<p>We just visited Tulane this past week-end. Part of the Preview Day was a lunch with faculty members from most of the majors. My son is not interested in majoring in theater but wants to participate in productions. The professor really disappointed him when he said Tulane does not have a real theater for productions and has no plans to build one and does only 3 productions per year. Can anyone talk about the theater experience (not musical theater - which is a separate department at Tulanee)? Thanks!!!!</p>
<p>Unfortunately, I think the best bet for theater would be next door at Loyola.</p>
<p>Yeah, there is actually a story there. Tulane used to have one of the best theater departments in the country, until the early 1970’s. A few famous names in acting and directing came out of that era. The faculty wanted Tulane to build a new theater building and the administration back then wouldn’t do it. They apparently left en masse to (I think) Columbia.</p>
<p>Here is an oblique and non-specific reference to the above, apparently a bit earlier than I thought (1968). <a href=“Tulane: The Emergence of a Modern University, 1945--1980 - Clarence L. Mohr, Joseph E. Gordon - Google Books”>Tulane: The Emergence of a Modern University, 1945--1980 - Clarence L. Mohr, Joseph E. Gordon - Google Books; Page 382</p>
<p>OK, further reading shows that starting on page 272 there is quite a bit of material about the rise of the theater department starting in the late 1950’s, and the fall only about a decade later (page 275).</p>
<p>Hi gapolyglot - this is Andrew Farrier, the Admission Coordinator for the Arts and Architecture at Tulane University. I was out of town during the Preview Day (in Atlanta, funny enough). Both as the representative of the university’s arts programs and as an alumnus of the theatre department who is continuing to do professional work in the city, I want to try and clear this up.</p>
<p>Not having heard the conversation, my best guess is that the person you spoke to (probably Marty Sachs, our professor of lighting design) was trying to explain that we don’t usually perform on a proscenium stage - a theatre as it’s classically pictured. Our main stage is a large black box that seats a couple hundred, depending on the particular setup. It’s used by our theatre and dance programs as well as the Tulane Shakespeare Festival, an Equity event that takes place each summer. We have a smaller black box as our second stage, and one of our dance studios doubles as a performance space that houses our end-of-semester presentation of student works. Dixon Hall, the building adjacent to our performance facility, also houses a 1,000-seat proscenium theatre, which is heavily used by our musical theatre program and has been used by the theatre program in the past.</p>
<p>As for actual productions, three is the minimum number of straight shows per year, not counting the Tulane Shakespeare Festival. This year we are producing five shows - Aristophanes’ The Assembly Women, Caryl Churchill’s The Skriker, Shakespeare’s Two Gentlemen of Verona, Noel Coward’s Hay Fever, and one other student-directed piece TBD in the spring. Auditions for all shows are open to majors and nonmajors alike and nonmajors get cast quite often. Nonmajors are also welcome to take acting classes intended for majors if they want to hone their craft without committing to a full production.</p>
<p>Hopefully this answers your questions - if there’s anything else you’re wondering about the program, please feel free to respond here or to contact me via email at <a href=“mailto:afarrier@tulane.edu”>afarrier@tulane.edu</a>. My apologies that I wasn’t there to meet you during the Campus Preview Day.</p>