The fourth floor of the Clara E. Jones Administration Building will be renovated for a new purpose.
In 2013, the School of Law relocated from the main campus to a downtown location, and an ad hoc committee was formed to decide what should be done with the empty spaces in Sarkeys Math and Science Center and Gold Star Memorial Building. The committee decided to accept proposals from school stakeholders to see who needed the space in Gold Star the most.
The School of Theater received the third floor, the basement and most of the second floor, the Honors program received one wing of the first floor, and the Wimberly School of Religion received the other two wings.
This decision included that the School of Theater would move out of the admin tower so the space could be used for admissions, according to an email from Kent Buchanan, provost and vice president for academic affairs.
“Bottom line is the School of Theatre received most of the GoldStar Building space, renovations of the space was paid for by the university, as well as audiovisual equipment provided by CTS, and the school received additional benefits over the last few years,” Buchanan wrote. “Now it is time to start renovating the fourth floor of the Administration Building for other administrative purposes and the deans have assured us that the School of Theatre will be out by the first week of May.”
The School of Theater currently uses the admin tower as a space for acting, movement and stage combat classes, and it is also a performance space for student-led theater troupe Out of the Box.
Luke Eddy, associate professor of movement and stage combat, said OOTB may be given a space in the Gold Star basement, though it is still undergoing construction. Eddy also said his movement and stage combat classes will be moved into the Studio A classroom in Kirkpatrick Fine Arts Center.
“It becomes a giant Jenga puzzle of figuring out: okay, if we move those into Studio A, well, Studio A is already pretty solidly booked with a bunch of classes in there, so if I come down there, then where do those guys go?” he said. “It’s a sort of shell game.”
Jo Hoch, acting senior, is the former head of OCUImprov, a student improv troupe that has used the admin tower for many of their performances. Hoch said members of the troupe are considering using other spaces not affiliated with the School of Theater, such as the Great Hall in Tom and Brenda McDaniel University Center, which they used for their March 22 show.
“We’ve talked about using non-theater spaces just because it makes our schedule more flexible,” she said. “That way we don’t have to always be battling with the schedules of rehearsals and performances.”
Hoch said OCUImprov will always have a place to go due to the nature of improv.
“We really love playing in the Admin Tower, but improv is nice because you can do it pretty much anywhere, so space probably won’t be an issue for us,” she said.
Eddy said he will miss using the admin tower for his classes.
“On a sentimental level, all of the movement and stage combat classes, as long as I’ve been here, have always been up there, so it’s kind of sad to leave that place,” he said. “The biggest thing for me is a concern about losing that space and not having a ready-to-go new space for those rehearsals and Out of the Box performances.”
Eddy also said, however, there are certain structural issues in the admin tower, such as an elevated platform, that he doesn’t mind leaving behind.
“It also has some eccentricities about the space that I’m kind of fine to leave behind,” he said. “Studio A just recently got revamped with new flooring and a bank of full-length mirrors on the wall, so all of that is quite nice.”
OOTB Co-Artistic Directors Dawson MacLeod, acting junior, and Amanda Miller, English junior, declined to comment.
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