f r
Performing staff -.upset by plan for hall
Sketch by Jodi Kopf
Izenour's plan for the performing arts center calls for a moveable ceiling that can be pulled forward
to change the size of the theater. When the top ceiling section is lowered, area A will disappear
leaving only 2 sections of audience space. Likewise, when the middle ceiling section is lowered only
audience section C will be used.
By Lucy Lien
Last year a Yale theater
consultant, George Izenour,
was hired to make recom
mendations on a performing;
arts center. This center was to
be designed for use by the
University of Nebraska and the
community. Now theatre and
music staff are worried that the
Izenour plan will be used.
If his plan is accepted, said
Jerry Lewis, technical director
at Howe!! Theater, as badly as
a new theater is needed,
theatre people would get so
little use out of Izenour's
complex that it would almost be
better not to build a new
complex at all.
Izenour's plan for the per
forming arts center, said
Lewis, involves the use of a
moveable ceiling which is used
to fhanpi the seating capacity
of the center. There would be
only one main performing area,
to be shared by University and
community theatre groups,
traveling actors and musicians,
and by personnel in the NU
music, opera and dance
disciplines.
Lewis pointed out that
because so many areas would
be sharing the center, the
performers would not have
access to the stage for
rehearsals, but only for actual
pv r fv r til I? c c 9 .
I5e-ause of this, he said, the
quality of the NU performances
would probably go down. This
concept of a shared center, he
said, "makes all user essen
tially renters."
NU music director David
Fowler noted that J. i,i.ir "did
a thorough job of evaluating the
coliseum. He showed the
impraetkality of spending: that
much money to renovate it for
use by the performing arts.
That phase of his job was done
well.
"Then he proceeded to try to
sell us oh a multilevel facility."
fowler and 1a-wis both noted
that Izenour's designs hav?
worked well for community
theater and for traveling
shows. However, his plan js too
restrictive for use by educa
tional purposes, they said.
X.37X
If Izenour's plans were
accepted, Lewis said, Howell
theatre would be torn down and
in its place a "black box studio
theater", would ..be .built . X&is
smaller theater would be used
for the educational and experi
mental plays now produced in
' Howell.
This type of theater, he said,
"implies that a particular type
of production would be pro
duced there. We couldn't
produce anything that involved
elaborate drops like the ones
used in this summer's pro
duction of 'Mary Sunshine'."
Large productions would be
performed at the complex
under this plan, but rehearsals
and set design would have to be
done elsewhere.
"In the theatre," he said,
"there is a great deal of value in
- being able to rehearse and set
up sets on the same stage. At
the University of Wisconsin
they have to do all the
preliminaries elsewhere arid
the quality of their perform
ances has suffered."
Fowler agreed that "when
you mount a number of
productions you need more
stages, you need space to
rehearse and set up the stage.
"In order to mount the opera
we need to be on stage at least
three weeks to set up the
i s .. ..
.it,.
even before on -stage rehearsals
begin."
Lewis explained that the Idea
behind Izenour's design is that
it in wasteful to have a theater
that is not in use every night of
the year. However, h said,
although there are perform
ances in Howell only about 90
nights in a year, it is In use '
almost every day for rehearsals
and student activities.
Another problem with
Izenour's plan, Lewis said, is
that the . smallest area that
could be formed In the theater'
would have a &00 seat capacity,
"A 800-seat capacity is
hardly what we consider
intimate theatre," he said.
Because on a weeknight per
formance there are often 200
perjwjns in the 'audience, it
could be expected that a like
B -rpCl,,,,.,,j
number would attend perform
ances In the new complex. "It
would be a psychological
disaster to the performers to
eoran '-on -stage : and-. scp 700
empty eetsf" he eaid.
Howell presently seats about
800.
With such a large theater, he
said, it would probably be
half empty all the time. Con
sequently, performances would
suffer, especially if a play which
needs audible audience res
ponse to be successful, such as
a comedy, were performed
there.
He noted that the flexible
theatre design is "unfortun
ately the way it's done in
professional theatre, but this
may not be the best way."
He asserted that the need for
a new performing arts center is
great. "I'm very happy that
President Varner is pursuing
this concept," he said, "but I
By Lynn SUliasck
While many students spend
their free summer time relax
ing or vacationing, UN-L
senior, Tom Mullen, spends his
x walking nearly ten miles a day,
distributing doorhangers to
Lincoln homes that urge occu-
. . r . . .. i -
paum few etcck nvB9 uj&
Congress.
He works &ix hours a day at
the Dyas campaign head"
quarters, helping plan a sched
ule of neighborhood coffees
throughout the city for the
First District candidate. Or he
phone-canvasses voter for
their opinions on Nebraska's
congressional representation.
Mullen and others like him
working on political campaigns
number a handful of people.
But by licking envelopes,
arranging meetings, running
errands and canvassing voters,
they are helping establish
groundwork for one fall guber
natorial and for both First
Congressional District cam
paigns. Nearly 60 percent of the
work done so far in the Dyas
Democratic hid for Congress
don't like the specific plan
presented. Izenour is a reput
able consultant but he only does
this type of thing. He doesn't
like facilities with different
areas for different, areas of
performance."
He noted that he would like
to see the hiring of at least one
more consultant before pro
ceeding on the building of the
center.
Fowler said that he is "highly
enthusiastic about getting the
kind of performing hall the
campus and community need,
and we need a place for major
productions like the St. Louis
symphony.
If we don't build one of these
performing areas in the next
couple of years," he said, "we'll
be one of the few areas in the
country without one. It's not an
unusual suggestion,"
He said he hoped that more
consultants would be brought
in to make recommendations
before the architect proceeds
with the building. He urged
that among the consultants
brought in would be an
experienced manager of a
facility that is , already being
used by the community and the
university. This manager could
point out items that make the
cehter economical to operate,
he said.
NU President Durwood
Varner said he agreed with the
theatre and music personnel. .
"I'm in complete agreement
with them," he said. "Their
position is very logical and I
would defend that position.
Recruiter seeks' teachers
A recruiter from New South
Wales, Australia will be in the
University of Nebraska Teacher
Placement Office on July 18,
July 19, and the morning of
has been done by students, said
campaign manager, Dick Kurt
enbach. Students, along, with
UN-L instructors, form CO
percent of the campaign's
250-man volunteer force, ac
cording to Lancaster County
campaign organizer, Jack
Casnidy.
The work students have
- '5
f i
L
I
i
i
.V ,
nt campaigning
Tom Muikn, a senior at NU, works over material at the iiess Dyas
campaign headquarters.
"I think they're right. The
quality of performances would
go down in the theatre if they
were moved to a complex
designed according to Izenour's
concept."
He said he hoped to hire an
architect who would then call in
a number of consultants before
drawing up the final plans.
Before the architect can be
hired, he said, "We need to get
over the financial hurdles of
building the center."
Izenour's recommendations
were very useful, he said, "but
I do not see having a place
where the theatre people don't
even have their own stage."
He said he hopes the plans
for the complex will be finalized
within a year.
Fowler said that in order to
convince potential financial
backers of the center's feasa
bility, the Lincoln campus
needed to "get on the band
wagon and actively support it.
' "I would hope that the
, Lincoln campus will be moving
forward on its responsibility to
get this plan moving."
He also recommended that
the new center would have
adequate parking.
"Another factor which is
more important than is thought,
he said, "is having a gracious
and beautiful atmosphere for a
concert. The modern audience
would not be satisfied with a
facility that was not attractive."
He also urged that building
be started on the hall as soon as
possible, because with current
increases in inflation building
costs are soaring.
July 20 from 9:00 a.m.-4:30
p.m. Anyone interested in
interviewing with him should
contact the Teacher Placement
Office at 472 2212, 2214 or
2215.
accomplished includes phone
canvassing to determine what
issues will persuade people to
vote, arranging neighborhood
coffees where Dyas meets
informally with voters and
distributing doorhangers,
Kurtenbach said.
In auuiiiwn iu office work,
(Continued on Page 3)
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