volume tt no. 5
n.c. Nch«M>l of the m*ts
de Mille Rife With Flaws
Orchestra pit was designed and built too deep so floor was rebuilt.
Kssav Photo Kryaiil Arrington
N. C. Essay: Is It Dead ?
By JOHN HUBBARD
Kssay Staff Kt'porter
Over the past two weeks many events'
have occurred which will have a telling
effect on the future of the N.C. Essay.
Since the beginning of the year the
newspaper staff has slowly dwindled, the
most recent loss being that of a hard
working editor: Kay Crutcher. However,
the remaining staff has continued its toils
despite an almost overwhelming job.
At the last two student council
meetings, the student activity fees
budget was discussed, along with the
possibility that the fees would be raised
for next year.
DAVE BELNAP, director of student
activities, pointed out that NCSA was the
only school he knew of having a gmes
room and a fihn program free to
students. One item (the largest item) on
Belnap’s budget, however, met with
dissaproval by some of the represen
tatives in attendance: the $4,000 allotted
to the newspaper.
Robin Wood, a drama major stated
“the stories are not news”, and Bill
Williams, a voice major suggested that
the money be used to get John Dean to
speak for one night.
At that point, the council moved that a
survey be distributed to all NCSA
students. Adrian Durlester, a D&P
major, was placed in charge of drawing
up the survey. When student response to
the survey was questioned, Woodrow
Childress, director of Food Services,
announced that 95 per cent of the student
body responded to his food questionaire.
The following week, Durlester
returned with an extensive two-page
questionaire, which was distributed to
students, beginning at dinner on
Wednesday, March 5.
BY THE time this issue is printed, the
decision of what is to be done with the
student activity fees, and with the N.C.
Kssay for next year, will already have
been made. This decision is very im
portant to the staff members planning to
return next year, but to the entire staff,
the question, “What about this next
issue?” is even more pressing.
There are complaints that the news is
not up to date. If the staff were large
enough, or if the present staff had enough
time, the Essay could print stories which
See SURVEY, Page 3, Col. 2
D&P Students
No More Overtime
By SHELLY McPHERSON
Kssay Staff Reporter
There will be no more overtime for
C^P students. Dean John A. Smeden has
directed in a recent memorandum that
students are to work no more than a
certain amount of crew hours. There are
to be no more cancelled classes or
excuses that students don’t show up for
these classes because of working on
productions. We do not cancel classes for'
productions,” he stated.
The school of design and production
puts in a lot of hours, blood, sweat and
tears, to get costumes, scenery and
lighting together to complete a show.
They not only do it for the school of
drama but for the other schools as well.
They also designed lighting for several
of the student dances. To say the least.
D&P is the backbone of the school.
Wherever there’s a show, there’s D&P
behind the scenes, usually working
overtime to present the best technical
side of the show possible. This meant
sometimes staying overtime to meet
deadlines.
Now, no more overtime and no
cancellation of classes. “I think that its
good. Someone had to put a stop to what
had been happening. We all tended to
glide a little further with our time,”
pointed out Dana Demuth of D&P.
“THE WHOLE NEW poUcy is a good
idea but it came in the middle of a whole
new transition period. Anytime you go
through a change, the transition time is
always hard,” said Becky Wakefield,
also of D&P.
See D&P, Page 3, Col. 3
Risks Seen
In Carpet,
Steps, Exit
By BRYANT ARRINGTON
i:ss;iy Staff Reporter
The construction of the de Mille
Theatre has received many i deroj^ator>
descriptions since its completion.
Perhaps one of the more infamous quotes
is from a group of “techies” who
“lowered” the orchestra pit (exposed the
hole.)
This requires unbolting huge I-beams
and disassembling the entire support
structure. When faced with the awesome
job, one of the group exclaimed in a
groan, “What a chocolate mess!”
Martin Sokoloff, vice-chancellor,
stated in an interview, “It’s important in
an article of this nature to stress the
positive. The theatre is a success in many
aspects from both an acting and audience
viewpoint.” Sokoloff did mention,
however, “a number of items that do not
have a major affect on the theatre” and
admitted, “they’re annoying.”
H()WEVP:k. COMPLAINTS by
teachers and students, especially those in
technical circles, are numerous. Major
criticisms are:
• Complete lack of sound proofing;
• Discomfort to legs due to arrangement
of seats:
• Dangerous and unsafe steps;
• Difficulty of raising and lowering the
orchestra pit;
• Maze of ironwork which makes
catwalks unsafe;
• Floors pulling away from walls;
• Flammable carpet on walls and floor;
• Design criticisms from teachers who
use the theatre and studios.
Fire Marshal Kenneth Thomas of
Winston-Salem stated, “As for
immediate hazards, there are several
areas that do not conform to safety
standards. Since no building permit was
obtained, the local fire prevention
department was unaware of the
renovation and they were not asked for
recommendations as is usually the
case.”
“The carpet on the floor has a
manufacturer-specified flame spread of
0-75 per cent,” Fire Marshall Thomas
explained. This means that if the carpet
is exposed to flame, the fire should not
spread to an area beyond 75 per cent of
the originally exposed area. However,
the fire prevention department does not
recommend carpet with more than 25 per
cent flame spread.” Unfortunately, the
carpet in De Mille is not even within the
rated 75 per cent flame spread. In a field
test, the carpet proved flamable in a
verticle position. This is important since
much of the carpet in de Mille is in a
vertical position. A piece of the carpet
has been sent to Raleigh for further
testing.
F'IRE MARSHALL Thomas stated
that, “Carpet on the walls is a definite
hazard. The carpet will burn and sustain
buring. However, I consider the most
pressing problem to be that the bottom
exits, which the architect says are not
fire exits, are marked with exit signs
which are visible to the entire audience.
The audience will try to go through these
exits which appear to be the most ac
cessible. I’m afraid that there is a risk of
high life loss in that situation due to the
aisle being blocked by seats, poor
See DEMILLE, Page 2, Col.