Theatre Design & Technology - Summer 2011 - 20

$36 million J. Scheidegger Fine and Performing Arts Center.
During its first forty years, the theatre program worked in
Roemer Auditorium. As the program grew from a student activities model to a full-fledged academic major, the auditorium
was renovated as a dedicated production space, albeit with
some decided quirks, such as a welded fixed grid 18 feet above
the 36-foot wide proscenium and a total vertical view of the
stage from the last row of seats under the deep balcony of 9 feet
6 inches. Much of the stage equipment became archaic when
digital became the norm, but students still learned solid production protocols that would serve them well in the job market.
The program was more about critical thinking and less about
the latest technology.
During this time, new programs in music, dance, graphic
arts, and fashion design also took root. There was seldom daily
interaction among them, however, as the arts were scattered
around the campus.
I began at Lindenwood as the faculty technical director/
designer. Now, as Dean of the School of Fine and Performing
Arts, I want to share some of what we learned moving from
a 350-seat converted auditorium to a state-of-the-art performance facility.
Once the green light was given in 2006, we faced a completely new learning curve. In meetings with Hastings and
Chivetta Architects, McClure Engineering, and a host of new
vendors, contractors, and consultants, we were briefed on unfamiliar topics like concrete pours, structural analysis, burn
ratings, and HVAC codes. We began to create new "bibles" of
specs and purchase orders for each aspect of the process.
Fortunately, we were given reasonably direct access to
the architects and engineers to discuss change orders and to
request site visits for identifying potential problems. This was
especially useful when the mission of the main stage changed
from academic use only to both academic theatre and professional Broadway tours and techs. This came about when Peter
Bezemes, a television, film, and stage producer (and a Lindenwood graduate in business and communications), joined us in
2008 as executive director of the new center.
The capacity to accommodate touring productions was approved by Spellman's successor as president, James Evans, as a
unique opportunity for Lindenwood technical theatre students
to crew their way to meaningful résumés and future contacts.
We were able to make a compelling case to the administration
that theatre students in work-and-learn programs usually stay
in school if their deployment is in theatre production areas.
We helped the administration understand how practical experience plus academic theory is the key to success in this unusual
career field, especially when students can work directly with
professional technicians and talent without having to be in New
York or Los Angeles.
It helped to make our case that the University of Missouri at St. Louis opened the Blanche M. Touhill Performing
Arts enter just twenty minutes away. Although that facility is
primarily a state-supported road house operating on campus

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& technology

as a non-academic entity, it threatened to be a formidable competitor for the local market of potential arts student recruits.
The administration took notice and responded with an earlier
approval date to proceed with the Scheidegger project.
We also argued that an enhanced fine and performing
arts building would offer many new avenues to other academic
and community constituencies, such as honors convocations,
lecture series, film showings, the county-wide school district
musical showcases, and so forth. Once finished, the building
became a magnet for everyone from sports dance teams to
community church groups.
With that change in the facility's mission, the full spectrum
of needs for visiting companies got attention equal to the needs
of our academic program. This aspect of the process was masterfully spearheaded by an available Lindenwood graduate and nineyear veteran of IATSE road productions in all fifty states, Canada,
Mexico, and Asia, who was hired as production stage manager.

Learning to Play in the Same Sandbox
Before the Scheidegger we had proprietary use of a small theatre to build in and rehearse in at will, with only the occasional
dance or music concert as a distraction. Now it became apparent that the theatre department would be producing complex
events besides our own shows, and our long-enjoyed uninterrupted claim on time in the theatre would be shared with other
departments. The work hours and staffing required for a single
dramatic production suddenly multiplied exponentially, as setups, runs, and restores began to fill up the season calendar
with far less breathing time in between.
To meet this new challenge, the Scheidegger Center has
an assigned pool of approximately fifty work-and-learn students
who complete 150 hours a semester working in the box office,
housekeeping, backstage, the high definition television studio,
ushering, and as running crew. In addition to bringing in an
experienced IATSE production stage manager, we added an assistant production stage manager to coordinate the pro tours
and liaise with the TD for crews. We also hired a graduate assistant with training on the new Digico boards to be a full-time
sound engineer.
We had to quickly bring crews up to speed on the equipment needs specific to new genres, such as lighting tower
placement for dance and motorized orchestra shell and acoustic "cloud" rigging for music. It also became evident that the
students majoring in each discipline needed to be re-trained in
backstage etiquette and traffic patterns, as well as how to communicate effectively with technicians.
As tours were booked of such shows as Movin' Out and
Cats, with Equity and I.A.T.S.E. members and union requirements for load-in, rehearsal, run, and strike, it became an art
in itself to mesh students into the crew calls. Lindenwood has
no union contract. We work with a local production company
who does have a contract when we have a special need, for
example, for a high rigger. We're non-union specifically so that
students have opportunities to observe industry standards first

summer 2011

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