With white paint peeling off its outside walls, cobwebs cluttering its windows and mud caking its floor, the Shanley Pavilion looks like it’s better suited to be a toolshed than it is to be Northwestern’s top theater for alternative dramatic performances.
But Arts Alliance’s Associated Student Government Sen. Joel Richlin is trying to get ASG to change that.
He’s introducing a resolution and a bill on Wednesday that would call on the administration to make several improvements to the building, including adding a phone, purchasing risers for seating and steam cleaning the floor.
“Shanley is a great place to see a show, but it is run down and in need of repairs,” said Richlin, a Weinberg sophomore.
Administrators almost closed Shanley during Spring Quarter because proposed Norris University Center renovations include two black box theaters that would replace it. But Norris renovations have stalled; administrators say they have raised only 12 percent of the cost for renovations.
“In lieu of the black box theaters, administrators should put money into Shanley,” Richlin said. “It will buy them some time.”
The proposed renovations also include adding two mirrors backstage, fixing the plumbing, building a stall around the toilet in the men’s bathroom and laying mats around the entrance for people to wipe their feet on before they enter.
Richlin estimated the total costs of all the repairs to be about $5,000.
Jewish Theater Ensemble Producer Nicole Sauler, whose show “Songs for a New World” was in Shanley this weekend, said Shanley’s poor condition hampers theater productions.
Sauler, a Weinberg junior, pointed to two structural problems of the theater: gaping holes in walls by the bathroom and poles in the middle of the seating section that block the audience’s view.
She also said the ensemble spent hours sweeping cobwebs off the ceiling and mopping dust and dirt off the floor.
“Shanley is the bane of student theater,” said Sauler. “The building is decrepit.”
But despite the building’s problems, Sauler said the theater has character.
“Shanley has its own culture,” she said. “Black box theaters are intimate, wonderful and allow for creativity to make the show special.”
WAVE Productions Producer Dixie Uffelman said she would appreciate the addition of permanent risers to Shanley. Two weeks ago, while moving rented risers from Pick-Staiger Concert Hall to Shanley, she dropped a riser on her foot, breaking her big toe.
“Permanent risers would be great,” said Uffelman, a Weinberg sophomore. “Everyone would want them.”
Vertigo Productions Co-chairwoman Kate Webster said renovating Shanley would be important to student theater groups because performance space on campus is very limited. Vertigo uses Shanley for three shows every year, and Webster said the renovations would make her preparations much easier.
“I appreciate Shanley for its versatility because it allows us to do a lot of different things with the space, but it’s a piece of shit,” said Webster, a Speech junior. “We can’t even hang lights on the ceiling anymore because we’re afraid the ceiling would cave in.”
