Cougar Cry
Page 17
(Contmued from page 16)
How does all of this affect the Drama Program?
The basement under the Walker Center stage had previously been used by the college theatre for storage of
sets and stage sceneries. However, a problem surfaced when the fire marshal arrived and said that unless
these things were fire-proofed, the basement had to be cleaned out. Not only did the drama dept, lose a lot of
their own “equipment” for their productions which, like batting practice for the baseball team, is required of
the drama students for completion of their degrees, they also lost a vast amount of space needed to create
new sets, which are very large. Another loss of space occurred when the fire marshal designated corridor
space to remain cleared to allow for emergency evacuation in and out of the basement, as required by law.
Still, when the batting cage isn’t in use, it can be slid to one end, so that the drama students can still work in
there.
What Is seen for the future?
“Drama and music will be given all of the old area downstairs that is now the Learning Center in Thompson
Hall. It’s close to the Pit and they’ll have a huge area there. Hopefully, eventually, Frank Shuford who is in
charge of all the storage facilities, will find some storage space for some of the material currently in the
basement of the Walker Center, and it’ll be moved closer to where the drama area will be. 1 know that
Drama’s had a difficult time coordinating the use of the Walker Center with other Walker events, and with
the community that sometimes wants to use it. They do get “booted” sometimes and that’s why we wanted
to be able to move drama and music; to give them a large, nice area that they can fix any way they want to
and have the use of the Pit and hopefully get them some more storage,” Dr. Rodabaugh added.
The Batting Cage and the Walker Center
An Editorial Opinion by Stormie Campbell
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For those of you who don’t play baseball or enjoy performing for an audience, you may not think this is a
very controversial issue but to those involved, a civil war has been stirred by this issue. The baseball team
wants a place to practice when it rains, and the Drama Department wants to keep the space they previously
occupied for the storage and building of sets for their plays.
This issue was introduced to me last semester and has collected cobwebs in the basement of my mind ever
since. Upon returning to school, I decided to use my new position on the newspaper staff to answer some
of the questions I had concerning this issue. Knowing that everyone has a different point of view and
opinion, 1 knew the best approach was to be fair and give each side a chance to voice their views. That
didn’t work. Both sides were angry and some people would not even cooperate. Both arguments had jus
tifiable points and ridiculous points. But the umpire has made his call and as we know from watching the
games on TV all the arguing isn’t going to change his mind. The batting cage is going into the basement.
That is the command to be obeyed. Although I cannot change this decision, I am free to speak out on how
this makes me feel.
I view the John A. Walker Community Center as the open mouth of this culturally starved town. The
chairs in the Walker Center auditorium represent the teeth that want the theatre as meat to devour. Each'
one of those chairs is plaqued with the name of someone that wanted the magic that spills over them when
they sit in the dark and experience the power of a symphony, the beauty of dance and the emotion of thea
tre. They want to support something that educates the mind of themselves, their children and the genera
tion they follow. They want to be able to view a piece of magic not felt in their normal, everyday lives.
They want to witness the self-expression of others and to have a chance to express themselves.
The Arts have been cut and deprived in schools everywhere for many years while sports have been given a
priority. This community gave the Arts a chance to prevail and once again it has been forced to sit on the
bench. The curtain has closed and the Drama team has struck out.
Note: For more details regarding this issue, please see Shelley Schreiber's article, "Batting For The
Drama Department" on pages 16 and I
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