Performing Arts Buildings Receive Makeover</h1> <article> <h1>Performing Arts Buildings Receive Makeover</h1> <p>hhempste — Thu, 02 Nov 2017 20:31:23 +0000</p> <span>Performing Arts Buildings Receive Makeover</span> <span><span>hhempste</span></span> <span><time datetime="2017-11-02T16:31:23-04:00" title="Thursday, November 2, 2017 - 16:31">Thu, 11/02/2017 - 16:31</time> </span> <div class="text-content field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>In a single year, the departments of theater and dance stage between 15 and 18 performances, many of which take place in Hall Auditorium and Hall Annex’s Little Theatre. And each year, the challenges associated with those spaces have been that of scale: Hall Auditorium is a 501-seat theater, and the adjacent Little Theatre is an 80-seat house. Without a performance space that offers seating somewhere in the middle, the departments have been limited in the types of productions they can turn out.<br> <br> “For nearly 70 years, we’ve had to operate in an ‘either/or’ scenario,” says <a href="/eric-steggall">Eric Steggall</a>, managing director for the departments of theater, dance, and opera. “We’ve been hoping for a third theater space that is not as large as Hall Auditorium but is bigger than the Little Theatre.”</p> <p>Now, thanks to a generous donation from the Eric & Jane Nord Family Fund and other donors, that hope has become a reality through the development of the Eric Baker Nord Performing Arts Annex. This newly constructed building will be situated between Hall Auditorium and the Peter B. Lewis Gateway Center. A highlight of the new building is the Irene & Alan Wurtzel Theater. Through the generosity of Irene and Alan Wurtzel ’55, this highly adaptable space will accommodate between 250 and 300 seats. The Nord Performing Arts Annex will also boast a lobby, scene shop, laundry facility, restrooms, and other necessary spaces.</p> <p>“The Eric Baker Nord Performing Arts Annex will give us, and subsequently the rest of the campus and greater Northeast Ohio, a flexible, medium-sized performance venue,” says Steggall.<br> <br> This kind of adaptable space—one that allows for seating to be rearranged around a stage—is especially relevant to today’s student and theater practitioner, says Steggall. “It will introduce a whole new paradigm of curriculum and opportunities for the campus and the college.”</p> <p>The new theater space will also allow the department to experiment with different types of productions. “It allows for modern curriculum,” says Steggall. “There’s a difference between sitting in an audience, looking at actors on stage as you would on a television screen, and looking at actors in the round as they can in this new, flexible space. It changes the energy dynamic, the approach, and the sightlines.”</p> <p>According to Steggall, a performance in the round leaves little room for error and requires a greater attention to detail. “All the elements of the show have to be finished to a different degree. The audience sees the back of furniture and scenery, the costumes are 10 feet rather than 40 away, and the actors have an audience on all sides. We’ll have a completely different kind of approach to our productions.”</p> <p>Concurrently, a much-needed renovation to Hall Annex will also take place, thanks to a generous donation from musical composer John Kander ’51. Originally used as a television studio, Little Theatre is considered by many in the theater department as a “found-space” adapted to function as a theater—but the very nature of it presents functional challenges. Following its renovation, the performance space will be renamed the John Kander Little Theatre in his honor.</p> <p>Upon the spaces’ completion in August 2018, the Eric Baker Nord Performing Arts Annex and the renovated Hall Annex will adjoin directly with Hall Auditorium, creating an interconnected performing arts complex.</p> <p>According to Stegall, the project is transformational for anyone who is interested in theater performance, and he sees the renovation as a “major hook” for the students who are visiting or intending to become a theater major. He also sees an opportunity to bolster the college’s profile in Northeast Ohio.</p> <p>“This project will revitalize, legitimize, and validate modern approaches to curriculum development and entry points to the professional world for our students,” says Steggall. “It’s galactically exciting.”</p> <p><br> The project was made possible with the support and leadership of the following individuals:</p> <ul> <li>Jane Nord and her family, including her daughter and �鶹��Ƶ trustee Emily McClintock ’76 and husband T.K.</li> <li>Irene and Alan Wurtzel ’55 for their generosity and for Alan’s leadership on the Hall Auditorium Task Force</li> <li>Jolyon Stern ’61</li> <li>David Ignat, parent ’91; �鶹��Ƶ High School ’59</li> <li>John Kander ’51</li> <li>Elizabeth Welch ’80</li> <li>�鶹��Ƶ College Department of Theater: Caroline Jackson Smith, chair; Justin Emeka ’95, associate professor of theater; Matthew Wright, associate professor of theater</li> <li>�鶹��Ƶ College Board of Trustees</li> </ul> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-type field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__item">News Story</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-date field--type-datetime field--label-hidden field__item"><time datetime="2017-11-02T12:00:00Z">Thu, 11/02/2017 - 12:00</time> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-author field--type-string field--label-hidden field__item">Hillary Hempstead</div> <div class="text-content field field--name-field-intro-text field--type-text-long field--label-hidden field__item"><p>Construction under way on the Eric Baker Nord Performing Arts Annex and Hall Annex</p> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=2593">Facilities</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-programs field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?program=32971">Opera Theater</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?program=25441">Theater</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?program=35596">Voice</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-faculty field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/eric-steggall" hreflang="und">Eric Steggall</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-departments field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/arts-and-sciences/departments/theater" hreflang="und">Theater</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/arts-and-sciences/departments/dance" hreflang="und">Dance</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/conservatory/divisions/vocal-studies" hreflang="und">Vocal Studies</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-image-caption field--type-string-long field--label-hidden field__item">Groundbreaking ceremony for The Eric Baker Nord Performing Arts Annex and Hall Annex.<br> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-pin-school-page field--type-boolean field--label-hidden field__item">Off</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-photo-gallery-top field--type-boolean field--label-hidden field__item">false</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-image-credit field--type-string field--label-hidden field__item">Yevhen Gulenko</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-media field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__item"> </div> </article> <article> <h1>New Club-Like Venue Unites Campus and Community</h1> <p>eburnett — Fri, 28 Apr 2017 18:44:43 +0000</p> <span>New Club-Like Venue Unites Campus and Community</span> <span><span>eburnett</span></span> <span><time datetime="2017-04-28T14:44:43-04:00" title="Friday, April 28, 2017 - 14:44">Fri, 04/28/2017 - 14:44</time> </span> <div class="text-content field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>�鶹��Ƶ Conservatory has added a distinctive new performance venue in time for spring semester: The William and Helen Birenbaum Innovation and Performance Space, a club-like, subterranean structure in the Hotel at �鶹��Ƶ, officially opened in late January with a performance by �鶹��Ƶ voice students. The space was formally dedicated in early March at a celebration with �鶹��Ƶ trustees.</p> <p>Operated by the conservatory, the Birenbaum will serve as an entrepreneurial space for �鶹��Ƶ of Music students by day and an intimate, 100-plus capacity concert club by night, hosting everything from student recitals to conservatory ensembles to guest artists and special events.</p> <p>Benefiting from its location at the heart of downtown �鶹��Ƶ, the Birenbaum is intended to connect campus and community life through its programming and amenities—most notably a sleek and stylish bar that extends along the east side of the room, which will be open to the public most nights from 7-11 p.m. The space boasts a contemporary vibe, with polished concrete walls and floor, exposed ceilings, and flourishes of cork incorporated in the bar top and the walls and floor of its Kulas Stage.</p> <p>For student musicians, the Birenbaum offers a performance setting that is distinct from campus venues and closely resembles nontraditional locales many musicians are now exploring in their professional lives. In only its first few weeks of availability to �鶹��Ƶ’s classical, jazz, and TIMARA students and ensembles, the venue was completely booked for the spring semester.</p> <p>“The Birenbaum was conceived and designed to be a place of intersection—a place of connected learning,” says Dean of the Conservatory Andrea Kalyn. “In both modes, this is a space designed to inspire our students to make connections across the curriculum and to imagine—and even more critically, to practice—the ways in which their education can live beyond �鶹��Ƶ, in the community, the profession, and the world.” </p> <p>The Birenbaum is named for the parents of attorney Charles Birenbaum ’79 of San Francisco, chairman of the Northern California offices of Greenberg Traurig and an �鶹��Ƶ College trustee. Birenbaum’s daughter, Julia Birenbaum ’17, is a student at �鶹��Ƶ. The venue was dedicated March 3 in a ceremony that featured three generations of Birenbaums, including Charles’ mother, Helen. �鶹��Ƶ College President Marvin Krislov and Dean Kalyn spoke at the event.</p> <p>Hours later, the Birenbaum played host to a performance by the �鶹��Ƶ Sinfonietta, conducted by Timothy Weiss. The eclectic program included works by Beethoven, 19th-century Danish composer Emil Hartmann, and �鶹��Ƶ faculty composer Jesse Jones, and featured side-by-side performances of students with faculty flutist Alexa Still, oboist Mingjia Liu ’10, clarinetist Richard Hawkins, and French hornist Roland Pandolfi. (The first official performance in the Birenbaum was a winter-term project called Words into Sound, which took place January 27. Coordinated by voice faculty member Lorraine Manz and conductor Joseph Mechavich '92, it featured conservatory singers performing works by Jake Heggie and Gene Scheer, with Scheer in attendance.)</p> <p>The Birenbaum was designed by the Cleveland-based firm Westlake Reed Leskosky, which has led recent renovations of the Apollo Theatre and the conservatory’s Bibbins Hall, and designed the Bertram and Judith Kohl Building, home to �鶹��Ƶ’s jazz program. Accessible from College Street or via the hotel lobby elevator, the Birenbaum welcomes guests in a vestibule gallery space that features artwork by �鶹��Ƶ students.</p> <p>Like the new Hotel at �鶹��Ƶ, which opened in spring 2016, the Birenbaum is part of �鶹��Ƶ’s Green Arts District, a plan for building and renovating a 13-acre city block at the corner of East College and North Main streets to be energy self-sufficient and carbon-neutral, providing a model for sustainable construction everywhere.</p> <p>The Birenbaum represents the ninth performance space on campus used by conservatory musicians. It is the first new space since the creation of Stull Recital Hall, part of a 2013 renovation of Bibbins Hall. Stull Hall was named in honor of David H. Stull ’89, dean of the conservatory from 2004 to 2013.</p> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-type field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__item">News Story</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-date field--type-datetime field--label-hidden field__item"><time datetime="2017-03-22T12:00:00Z">Wed, 03/22/2017 - 12:00</time> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-author field--type-string field--label-hidden field__item">Erich Burnett</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=2356">Conservatory</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=2593">Facilities</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=2395">Entrepreneurship</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-pin-school-page field--type-boolean field--label-hidden field__item">Off</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-photo-gallery-top field--type-boolean field--label-hidden field__item">false</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-media field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__item"> </div> </article> </main></body></html>