Page 4 North Carolina Shcool of the Arts
ESSAY INVESTIGATES CHURCH PURCHASE
Many questions coming from
students, faculty, and staff alike,
have risen about the recent
purchase of the Qiurch of Chiist
on South Main Street behind
NCSA. As is often the case,
misconstrued notions and
misunderstandings have
developed since the purchase was
made public, so the N.C. Essay
went straight to Sam Stone,
director of the N.C. School of the
Arts Foundation, and got the
story of the Church of Christ
purchase directly from the office
involved.
It seems the Church of Christ
building was purchased in mid-
November of 1972. The facility
happened to be up for sale
because the congregation had
outgrown the physic^ plant of
the church. Also most of its
members no longer lived in this
locale and community. The
Church of Christ building was
purchased with funds from the Z.
Smith Reynolds Foundation, at a
price of $150,000. That amount
sounds quite tremendous, but
when one considers the cost of
constructing a building of
comparable size, plus the near
acre of real-estate that the
church rests on, the price is a real
bargain in today’s sky-rocketing,
real-estate market.
The Church of Christ facility
became available in August, 1972,
as NCSA was negotiating with the
Catholic School (locat^ behind
NCSA on Sunnyside and S. Main)
for the purchase of its physical
plant. The reason for the needed
acquisition of a new building for
NCSA was not for classroom use
but for a future-planned program
in Film and Television. The
decision was in favor of the
Church of Christ building
because its sanctuary (45’ 60’
and two stories high) was larger
than the gymnasium in the
Catholic School and would more
readily adapt itself to being
renovated into the needed sound
studio. Also in the picture was
money. The greatest amount
offered by NCSA for the Catholic
School was $325,000.00 and that
was not enough. With these assets
being posses^ by the Church of
Christ facility, NCSA decided to
go ahead with its piu*chase, at a
savings of at least $175,000.00.
Currently NCSA uses the
Church of Christ building as a
rehearsal and recital hall - a use
which will become rather con
venient as graduation students
must ^ve recitals in the Spring,
sometimes as many as two or
three a day. This, in itself, is a
savings to NCSA because until
the recent acquisition of the
church, NCSA had to pay rent for
the use of the recital and concert
halls at Salem College. The
congregation of the Church of
Christ presently uses the facility
three times a week, (Wednesday
evening and Sunday morning and
evening) until they get their new
structure completed.
NCSA is still interested in the
Catholic School property and also
is keeping an eye on the South
Fork ^ptist Church property for
possible future expansion. But
Mr. Stone says these are only
speculations.
Hopefully such information
helps to clear the air of the
Church of Christ purchase,
although it does nothing to soften
the straight-backed, hard wood
pews. If there are any other
issues, events, or questions that
you might wish to know more
about, please write a letter to the
editor, or contact a member of
the N.C. Essay Staff.
-Randy Jones
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Desi^ & Production Woes:
WHEN IT RAINS, IT POURS
At a time of construction and
architectural planning
throughout the campus, some
deep consideration should be
given to the School of Design and
Production facilities.
Across from the campus on
Waughtown street lies an old
garage- warehouse type building.
Unlikely as its appearance
seems, the building is an
essential part of the school for it
houses the D & P faculty offices,
classrooms, scene shop,
properties shop, tools, paints,
nwterials and all those other
vital things which go into the
making of a show.
Some students are familiar
with the building, others simply
know it as the place that
“techies” disappear to for days
at a time. At any rate, the
building is in need of repair and
improvement. The shop is in
creasingly overburdened with the
building of several productions
simultaneously, storage space
and a good sized student body.
Up until recently the roof
seemed to open whenever it
rained, dumping generous
amoimts of water. Not long ago a
scrim for the “Misanthrope”
production was stretched out on
the floor in the process of being
painted. Later that night the
rains came down and nearly
ruined it - an example of just one
of the many situations which
have risen from the dusty old
building.
The lighting in many areas is
inadequate for the work that has
to be done.
Electrical power is also in
sufficient for tools and equipment
during a heavy work load, which
is more than often every day.
Classrooms consist of a back
studio and a room in the front of
the building with the exception of
practical classes which are held
right in the shop. But the need for
classroom space often pushes
some classes out into the shop
amidst the whining table saws
and other building activity that
simply can’t stop because a class
is being held.
At times the heating is
inadequate and uneven leaving
you sweating in one place from a
tdast of hot air and grabbing for
your coat in the chilly cold twenty
feet away.
These conditions aren’t the
worst which technical theatre has
had to contend with past and
present. Sets and props are still
being iroduced and students are
still learning and progressing.
Spacious, well equipp^ scene
shops don’t necessarily produce
excellent, well built shops, but in
most cases they do add to any
degree of quality.
Quite often part of a student’s
time is spent on maintenance
work around the shop, though this
turns out to be a necessity under
the circumstances.
Max Devolder, a member of
the faculty, gave me several
recommendations for improving
conditions after we talked about
them for a whUe. They are:
(1) Purchasing the building
would be a start in the right
direction as it is presently being
rented.
(2) Painting the walls and
ceilings would make the en
vironment a little brighter as
would skylights in the wood and
paint shop.
(3) A resolution to the crowded,
noisy classrooms would be to add
a second story over existing
classrooms.
(4) Another critical area are
the loading and unloading spaces
on Waughtown street. These
could be rebuilt with a more
efficient floor level loading dock.
(5) Air conditioning and ven
tilation would ease the discom
fort of chemical fumes and the
ever present sawdust.
A student in D & P will spend a
majority of his active time in the
shop pursuing one thing or
another and should have
adeqipte facilities and working
conditions for learning and
working, very often late into the
mght, day aftfer day. Im
provements in general would not
only benefit the student but also
the school as a whole in future
productions.
- Bob GambriU