2027 the show comes to Baltimore; 2028 moves on to Kansas City.
Fixtures, consoles and projectors running in real darkness, with an applications engineer who can program a cue while they watch and talk beam, color and noise.
Rigging hardware, motors, staging and scenic materials they can handle and load-rate, plus pricing for school and regional theater budgets.
Gear they will use in their first jobs, education pricing for departments, and staff who talk careers and internships at the booth.
Your team in Baltimore
Two shops behind your USITT booth
Your USITT booth is built in our own production shop in Fishkill, NY, or at our Las Vegas hub, shipped to the Baltimore Convention Center and installed by vetted local labor with our own project manager on the floor. Turnaround is a predictable 30 to 45 days, with pre-show QA and secure storage for your USITT booth.
At USITT, your team walks into a booth that is lit and stocked. You just show up.
New at USITT 2027
- Moves to Baltimore
After Long Beach in 2026, USITT27 comes to the Baltimore Convention Center, so East Coast exhibitors can truck freight instead of shipping cross-country. source
Inside USITT 2027
Rules that shape your booth
USITT reserves the Costume Pavilion for costume, wig and makeup companies. We design pavilion booths around forms, wig heads and swatches rather than hardware, and lighting brands go to the main floor or the Dark Zone.
USITT sets aside the Dark Zone for lighting, projection, special effects and console demos. We build a closed, black-wrapped booth with its own truss so the demo reads in true darkness.
USITT's exhibitor service center requires a certificate of insurance along with payments and booth staff registration. We file our own insurance for the install crew next to yours.
USITT names Connections Housing as its only approved housing vendor and warns of unauthorized companies. We book our project manager there and tell your team to ignore other hotel offers.
Programs worth planning for
A Stage Expo area where lighting, projections, special effects and console demos come to life in darkness, for exhibitors whose products need a blackout to show.
A dedicated Stage Expo area for costume, wig and makeup companies, so costume designers meet the makers in one place.
USITT's juried display of design and technology posters from students and professionals, part of the conference program alongside Stage Expo.
A conference showcase of early-career designers and technicians, a pool exhibitors meet when recruiting for shops and rental houses.
USITT is the education-led theater technology conference with a hands-on Stage Expo; choose it over LDI when your buyers are theater departments, regional stages and students rather than touring and concert production companies. Every pro AV and broadcast show we build for, side by side →
pro AV and broadcast at USITT
The industry behind USITT, in pictures
02 Booths & pricing for USITT 2027
Popular booth sizes at USITT
USITT sells Stage Expo space through its USITT27 booth sales form and keeps the Costume Pavilion for costume, wig and makeup companies. Lighting and projection brands do best in the Dark Zone; we recommend a 10×20 with a lit demo truss, or a 20×20 island for console and fixture lineups.
A black-draped back wall with a short truss, four to six fixtures on a console you can hand to visitors, and a counter for spec sheets and education pricing.
Above: data-pixel, a Purple inline booth
See 10×20 rental booths →
A fixture line on one bay, a programming desk in the middle and a rigging or staging sample at the other end, so a technical director walks the full system.
Above: Easy Shopper, a Purple inline booth
See 10×30 rental booths →
A small stage with a scrim or projection surface, a truss grid for moving lights, and a front-of-house desk where designers can program a short cue stack.
Shown: Apartment List, a Purple island exhibit
See 20×20 rental booths →
A rigging demonstration with motors and hardware, a lighting stage, a seated area for product talks and lockable storage for consoles and fixtures overnight.
Shown: a Purple island exhibit for Ecotact
See 20×30 rental booths →In Purple's USITT price
- Design and a 3D rendering for USITT, revised until it is right
- The structure, printed graphics, counters and storage your USITT plan specifies
- Lighting plus power distribution within the booth at USITT
- Installation and dismantle at the Baltimore Convention Center, with our project manager on the floor
- Show-service orders and deadlines for USITT, tracked on your behalf
Billed by USITT and its contractor
- Exhibit space (paid to United States Institute for Theatre Technology)
- Drayage, or material handling, when it is not in the USITT space rate
- Electrical service, internet and rigging at the Baltimore Convention Center
- Booth cleaning and any union labor the venue requires
Rates to plan with for USITT:
- Member presale $399 members, $255 student members, from November 17, 2026 source
Your proposal estimates all of these, so the total for USITT is on paper before you sign anything.
Ranges shown are all-in 2026 rental prices for design, structure, graphics, installation and dismantle at USITT; custom builds get their own quote. The booth cost calculator gives an exact number for your USITT booth; the 2026 booth cost guide has the 2026 ranges.
Tell us your USITT booth size and what the space has to do. Expect a reply within one business day and, usually within a week, a rendering and a fixed proposal for USITT. No charge.
In Baltimore, your team walks into a booth that is already lit and stocked. You just show up.
03 Built by Purple
Booths we have designed, built and installed
Case study · Amazon
Amazon at ESSENCE Festival of Culture, New Orleans
For Amazon’s first ESSENCE Festival activation, a walk-through environment that welcomed hundreds of thousands of attendees across Prime Video, Amazon Live and Alexa.
Prime Video builds for Amazon turned lighting, screens and staging into an experience people walked into; a Stage Expo booth has to do the same for the gear that lights a theater.
Read the Amazon case study All case studies →“If you’re looking for a trade show booth expert who shows up and gets the job done right, Purple Exhibits is the real deal.”
Magdalena Kulisz, Service Manager, Miss Immigrant USA · what other clients say
Trusted by exhibitors including
04 Designing for stage lighting, rigging, audio, projection, scenic and costume suppliers at USITT
Four things we get right for USITT exhibitors
1Earn your place in the Dark Zone
USITT sets aside the Dark Zone for lighting, projection, special effects and console demos. We build black-wrapped walls and a truss that shows beams and gobos at full contrast, with work light on a separate switch for setup and teardown.
2Let students and pros touch it
Stage Expo visitors want to run the desk and lift the clamp. We design open counters, tethered handheld products and a console station sized for two people, so a student and a production manager can try the same gear at once.
3Costume Pavilion displays
The Costume Pavilion is reserved for costume, wig and makeup companies. We build forms, wig heads, swatch walls and a lit makeup station so designers see fabric drape, hair texture and skin tones under the light a stage uses.
4Recruit as well as sell
With educators and students on the floor and the Emerging Creatives Showcase in the program, many exhibitors hire here. We add a careers panel and a QR wall for internships beside the product counter, so recruiting never blocks a sale.
Concept rendering
Every USITT proposal includes a rendering like this
You see your USITT booth in 3D before we cut a single panel: layout, graphics, lighting and product positions, revised until it is right. Above: a Purple concept for sensei.
Start my USITT concept05 Baltimore Convention Center · Baltimore
Logistics for USITT 2027, handled
USITT27 runs at the Baltimore Convention Center, 1 West Pratt Street, a block from the Inner Harbor. USITT handles booth staff registration, payments, certificates of insurance and the Exhibitor Service Manual through its exhibitor service center, and books hotels only through Connections Housing. We file the insurance, read the manual for move-in times and labor rules, drive crated freight down I-95 from Fishkill, NY and run the build with vetted Baltimore labor under our project manager. Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport serves the city.
What Purple handles
- Truss, blackout and lighting built for the Dark Zone
- Costume Pavilion forms, wig heads and makeup lighting
- Certificate of insurance and service orders
- Freight from Fishkill to the Baltimore Convention Center
- Install and dismantle with our project manager
- Storage and reuse at LDI or InfoComm
Your USITT timeline, from move-in back
We need your USITT design signed off by early January 2027.
- November 17, 2026USITT member presale opens; book your booth through the USITT27 sales form if you have not.
- Early January 2027Design sign-off for truss, lighting, Dark Zone blackout or Costume Pavilion fixtures.
- January to February 2027Production in Fishkill, NY over 30 to 45 days; fixtures and consoles tested in our shop.
- Early March 2027Insurance certificate and service orders filed; freight ships to Baltimore.
- March 18–20, 2027Stage Expo days; our project manager keeps the demo running.
- After close on March 20Dismantle and pack; the booth returns to storage or goes on to your next show.
Purple's planning timeline for USITT. The official USITT move-in, freight target and order dates come from your exhibitor kit and assigned schedule; when you book, we confirm them against your booth.
Print the USITT budget & deadline sheetTravel to USITT 2027
Getting to USITT 2027: airport and hotels
Fly in
Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport (BWI)
Stay
Connections Housing, USITT's only approved, official housing vendor
Find the venue
Baltimore Convention Center
1 West Pratt Street, Baltimore, MD 21201
Travel facts from usitt.org.
USITT by the numbers
USITT year by year
How USITT 2027 compares with other pro AV and broadcast shows
The pro AV and broadcast shows closest to USITT on the calendar, with the latest size each organizer has published. Each name other than USITT opens our exhibitor guide for that show.
| Show | Dates | City | Latest published size |
|---|---|---|---|
| The NAMM ShowNAMM (National Association of Music Merchants) | January 26–30, 2027 | Anaheim, CA | 60,000+ attendees · 1,650+ exhibitors (2026) |
| HPA Tech RetreatHollywood Professional Association (HPA) | February 14–18, 2027 | La Quinta, CA | 58 Innovation Zone companies (2022) |
| USITTUnited States Institute for Theatre Technology (USITT) | March 17–20, 2027 | Baltimore, MD | – |
| NAB ShowNational Association of Broadcasters (NAB) | April 4–7, 2027 | Las Vegas, NV | 40K+ attendees · 1,100+ exhibitors (2026) |
| CinemaConCinema United | April 12–15, 2027 | Las Vegas, NV | – |
| Display WeekSociety for Information Display (SID) | June 6–11, 2027 | San Jose, CA | 6,828 attendees · 245 exhibitors (2025) |
| InfoCommAVIXA (Audiovisual and Integrated Experience Association) | June 12–18, 2027 | Orlando, FL | 28,132 attendees · 807 exhibitors (2026) |
| NAB Show New YorkNational Association of Broadcasters (NAB) | September 29–30, 2027 | New York, NY | ~6,700 attendees · ~250 exhibitors (2026) |
| LDIQuestex | October 15–21, 2027 | New Orleans, LA | 350+ exhibitors (2026) |
USITT exhibitor questions
Questions exhibitors ask us before USITT
What are the USITT 2027 dates?
USITT27 runs March 17–20, 2027, with education all four days and Stage Expo open March 18–20, per USITT's conference site. USITT has not posted 2027 expo hours; the 2026 floor kept 11-to-6 hours Thursday and Friday and closed at 2 p.m. Saturday.
Where is USITT 2027 held?
At the Baltimore Convention Center, 1 West Pratt Street, Baltimore, Maryland, beside the Inner Harbor. The 2026 conference was in Long Beach, California, and USITT28 is set for Kansas City, Missouri, March 15–18, 2028.
How do we book a booth at Stage Expo?
USITT takes booth requests through its USITT27 exhibit sales form on goeshow, with an interactive floor map to pick space, and its booth sales manager handles sponsorships. USITT does not post 2027 booth rates on its public pages, so the price comes with your space request.
How much does a USITT Stage Expo booth cost to build?
On our side a 10×20 rental runs $7,500 to $15,000 and a custom 20×20 island $50,000 to $120,000. At Stage Expo the number moves with truss, lighting and power: a Dark Zone lighting demo needs more circuits and rigging than a costume display.
What is the Dark Zone at USITT?
A section of Stage Expo where lighting, projections, special effects and console demos run in darkness, per USITT. For a booth there we build black walls, a truss for fixtures and a separate work light, so beams and projection read the way they would in a theater.
Who can exhibit in the Costume Pavilion?
USITT reserves the Costume Pavilion for costume, wig and makeup companies, so designers find that community in one place. We build dress forms, wig displays, swatch walls and a makeup station with stage-accurate light for it.
Who attends USITT Stage Expo?
Student and professional technicians, designers, production and stage managers and educators from theater and live entertainment. USITT describes the floor as hundreds of exhibitors meeting thousands of industry peers, and exhibitors use it both to sell and to recruit.
Is there an expo-only pass for USITT?
USITT's 2027 registration page lists a Stage Expo Only option alongside member, student member and non-member conference passes. Member presale starts November 17, 2026 at $399 for members and $255 for student members, and general sale opens December 8, 2026.
What hotels are near the Baltimore Convention Center for USITT 2027?
USITT names Connections Housing as its only approved, official housing vendor and warns that other companies may claim cheaper rates or a USITT link. The 2027 housing block was not open in October 2026, so book through Connections Housing when it opens.
Who organizes USITT?
The United States Institute for Theatre Technology, founded in 1960, a membership association for design, production and technology professionals in live entertainment. Its annual Conference & Stage Expo moves city to city; 2026 was its 66th in Long Beach.
Can we hold an education session as an exhibitor?
Manufacturers at Stage Expo run demos and hands-on labs that teach proper product use, and USITT opens demo and lab sign-ups ahead of the show. We build a short demo stage or bench inside your booth so a lab session does not spill into the aisle.
Can we reuse a USITT booth at other shows?
We build truss, blackout walls and graphics in modules that move on to LDI in New Orleans, InfoComm in Orlando or the NAMM Show in Anaheim. Between shows the booth stays in storage, and we swap graphics so each audience sees its own story.
What is new at USITT for 2027?
The conference comes to Baltimore after Long Beach in 2026, putting it within driving range of East Coast theaters, schools and rental houses. Education runs four days, March 17–20, with Stage Expo on the last three.
Before you sign for USITT
Ask any USITT exhibit builder these five questions:
- Will the proposal show every USITT fee, including show contractor charges?
- Who actually builds it for USITT: your shop or a subcontractor?
- Who from your team is on the USITT floor for install and dismantle?
- For USITT, what is in the rental and what is billed by the show?
- What happens to the booth after USITT, and what does storage cost?
Common situations
Already own a booth? We refresh the graphics, repair what is worn, ship it to the Baltimore Convention Center, install it and store it between shows. You keep the structure you paid for.
Exhibiting from outside the US? We handle the ground work for USITT: freight to the advance warehouse, show-service orders, installation and storage, with one project manager replying to your emails in your time zone.
Short on time? In two to three weeks, a rental with your graphics can be ready for Baltimore. You will know on the first call what is realistic for your USITT date.
Get a proposal
Tell us about your USITT booth
What happens next
- Within one business day we write back to ask about your products, your goals for USITT and your footprint.
- Your USITT concept rendering and fixed proposal usually arrive within a week. Every last fee for USITT, listed upfront and in full on paper.
- Production runs 30–45 days, then we ship to the advance warehouse and install before the USITT hall opens.