The Voice of the Prairie, Fall 1995

The summer of 1995 we had no show at the college for the second year in a row.

I spent my time trying to make sure the renovations of the Mainstage Theatre were going well.

I met several times trying to ensure that the new lighting catwalk’s problems could be overcome.

I addition to the many issues of the building renovations there were going to be big staff changes in the fall of 1995.

In addition to the sudden loss of the scene designer we also lost our production manager/shop foreman who left to take a new job at Ithaca College.

A temporary scene designer was found and a search for a full time replacement would soon begin with me has the chair of the search committee.

The choice of The Voice of the Prairie by John Olive worked well for our first fall production in the Black Box theatre.

Note student working up on the Old Grid.

There were only four actors in the cast and the scene design used a unit set with several moving pieces to change the look of the space.

I remember that all of the students did a good job both on and off stage.

The scenic design was mostly a large barn-like wall with a large sliding door and a smaller door that had to fly in and out in a space without a fly system.

I worked with several of my advanced students to make the several scenic challenges, including the flying door, work smoothly.

The show had both  student lighting and sound designers who did a good job.

We had used the Black Box Theatre for three “Mainstage” productions my first few years at Brockport but it had been a while since we had used it.

After our more recent renovations forced us to use the Black Box Theatre again,  one director found that he liked it and has used it several times even after the renovation were done.

Some productions work much better in the intimate Black Box Theatre than on the larger Mainstage.

The building renovations along with other issues made it was a difficult time for the department.

Because the Arts for Children faculty were made into their own area for a few years, our department was down to just four full time faculty, several adjuncts, a guest designer and myself.

We could have had more issues with unhappy students because of the loss of a popular teacher and other staff losses, but our low number of majors at the time and the fact many others had graduated left few hold overs who might be unhappy but they all stepped up and help keep things going.