On Monday, February 13th, our Scenic Designer, Jared Roberts, along with Lighting Designer Andrea Bilkey, and choreographer Kyla Olson, held an impromptu performance in our newly remodeled Maedgen Theatre to show off the new equipment that makes that it one of the best performance spaces in the nation. The afternoon featured a new dance piece that Kyla choreographed as a part of the kickoff for Texas Tech's Centennial Celebration, one that poetically and metaphorically depicts the devastating tornado that swept through Lubbock in 1970. It's a beautiful piece, even without all of the music, lighting, and projections, but seeing it again (it was originally performed in the Allen Theatre) in our new space was jaw dropping.

[Incidentally, the same piece will be at DanceTech in the Blackbox, and that alone is worth the price of admission!]

It's no secret to many of you that the Maedgen was in need of a renovation, and that our theatre spaces in the last 50+ years were, well, less than satisfactory. The building itself, as well as the Annex next door, offered no classrooms, fewer offices than we needed, no rehearsal space (other than the stages themselves), and shops that were either too small or unsafe (think basement costume shop!). Because the doors to our shop were too short, we built our sets on the stage of the Maedgen itself, and the Lab Theatre, which only seated 90, was permanently a forced thrust. Even more challenging, the two theatres were built back-to-back, making it challenging to rehearse on one space when we had an audience in the other.

To introduce the new space, Jared informed the audience that all that was left of the old Maedgen was the “structure itself.” He explained that the remodel included over 300 LED lighting instruments (with a new ETC Apex 10 Control console); more than 30 new speakers that are part of a 360-degree immersive sound system; 27 automated line sets for flying scenery and lighting; 2 cinema level projectors; 1 scenic automation motor; and a motorized orchestra pit. Even the walls have been rebuilt to best project and protect sound quality.

The designers took advantage of much of what the new space offered, and from the stormy projections to the sound of rain and wind, the audience was transported back to 1970, caught up in the tornado itself. The entire event may have been only seven minutes, but it was awe-inspiring.

After leaving the Maedgen, I had the opportunity to reflect on the last decade here in Theatre & Dance. One of the reasons I took the job at Texas Tech was because, during my interview, I was fortunate enough to see a student-directed performance in the old Lab Theatre. While the space was indeed small, I admired the work, and it excited me—as all good theatre does. When I arrived, we continued to produce exceptional theatre, always working against the elements, finding creative means to overcome obstacles. One of my favorite seasons, if not my very favorite, was the one where we produced all of our shows in the community, using the Nissan Dealership, the Equestrian Center, and the art museum, among other spaces, while our conventional spaces were being torn down to make way for this new complex.

And this was not the first time we produced theatre in the community. Earlier, director (and now PHD) Evangeline Jiménez had asked that her devised, original play be produced in an area more representative of the culture described in her narrative. We happily obliged and attracted huge and appreciative audiences. While it is enormously taxing for our designers especially, to design in non-theatre spaces, we proved then that theatre can happen anywhere, that Lubbock is indeed our campus.

And, even with this most excellent performance space, I still believe that.

But it's still life-changing to have a state-of-the-art performance venue, maybe the finest in Texas, and I am immensely proud that we have a Dean, President, and Chancellor at Texas Tech who believed in the arts enough to help us raise the money for this extraordinary facility, one that will allow us to better educate the theatre and dance practitioners of the future. Not only will this complex help us to recruit better students, but it also has a deeper purpose—it will help us to articulate what we imagine, to concretize concepts that were previously impossible, and, yes, to create magic. Because, as we all know, our art is all about sharing stories, and our new Maedgen will help us bring our imagination to you, our audience: the reason we do what we do.

Theatre and dance do not exist with you, and we can't wait to share our newly remodeled Maedgen Theatre with you! See you in April at Sweet Charity!