Student Use of Facilities

B.5.i Student use of facilities. The facilities assigned by the university to the Theatre program are to be employed for curricular purposes and not for private use: no sleeping overnight or preparing meals for visiting family members or throwing private birthday parties, for example. But obviously there are legitimate student uses of the spaces which can be tied to the curriculum and which want only a few rules to keep order and balance for the equitable treatment of all concerned.

1) McKinley lock-up schedule. Accessibility to our spaces is fairly generous unless allowing such would endanger or equipment or projects in process. In other words, we need to conscientiously protect our interests while allowing reasonalbe access to authorized users of our spaces and equipment. The lock-up schedule provided to the Safety and Security Office is as follows:

(East and West lower-level side doors, Stage Door, access to the Green Room from the rear stairwell only. Other interior doors locked.)

(Access allowed for rehearsal or other authorized activities by individuals assigned keys, generally the Theatre faculty and staff. Others may be allowed access by way of the the Safety and Security Office with the permission of Professor Yanik.)

The Beegle Hall Scene Shop is accessible only when the Technical Director is on duty or through his permission given to specific persons, with approval notification to the Safety and Security Office. Again, lock-up is 11:00 p.m.

The Beegle Hall Studio is accessible through the Theatre Chair or Technical Director and only on demonstrable need associated with course projects.

2) Booking rehearsal and performance spaces. Generally speaking, student-initiated use of rehearsal and performance space is confined to the McKinley Studio Theatre, scheduled under the supervision of the Theatre Department through the Theatre Chair, who holds the building’s calendar. If scheduling proves severely difficult, arrangements can be made through the Fine and Performing Arts Adminstrative Assistant in Crawford Music Building to negotiate available classroom spaces with the room scheduler in Student Academic Services. Please do not initiate such a request without notifying your instructor or project advisor who will have to approve it anyway.

Mainstage, Studio, and University Players productions of the program have first call on rehearsal space and calendar. Usually the next Mainstage or Studio production to be performed will have first call. Inasmuch as possible Mainstage shows will rehearse in the Bach Theatre, but if second in line will use the Studio space. The University Players often rehearse daily from 8:00-9:20 am and on Tuesday and Thursday at 1:00-1:50 pm in the Studio Theatre.

The scheduling of performance dates and spaces for mainstage and studio productions is accomplished through the Fine Arts calendaring process in conjunction with the Departments of Music and Art. The booking of rehearsals for these productions is done through published rehearsal schedules, and cleared for conflicts with Professor Yanik. Other uses of the Studio Theatre, such as class scene rehearsals or laboratory production preparation and performances, is done on a first-come, first-served basis. Evening, weekend, or holiday uses must be negotiated one week in advance through Professor Yanik who will clear them with the Safety and Security Office. Your chances of being able to “just drop in” during the final weeks of a quarter are not good.

3) Available rehearsal and performance equipment. For both class-assigned scenes and other rehearsals, our standard rehearsal blocks are all that are available for use. These rather nondescript blocks are useful in representing chairs, sofas, and tables. These pieces are stored in the locked room across the Kreider Gallery from the Studio Theatre, and available by any faculty member for class purposes or by arrangements made when you schedule the space for rehearsal. If you use them, you are responsible to return them to the storage area! You are not permitted to bring in rehearsal furniture from outside because the Studio Theatre is so overbooked that it’s usefulness is easily compromised by clutter. Our purposes for order can also be thwarted if you do not return the provided rehearsal furniture to its appropriate storage.

Invited-audience performances for classes and lab productions must also be consciously simplified in their staging. The emphasis is on script and performer, not staging. The following staging restrictions are in force for productions of this kind:

• The standard rehearsal blocks and pieces should be employed. Not only does this put each scene on equal footing, but it provides an aesthetic continuity to the performances. If highly specialized set pieces or properties are absolutely necessary, they may be brought in by you late in the rehearsal process and removed by you immediately after the performance. These pieces cannot be stored in the Studio and must be removed and stored elsewhere so as not to impede classes in the space.

• If you bring in hand props, you must keep them boxed and in the storage room, not spread around the Studio.

• Costume pieces are to be located on your own. Departmental costumes are not available. Your costumes cannot be stored in the Costume Shop or in the Studio. Please remove them to your room or apartment each night.

• No special lighting is available for class projects. Because of the problems of difficulties of time, energy, qualified operating personnel and limitations on instrumentation, lights for laboratory productions are limited to 8-12 instruments, installed late in the preparation process.

• Sound support is not available. Class and laboratory projects must be content with employing boom boxes or whatever. Departmental equipment is not available for classroom projects.

4) Dressing room lockers and showers. The dressing rooms serve a dual function in that they are a necessary facility for production purposes but are also available for use by classes, particularly the movement and acting courses. The lockers and hanging units in the center of the rooms are reserved for exclusive use by productions. The tall lockers which line the rooms are for your personal use. Keep your street clothes in one while you’re in costume, or store your sweats there when taking a studio course. You are urged to bring your own lock for a locker. The Theatre Department cannot guarantee the safety of your possessions, although every precaution is observed. On performance nights the Stage Manager will collect and hold your valuables if you wish.

Likewise, the dressing room showers are available for your use. You’ll have to bring your own towel and soap which you may choose to store in your locker.

The dressing rooms will be opened by the instructor for classes as arranged. They are open and accessible for your use during production times at the posted Cast Call time for dress rehearsals and performances.

5) The Green Room. The principal use of the Green Room is, of course, for the purposes of production. It was designed to be an inviting and soothing space for performers to wait before being called to the stage. A secondary and privileged use of the space is that of daytime student lounge. It’s a great study space, isolated and usually quiet, and truly a find for commuter students who have no place on campus or for resident students when the dorms just plain get too loud. Or it can serve as a meeting space for group planning of class assignments or social events. It serves well as a space for script read-throughs or for line-runs, or anytime you need a quiet, isolated space during the day. Few other departments have such an open and inviting student space. At present the Green Room is not strictly scheduled and you are welcome to just drop in. Access through the McKinley stage door (the southwest corner of the building) and down the stairs should be available during the building’s open hours, presently scheduled for 7:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.

You are invited to advantage yourself of the small book collection you’ll find in the Green Room. These are mostly materials dealing with careers in theatre and how to present yourself as a professional, although there are some materials of a more general nature. They are not available in the SPU library. However, please remember that these books are private property and represent a sizable financial commitment. They belong to the the professor whose name is on the flyleaf and are placed here for your use only, not as gifts. Don’t make off with them! Use them in the Green Room only and return them to the shelves; violation of this trust will cancel the use privilege for all and further erode your professors’ optimistic faith in the potential for goodness in this world.

Under no circumstances is any of the furniture or furnishings in the Green Room to be removed from that space, nor can they be used as the furniture for classroom scense or projects.

6) Kitchen etiquette. The kitchen located adjacent to the Green Room is open for your use during rehearsals and performances. It was designed for the preparation of snacks, food used on stage, company meals during production, and assembling reception refreshments. Equipment includes a cooktop, ovens, microwave, refrigerator and commercial coffeemaker, and a supply of paper plates, cups, and napkins are usually on hand after being left by various receptions. Typically there is also a random assortment of coffee mugs, and you are invited to bring your own for storage there during rehearsal periods. You may want to bring your own light snacks, coffee, tea, and what have you, to carry you through rehearsals.
The facility is not intended for the preparation of personal meals, however.

A regrettable aspect of a kitchen space with no ownership and dozens of users is the way in which sundry stuff collects, dishes and utensils are only rinsed and left in the drainer for someone else to put away, the refrigerator finds itself housing odd things (and odors), and the ovens are never cleaned. Student access to such a facility is rare on campus. Please, please do your share to keep it clean and organized. You may even need to go beyond that to picking up after someone else. We all want to keep the space open for student use. Please do not assume that someone will clean up after you.

To use the kitchen for reception preparation purposes—receptions such as those which often follow Senior Projects or vocal recitals—clearance must be made through Professor Yanik at the time of scheduling the event. For these purposes some special rules apply:

• Commercial coffee maker or urn, filters
• Two (2) punch bowls and ladles
• Eight (8) round plastic serving trays
• Two (2) plastic coffee carafes
• Two (2) eight foot folding tables
• Refrigerator for storage (If not in use for production)

In addition to the food items, you will need to furnish all additional serving supplies, such as plates, napkins, cups, silverware, serving utensils, tablecloths and the like. Please note that the kitchen is not available for major food preparation requiring extensive cooking or baking.

The ovens are not available for receptions, and the cook top stove is to be used only for heating tea water, cider, and so forth.

Receptions should be planned to last no longer than forty-five minutes, since the building is to be locked-up promptly thereafter.

• Remove all items from tables to kitchen.
• Pick up all cups, plates, napkins, utensils from around the room and place in trash containers.
• Spot clean spills on floor.
• Replace all chairs around perimeter of room for class use.
• Fold tables and stack against South wall (wall with door leading to kitchen).
• Close double doors leading into the Kreider Gallery.

• Remove coffee grounds from coffee maker and deposit in trash container. Rinse filter holder and replace in machine.
• Wash and rinse carafes, leave on counter top.
• Wash and rinse plastic trays, leave in drain board.
• Wash and rinse punch bowls, leave on counter top.
• Clean all counter tops, sink and work table.
• Spot clean spills on floor.
• Remove all personal items from refrigerator

7. The Call Board. Located in the back hallway outside the Green Room, the Call Board is where you will find information related to the current production (sign-in sheets, notes to the cast and crew, costume repair orders, etc.), announcement of materials related to upcoming productions (auditions, casting, rehearsal schedules), and information of a general sort (shows about town, job and internship announcements, Graduate programs, upcoming parties, Alum news). You are encouraged to add information of corporate interest as it comes to you.

This posting board should reflect the heartbeat of our theatre community. You are urged to keep in touch with its materials after classes, during rehearsals, as you use the Green Room. It’s nearly always accessible through the Stage Door and down the stairs.