A promising future
By MICHAEL J. TITTINGER Daily Press Staff Writer
The origami-like roof that sits atop the school’s new $17 million Theatre Arts Building seemed particularly fitting on Saturday night, as students opened the state-of-the-art facility to the public by sashaying through a Broadway musical revue that shifted form at an animated pace.
The invitation-only show inside the performance hall’s spanking-new 264-seat theater was staged as both a coming-out party and fundraiser, as the college’s Foundation goes about trying to raise revenue to ensure the building and department’s upkeep.
The 20,000 square-foot building was made possible by Santa Monica and Malibu voters in 2002, when they approved Measure U, a $160 million bond. Amid the three-year construction, the department held classes and staged plays in a temporary theater at SMC’s satellite campus at Santa Monica Airport.
4D8,“Thank you for giving our students wings, for giving them the possibility to fly,” said Pat Train Gage, a faculty member who hosted the performance along with the Cat in the Hat, alluding to the students’ lyrical take on the Seussical Follies. “A person’s a person, no matter how small.”
While the space was actually opened up to students for classes on Aug. 28, the beginning of the fall semester, this weekend’s show marked the first chance members of the public, and potential benefactors, had to catch a glimpse of the impressive arts building, which by all accounts appeared to contain all the hallmarks of any professional theater space.
Within the 1.06-acre site resides the main stage, a “black box” performance space, lobby shop, dressing rooms, classrooms, separate sound and lighting rooms, and makeup labs.
While the night may have been geared towards raising money for the SMC Foundation — selling off naming rights for everything from individual theater chairs ($1,000 apiece) to the entire building ($1 million) — it wasn’t hard to discern who the building would really stand to serve over time, as excited students, still in costume, walked attendees through the building’s halls and performance spaces for post-show tours.
6CF,“This building brings theater to life, and that’s what it’s all about,” said Jessica Gunson, a theater arts student who played Cinderella’s stepmother for segments from the show “Into the Woods.” “The seats are new, everything’s new. It makes people want to come to the shows, and that will only make the program so much more successful.
“When I first saw the stage, I couldn’t wait to be on it.”
Saturday’s show began with the number “Magic to Do” from the musical “Pippin,” a fitting opening for a theater with the promise of the future laid out before it. Students also belted out numbers from “Cabaret” and “Evita,” which is scheduled as the theater’s first housed production in October.
The theatre complex, designed by the international architecture firm Leo A. Daly, replaces the former, overcrowded, 50-year-old facility that was originally built as a children’s theater in the 1950s.
“The opening of this building marks an important milestone in the history of this college,” remarked SMC President Dr. Chui L. Tsang. “This beautiful facility will catapult our already outstanding theatre arts program to new heights.”
The project marks the latest chapter in a storied department that counts Oscar-winner Dustin Hoffman, screen legend James Dean and Oscar-nominee Gloria Stuart (”Titanic”) among its alumni.
But on Saturday, it was all about the future of the department and the performers that will take to the as-yet-to-be-scuffed stage in efforts to rise among the ranks of Hollywood and Broadway elite.
“Just even the architecture of this building, it’s so awesome,” said Alex Edlefsen, a theatre arts student leading tours in his Dr. Seuss character costume. “This night, this building means a lot. It’s so official... so cool.”
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on October 2, 2006. Read the original PDF.