Vanderbilt University - Commodore Yearbook (Nashville, TN)

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VUT AND NE ELY Since 1947 the future of the University Theater program has been dominated by one factor: the absence of a permanent home. In that year the present wooden frame structure was built of government surplus materials on grounds designated for medical expansion. It was considered a temporary makeshift at the time and a tacit promise of a new and permanent theater was made. Now, 27 years later, the VUT is still in that ramshackle building across the street from the hospital. But the pinch ofVanderbilt's growth has increased tremendously, and the theater's site has been chosen for a new rehabilitation facility which will be part of a link between the Medical Center and the Veteran's Administration Hospital. That means a move is in the making, and the quicker the better. For more than a year Cecil Jones, the director of the theater, has been casting a roving eye about the campus for a substitute, and it seems that he has found one in Neely Auditorium. Neely, which was built. as a chapel in 1925 and witnessed compulsory morning services for the entire student body before classes six days a week, is now used'irregularly for any number of campus events. Much of the time it stands unoccupied, and the completion of the Sarratt Commons will severely limit its remaining uses. That makes it ideal for renovation and reassignment to the VUT. I think we can say that Neely is a minimally used facility in a location that is of potentially high use, Jones said, and that is one of the factors involved in our request to convert it for our needs. Jones' proposal to the University planners makes elaborate plans for a commission to study the feasibility of Neely's conversion, using as a basic design a project funded by the Ford Foundation and pub- lished in The Ideal Theatre: Eight Concepts. One of the criteria for this project, which makes it particularly malleable to Vanderbiltfs needs, was that it should provide maximum flexibility in production mode and not be dependent on complex machinery. The new plans would not entail the construction of a proscenium stage, like that at the VUT' now, due to poor sight lines in Neely fthe floor is completely f'latJ, but would promote a more unconventional and flexible approach to theater design. Exact configuration of the stage and seating arrangement fwhich would preferably have a mini- mum of 300 seats! and the requirements for exterior construction have yet to be determined. The proposal predicts a preliminary budget, for planning purposes, of S500,000 to S700,000. We hope to begin our interior construction by this summer, Jones said. Hopefully that means that we will be in the new theater a year from then, or the fall of 1975. But that may be a bit optimisticfl The move would mean a lot in terms of the future of the VUT. For one thing, it would move the Theater back to the heart of the campus, which couldn't hurt its attendance. And the modern, flexible facility would allow for more experimentation and for a freer theatrical mode for Vanderbilt and for the community, which is of no small importance in a city like Nashville where quality drama is rare. Beyond a technical improvement of in the facilities of the Theater, Jones would like to see an increase in the faculty- . . . in the classroom, the production aspects, and in such things as costume design, play writing, and so on -that would develop the VUT's capacity for the needs of its majors. With the present faculty only so many major productions can be mounted at one time, and that of coulse limits the number of people allowed to perform. It discourages new people in the group, Jones said, to try out only against the very good people-and often the same people-in play after play. The situation where all the best can be in every play fwould be alleviated! if one more director were added to the faculty. t'We must add to the faculty then. We are doing as much as we can with the resources we now have. When the additions we want are made, then an expansion of our program will be possible. THEATRE l 19

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