Walk around the Fonseca Center (FC) after first period, and you are likely to see hordes of students crowding the doors to a locked gym. As the doors open, students pile into the gym, which has doubled as an auditorium since the Claudia Boettcher Theatre (CBT) closed earlier this year. While the FC gym has served its purpose as an interim gathering space, a new solution is in the works: a temporary theater in Strayer Gym.
The CBT is estimated to be closed until 2027, as the theatre is currently undergoing a full-scale renovation.
The concept for the new theater, which will be called Strayer Theater, began after the closure of the CBT last year. Technical Director and Performance Space Supervisor Peter Wylie said, “We had to weigh the options of renting an off-campus space and bussing to it, or utilizing an area on campus.”
After some discussion, it was decided that the best plan of action would be to convert a large section of Strayer Gym into a new, temporary theater. Wylie said, “We put a lot of thought into how we could shape this space into something that would fit all our needs.”
Despite its temporary nature, the theater itself is very advanced. The Department of Performing Arts (DOPA) has turned the space into a fully functional theater with the capabilities to support all of DOPA’s programming.
Wylie said, “This is going to be a fully functioning theater, besides a few things. It has a complete audio system, a complete lighting system, and a brand-new projector.”
Although the theater itself is brand new, many of the systems behind it have been reused successfully from the CBT.
In fact, it may even have some benefits over the CBT. Wylie said, “There are actually some better acoustic traits in this space when compared to the old theater.”
One major concern was whether the Strayer Theater has the capacity to host full-scale DOPA performances. However, Wylie dispelled these concerns by mentioning that the facility has the capacity to stage any and all performances previously possible in the CBT.
One such style of performance the theater will now host is the various dance performances put on throughout the year. However, some were concerned about the viewing angles for dance performances.
In the CBT, the stage was lower than almost every seat, meaning that the audience was looking down at the dancers below. This allowed the audience to have an unobstructed view of the dancers’ footwork. In contrast, the new theater will have a raised stage and the audience will look up at the dancers as opposed to down at them.
Senior dance student Sarah Flynn said, “I was concerned at first because I was worried about the visibility because of the lack of an angled stage, but after hearing about the raised stage that is going up, I wasn’t worried anymore.”
DOPA hopes to have the new theater up and running for its first morning meeting by mid-October.
