|
 |
University
Theaters
|
|
Educating
and enriching the campus and the community.
By Pam Droog
A university educates. A theater enriches. Combine the two and
the results are vital cultural and economic benefits that flow
from the campus to the community, to the region and beyond. The
St. Louis area derives the benefits of university theaters from
student and commercial productions at the Loretto-Hilton Center
for the Performing Arts at Webster University, the Edison Theatre
at Washington University and, in the not-too-distant future, at
the Performing Arts Complex at the University of Missouri–St.
Louis.
On Campus
“In 1966, Sister Jacqueline Grennan (former president of Webster
University) was convinced the university had a responsibility
to establish a professional theater here,” says Peter Sargent,
dean of the College of Fine Arts at Webster University. “She started
the company with a motto I like: ‘To present to our students the
real world of professional theater as opposed to the mock heroic
world of academic theater.’”
|
A
university theater offers
“the same gains as a Cardinals or Rams game,
or a symphony concert. Inherently, they enhance
the quality of life in the community.”
—Peter Sargent, dean of the College of
Fine Arts at Webster University
|
As a result, Conservatory of Theatre Arts students at Webster
University interact with theater professionals who perform at
The Repertory Theatre of Saint Louis and at Opera Theatre of Saint
Louis, which both lease the facilities at the Loretto-Hilton Center.
“For Webster University it’s an ideal arrangement,” Sargent says.
“Our students see working professionals day in and day out. At
a lot of universities, the best actors that students can see are
the graduating seniors.”
The experience is likely to be enhanced next year, as the university,
the Repertory Theatre and Opera Theatre complete a joint capital
campaign to raise $5.2 million to expand the Loretto-Hilton Center.
“Juggling the productions can be very hectic, especially in the
spring, when the Rep is finishing its season, Opera Theatre is
starting up and the University is still in full session,” says
Karen Luebbert, vice president and executive assistant to the
president at Webster University. The project will enlarge the
backstage support areas of the facility including a green room,
prop room, crafts shop and dressing rooms, as well as add three
ballet studios and 35 seats, bringing the Mainstage total capacity
to 987 (the Studio Theatre seats 125).
Luebbert attributes the success of the Rep and Opera Theatre to
“the quality of productions by all who use it. The artistic directors
are well in tune with what is appropriate for the community, what
audiences like, and what challenges and enriches.” Another contributing
factor is the theater itself. Because of its unique thrust stage,
96 percent of the audience sit closer to center stage than they
would in the front row of New York’s Metropolitan Opera. “Also,
it’s quite unusual for three very different organizations to perform
in the same space,” Luebbert says. “That’s a tribute to the theater
design. The community recognizes this is a cultural gem.”
The Show Stops Here
In contrast to the Rep and Opera Theatre, which are producing
theaters, the Edison Theatre at Washington University is a presenting
theater. As such, “The Edison’s mission is to showcase artists
of the highest order, who take audiences on imaginative journeys
to places they may not have been before,” says Henry Schvey, director
of Edison Theatre and chair of the Performing Arts Department
in Arts & Sciences at Washington University. In fact, those artists
might not have journeyed to St. Louis at all if not for the Edison.
Schvey explains, “We are dedicated to bringing things to St. Louis
that would not otherwise stop here. What touring companies come
to St. Louis? Huge productions at the Fox, big Broadway musicals,
and not that much else.”
|
Washington
University sponsored events at Edison Theatre
attracted approximately 30,000 people in 1999.
|
|
The 650-seat Edison, through its Ovations! series and Performing
Arts Department productions, “increases the cultural breadth of
the community,” Schvey says. Because of Ovations!, St. Louis audiences
have been treated to plays by the Abbey Theatre of Dublin, Royal
National Theatre of Great Britain, Peking Opera, Guthrie Theatre
and other first-rate companies. “I teach Shakespeare and the Guthrie’s
‘Midsummer Night’s Dream’ was one of the very finest productions
I’ve ever seen,” Schvey says. “They never would have come here
without the Ovations! booking.”
Economics
One reason a university theater can bring in touring groups that
a commercial theater would never consider is economics. “We don’t
have to fill the house,” Schvey says. “The university can afford
to do plays that are important and need to be seen, with less
of a regard for the financial aspects.” A university theater can
take two kinds of risks, he explains. “We can present work that’s
often neglected in the canon, like classic Chekhov or Ibsen, as
well as overlooked works by women or minorities. Truly, it’s the
role of the university in modern culture to present those things.”
|
The
Loretto-Hilton Center’s two stages are lit nearly
all year, with about 225,000 ticket holders attending
450 events annually—including theater and opera
performances, educational programs and additional
university events and ceremonies.
|
|
But economics does play a role in a university theater. The
Loretto-Hilton partners (Webster U., the Rep and Opera Theatre)
provide up to 650 jobs and the Edison Theatre provides up to
100 jobs for artists, administrators and other creative professionals.
Additionally, university theaters pump tourism and entertainment
dollars into the local economy by attracting regional, national
and international audiences. And by enhancing the area’s quality
of life, they help attract businesses to the region.
|
“Due
to Loretto-Hilton’s unique thrust stage, 96 percent
of the audience sit closer to center stage than they
would in the front row of New York’s Metropolitan Opera.”
—Karen
Luebbert, vice president and
executive assistant to the president at Webster University
|
Coming Attraction
The city of Ferguson is hoping the coming theater at UMSL will
boost its bottom line. Last March, the UM System Board of Curators
approved construction of a $41 million, 123,100-square-foot
facility that will include a 1,630-seat performance hall, 300-seat
multi-purpose hall and support facilities, scheduled to open
in late 2002.
|
UMSL’s
performing arts building is being designed by
St. Louis-based Wischmeyer Associates and Pei
Cobb Freed & Partners of New York (designers
of the Pyramids at the Louvre in Paris), slated
for completion in Sept. 2002.
|
|
“Aside from all the logical reasons why this is a good thing,
we’re looking at the spinoff advantages,” says Ferguson mayor
Steve Wegert. “We see the University’s efforts in regard to
the theater as being a major part of our downtown revitalization,
similar to what happened in Webster Groves when the Loretto-Hilton
Center came along.” In preparation, the city plans to spend
several hundred thousand dollars installing Victorian lighting
and a gazebo, renovating the train depot and completing other
main-street improvement projects. “The next step is to attract
businesses that will complement the atmosphere we’re hoping
to create,” Wegert says.
The theater itself, says UMSL deputy chancellor Donald Driemeier,
is not a commercial venture. “It’s a venture in education, because
we believe it makes sense to have an educated citizenry that
has an appreciation for and understanding of the arts.” A performing
arts complex has been a campus priority since the early 1980s
Driemeier says. “It has taken that long for this building to
work its way up our priority list, to the point that it was
number one. Happily the state has seen fit to help fund it.”
Taxpayers will finance 80 percent of the costs, and UMSL will
contribute the remainder. “That’s typical for educational buildings
in Missouri,” he notes.
The building will feature a three-story, glass-enclosed lobby
overlooking the campus. With 800 seats on the main floor and
two wrap-around balconies, the theater will be reminiscent of
a European opera house. “The person sitting in the back row
of the second balcony will be no more than 100 feet from the
edge of the stage,” Driemeier says. “This will be a great addition
and for many years to come be a signature building for sure.”
Although UMSL has no theater department, Driemeier sees a variety
of uses for the performing arts complex. “We have a very accomplished
music department, an impressive campus speakers series and a
very active debate program,” he says. The facility would also
be available to the community. Driemeier notes, with 1,600 seats,
the theater fits a niche between Loretto-Hilton and Powell Hall.
“We would hope that, for example, we could have Dance St. Louis
perform here, and perhaps a St. Louis Symphony concert.” Also,
he suggests that touring companies looking for a specific size
venue might stop by. “That was the reason the late Leon Strauss
(founder of the Fox Theatre) was so enthusiastic about the theater
here. He often told us several of his associates were able to
put on plays in Chicago that they couldn’t really move to St.
Louis.”
A university theater, Webster’s Sargent notes, offers “the same
gains as a Cardinals or Rams game, or a symphony concert. Inherently,
they enhance the quality of life in the community.” He adds,
not long ago in St. Louis, Opera Theatre, Stages, the Black
Repertory and the Muny all played to capacity crowds—the same
night the Cardinals hosted 40,000-plus fans. “That’s four theatres
on a home-game night, all full of people,” he says. “Think about
that. People appreciate theater of all kinds, and are willing
to take advantage of it.”
Pam Droog is a St. Louis-based free-lance writer.
|
|
|
|
|
-
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
-
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
-
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
-
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
|
