Theatre Design & Technology - Summer 2011 - 21

hand and to work as stage carpenters, props, rail, sound, and
lighting assistants. We have had the occasional picket line and
even a summons to appear before the State Labor Commission,
which determined that the university, as a private institution
with a long-standing affiliation with (but no obligation to) the
Presbyterian Church, is under no legal requirement to sign a
union contract. That did not keep one touring manager with
Troika Entertainment from hiring one of our graduate students
on the spot to take over properties for a new national tour of
Fiddler on the Roof.
Probably the single element in the new space that needed
most negotiation with faculty members was real-world rehearsal expectations. Gone were the luxury days when anyone could
have the theatre for weeks prior to opening. Some took this as
disenfranchising the students. It was a while before the idea of
a Sunday load-in and tech, followed by three dress rehearsals
before opening, was accepted as the norm for getting young
artists better prepared for the rigors of the profession.
Once productions began, no amount of planning for what
equipment is going to live where could be sustained. We regularly "raid" the 100 so-called dedicated lighting instruments in
the small black box Emerson Theatre when they are needed for
the large main stage productions. We are finding that black box
shows rarely needed more than thirty to fifty instruments. It is
good practice to not let any department in such a blended environment "own" anything, but rather to be prepared to share
resources as needed.

We have been able to keep operations personnel lean and
manageable. We have also set a high bar of expectations for respect and cooperation among all levels of students, faculty, and
staff. Everyone, no matter his or her title or level of expertise, is
responsible for keeping morale healthy and positive.

How to Pay for a New Theatre Facility
The financial woes at Lindenwood College in the late 1980s were
caused, in part, by using endowment funds to cover operating
costs, without creating new sources of revenue. When Dennis
Spellman was brought in, the first thing he did was retire existing debt. That took several years. Then capital improvements
began to turn older buildings into classroom spaces that could
be filled with more students. At that point, even though the endowment was growing, it was not touched. Aggressive recruiting of new students was the engine to grow our revenues.
Major cuts to non-essential personnel were made. Twelvemonth faculty were deployed to help out seasonally in nontraditional areas such as financial aid and registration. Faculty
members took on teaching loads up to five classes per semester, up from the norm of four. The school was being run like
a business and began a number of income-producing enterprises.
At one point the president, realizing there was a potential
market for students in rural farm communities whose parents
did not have a lot of money but did have other resources, initiated a system whereby a family with market-ready cows and

Set rendering by the author for Dangerous Liasions, 2008, in the Bezemes Family Theatre.

summer 2011

theatre design

& technology

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