With the Cowan Hall’s Fritsche Theatre still under construction after a broken pipe destroyed the stage and dressing rooms, this semester’s theatrical performances have had no other choice than to alter their production plans.
After water damage forced Otterbein Theatre Department’s production of “Our Town” to change performance locations last minute, the spring musical “Bright Star” has now fallen into the same predicament.
In early February, the theater department realized the reality of needing to find a new location for the performance, considering construction in the Fritsche Theatre is still incomplete. With the spring musical being a large production each year, the theatre department faculty searched for nearby theaters to hold the production, such as the Rife Center Theatre, the Lincoln Theatre, and high schools in the surrounding area.
“It’s a big musical. We wanted to have it in a big space,” T.J. Gerckens, chair of the Otterbein theatre department, said. “We couldn’t find a space in Westerville that was available, so we decided to do it in the Pit [Campus Center Theatre]."
This location change altered the seating availability tremendously, switching from a proscenium theater seating 1,047 to a black box theater seating only 245.
“It discouraged people for maybe a day or two and then it clicked with us and we were like 'we have the power to make this what we want to make it.' It’s a beautiful story. It might honestly communicate better in the Pit which has definitely been the case,” sophomore musical theatre major Kailey Souder said.
“We did a lot of cool things with staging so I feel like the show is better in the Pit than it would have been in Cowan. It tells the story better,” sophomore design and tech major and assistant stage manager Libby Carroll added.
Not only did the location change affect the performers, but this change also halted ticket sales and caused the need to reticket a large number of audience members.
“The shift from one theater with a lot of seats to a theater with not very many seats means that people get shuffled to different days and there's probably not gonna be a lot of tickets available once we get everybody figured out,” Gerckens said.
A link was sent out to the parents of students involved with the production early to allow family members the first opportunity to purchase tickets while possible. Ticket sales have since been reopened to the public.
It is estimated that the construction in Fritsche Theatre will be completed by late April. New additions and improvements to the theater can be expected, such as floors intended to absorb shock and reduce the risk of injury to dancers.
“I think the flexibility of our students during all of this has been remarkable,” Gerchkens said.
“Bright Star” performances will be held March 29 - April 16 in the Campus Center Pit Theater.
