PAC concerned about available practice space

U. administration working to provide additional rooms As performing arts groups gear up for this weekend's Freshman Performing Arts Night, they are finding themselves once again in dire need of additional rehearsal space. But University administrators are making efforts to provide additional rooms for the performing arts community. "There are a lot of performing arts groups and we seem to be getting more and more squeezed for rehearsal space," said Peter Whinnery, technical advisor for performing arts students. According to Carolyn Noone, coordinator for student performing arts, the University has recently proposed new spaces, including St. Mary's Church on Locust Walk and 40th Street and the Divinity School on Spruce Street, which Noone is scheduled to inspect next week. "The provost's office has seen that space [in the Divinity School] and they are very pleased with it," Noone said. In a search for more space, the Performing Arts Council is renting the Movement Theater International building at 37th and Chestnut streets for rehearsals this year. And performing arts groups will use International House, also located at 37th and Chestnut. PAC Chairperson Katherine Minarik explained at the group's meeting Wednesday that PAC will be charged a $40 fee each time a group uses the space because International House is not a University-owned building. The building's availability poses another problem, since PAC groups can only use it on Monday and Tuesday nights, said Minarik, a College junior. "It's not just a lack of rehearsal space, it's a lack of space for any group on campus," she said. "We have over 30 performing arts groups, so there's always going to be some shuffling." The shortage of rehearsal space will get worse in the coming years, as a number of buildings undergo renovations or are shut down. Construction related to the Perelman Quad will begin in Irvine Auditorium this spring, while Houston Hall -- ideal for music and theater groups' rehearsals -- will start renovations in 1998, also for the Perelman project. The Annenberg School Theater, historically a popular performance and rehearsal space, will close this spring so the Annenberg Public Policy Center can use the space. There are no plans to reopen the theater. Finding space that groups can actually use is getting harder and harder, said Laura Hammons, administrative assistant for student performing arts. "The particular things that are tricky are groups that are large, dance groups who need floors suitable to dance and singing groups that need pianos," Hammons explained. In September 1994, the University purchased the First Church of Christ Scientist -- also called the Rotunda -- at 4012 Walnut Street for $850,000, with the intention of using it for performing arts groups. However, the University has not renovated the building fully because of lack of funds, according to Hammons. "We're working to try and make that into a more productive rehearsal space," she said. But the building -- which is "very very old," according to Noone -- needs so much renovation that it did not even have working toilets until this fall. In November 1995, then-PAC Chairperson Pat Ede, who graduated last May, said the University would have to spend at least $3 million to adequately renovate the building. "The Rotunda space is not ready for performances at this point," Hammons said. The off-campus location of the former church also poses a safety concern. But Hammons explained that there is now a campus phone inside the church so students can call Escort services. She added that the University has also installed additional lighting outside the building. "Campus police are aware of the fact that there are students there --we've had no problems so far," she said. She attributed the lack of incidents to the fact that very few groups have actually used the space yet. The University has a history of announcing projects to renovate buildings for performing arts use and then abandoning them. One plan, proposed by the Undergraduate Assembly last year, involved renovating the former Eric 3 theater on Walnut Street, which closed in 1994, at a cost of $2-3 million dollars. In November 1994, then-UA member Dan Schorr, who graduated in 1995, said Provost Stanley Chodorow had verbally agreed to the idea. "We have orally detailed the proposal to the provost and vice-provost," Schorr said at the time. "They have committed in theory to the idea."

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