DANICA NOVGORODOFF/YH

Give an actor a chance: Yale, share the wealth

However, Yale is now renowned for its theater, whether or not the University puts an extra cent into either the theater studies program or its undergraduate performance spaces. Judging from the conditions of both, it certainly doesn't seem to be. Jodie Foster, CC '84, Edward Norton, ES '91, Cole Porter, Class of 1913, John Turturro, DRA '83: the list of famously theatrical Yale graduates goes on and on, and will continue to go on because the school's reputation attracts talented actors, playwrights, and directors.

Claire Danes, CC '02, was not the only celebrity attracted here in hopes of emulating Foster. With the help of the residential college Sudler Funds, at least two shows seem to go up every weekend, with the theater studies door covered in audition sign-up sheets for three more. But with the exception of shows held by the Dramat—which have access to the University Theater and the Experimental Theater, two of Yale's best performance venues—there is one recurring problem whenever it comes time to put these shows up: the spaces.

The best of the spaces available to everyone is Trumbull's Nick Chapel, a nice black box, but a black box nonetheless: few seats, scarce space on stage for many set pieces or actors, and an uncomfortable heat that lingers through winter, since the roaring fans of the space must be turned off for the actors to be heard. From here, it only gets smaller and more cramped. The Ezra Stiles Little Theater is about as good a place to stage a full production as the average freshman common room, and is about as spacious, though the heat of the room makes it much less comfortable than a common room. In the Calhoun Cabaret, the audience is comfortable in their cushy seats, but stagehands have their work cut out for them: every production that needs a backstage in the Cabaret must create one itself (there aren't even curtains). Even the new Whitney Performance Space, available only to senior projects, has its drawbacks in seating—at least, if the recent incident with collapsing bleachers is any indication.

The undergraduate drama community is certainly attempting to make the best of this situation, making stages pit of dining halls (Just The Summers), multipurpose spaces (The Vagina Monologues), lecture halls (The Compleat Wrks of Wllm Shkspr), and soon, the outdoors (Love's Labours Lost, coming this spring). The recently-formed Yale Drama Coalition is also attempting to make a list of all available spaces and their rules, a necessary step considering just how much paperwork one must go through to get some of these more unusual spaces. However, these student efforts can only go so far to alleviate the situation. The University cannot think that we'll soon be able to put on The Iceman Cometh in a room in Linsly-Chittenden or Waiting for Godot in the snow. It's time for the University to show the same dedication to its thriving theater scene that it has already given to its science program. And best of all, it won't cost nearly as much. A few renovations—curtains in the Calhoun Cabaret, permanent bleachers in the Whitney space, a silent fan system for Nick Chapel, and maybe just one new theater space without built-in problems—are all that's really necessary.

Yale can still call a press conference, give itself a pat on the back, and say that this project "reasserts Yale's position in the arts" or something else that sounds professional and fiscally prudent. For less than half a million dollars, rather than half a billion, Yale's theatrical resources would be greatly improved, benefiting actors and audiences alike.

Perhaps the University even would make its money back through a few calls to certain well-known alumni now employed in theater. I mean, I did mention that Edward Norton makes $9 million a film, right?

Josh Drimmer is a freshman in Davenport.

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