Lack of space keeps theater students from performing

By Michelle Kroes
Daily Bruin Contributor

Tensions in the theater department mount as student requests for
non-curricular productions are being denied due to limited
departmental resources.

Students may no longer perform or produce independent theater as
a result of the growing demand for departmental space and faculty
availability.

“With existing classes and class-related productions, and
the re-introduction of an undergraduate program for directing, the
spaces available to students are very limited,” said William
Ward, theater department chair.

This change has been met with opposition by students who feel
non-curricular productions are a necessary component of their
education.

“The audience is theater students, the cast is theater
students, the department is where we spend most of our time because
the major is so impacted,” said Jeffrey Olin, a third-year
theater student. “We can only really do these productions if
they are in spaces provided by the department.”

Current theater policy allows students to put on non-curricular
productions in department facilities, granted that space is
available.

But prioritizing the use of space for department activities is a
necessary evil that faculty must reckon with.

“There is a space crunch this spring quarter,” said
Ward. “We are not against non-curricular productions here,
it’s just that there is no space in the department to handle
it.”

Students who expected to produce plays this quarter had to halt
their plans.

“I was told a flat out “˜No’ to my
requests,” said Helen Harlan, a third-year theater student.
“Before, it was difficult to get spaces and faculty support
for a production but now it is impossible. It is all very
discouraging.”

The recent denial of student demands foreshadows a change to be
enacted next fall that will rule out all non-curricular
productions.

Ward said he is sympathetic to students frustrated by this
situation but unless there is more space, there can be no immediate
solution.

“We are not trying to discourage students from doing their
own work but the priority is the curriculum,” he said.
“And we won’t cut classes for more spaces, we are
mandated by the university and tax payers to provide
them.”

Faculty, as well as students, are affected by the limitations of
departmental space.

“There are a number of faculty who want to collaborate
more with students on a curricular mode,” said Theater
Professor Patricia Harter. “But faculty have to hold back
from projects they want to do because of the lack of
space.”

Not only is the department unable to provide students with space
for non-curricular productions, there is also a lack of faculty
members who can supervise them.

“The problem is insurance and the responsibility of
faculty to oversee individual productions,” said Theater
Professor Robert Israel. “The faculty is already spread thin
and it is difficult to have them available for these
things.”

In addition, Harter said that as the curriculum stands, it is
difficult for faculty to oversee non-curricular productions.

In an average day, Harter said she is on campus from 9 a.m.
until 11 p.m. teaching classes or participating in rehearsals.

“With this kind of schedule, it is difficult to come in
and supervise non-curricular productions which can begin as early
as 3 in the morning because it is the only time space is
available,” she said.

In an effort to address these issues, Ward said there has been a
faculty meeting and talk about a project that would create more
spaces for the theater department.

He also added that space is No. 1 on Dean Robert Rosen’s
agenda.

“Students are interested in putting on plays that are
non-curricular so the theater department should not be restricting
space for it,” Olin said.

“It ruins our morale and stifles our
creativity.”