Thompson Theatre renovations extended

The opening of Thompson Theatre has been delayed six weeks due to problems in the building’s structure, Alex Miller, associate vice chancellor for Student Affairs, said.

The 82-year-old building was expected to be completed sometime in late December, but as renovations continued, crews found problems that Miller said are not uncommon in old buildings.

“We had always anticipated the schedule would stretch out,” Miller said. “You run into things you don’t know about. We call those unforseen circumstances. If you’re building something brand new, you don’t have that. You know exactly what you’re getting. If you go into an 82-year-old building that has been converted from a gym, you’re going to have things surprise you.”

Assessment

The crews went around the building and assessed it, giving it good reports, while students and faculty still continued to use it.

“Without tearing down the walls, we tried to determine the status of the building,” Miller said. “We had contractors come in and assess it and almost every category of the assessments said the building was in really great shape for being so old, which made our jobs easier. But still, with such an old building, you have to expect to find surprises.”

These surprises included problems with the old floor and the structures supporting the building, Miller said. Before it became Thompson Theatre in 1963, the building housed Thompson Gymnasium. The gymnasium was originally established to give students a chance to have a scheduled fitness routine since military drills were no longer required after WWI.

“Since it was a gym, it had the typical gym floor, which we had to take up,” Miller said. “Once the crews took up one layer of flooring, the floor underneath looked like ripples of an ocean current and no one could have predicted that. Having to design a new plan so that the floor was level was a large issue that pushed back our deadline.”

After the renovation team tackled the flooring, they moved to the raft Center to begin renovations there. Miller said the team wanted to examine the steel supports for the building which were housed in concrete.

“We had to tear away the layers of concrete around the structures, which took some time,” he said. “Once we actually got to the steel structures, we found that most of the steel on most of the support structures had corroded.”

Despite delays in the plan, Miller said he feels the renovation team tackled every issue that came up.

“It’s been dealt with pretty darn quickly and the contractors have handled the unforseen circumstances very well,” he said.”First of all, the original date for completion was scheduled for the end of December. [The new date] is now Feb. 19, which is about six weeks after our initial target date. While there is some delay, it’s not particularly long for renovations on an 82-year old building.”

After renovations on the building are completed, Miller said it will take another six to eight weeks to install all the lighting and audiovisual equipment.

Expectations

Cameron Laws, a sophomore in English who gives tours, said she feels the new technological advances will add to the character of Thompson Theatre without taking attention away from the history of the building.

“Even in the past few months the transformations have been amazing,” Laws said. “They’re making a lot of technological advances to it so people can experience it better. There’s going to be LED lighting and flat screen TVs that see into the Craft Center and sometimes the theater.”

The architect is an alumnus and Laws said he wants to improve the building but still preserve its historical integrity.

Laws said the new renovations will provide opportunities for different art programs to share ideas, which will create a stronger community of art students. She also said she hopes the building’s renovations will draw in more students to the arts program.

“It’ll be nice to have the craft center and the theater there,” said said. “It’ll be really convenient. I’m hoping with it being new that people will have more chances to participate in the arts.”

Jason Cooper, a freshman in the transition program, said the renovations will allow the theater to put on more performances.

“They can put on more shows more often,” Cooper said. “Stewart Theatre is always packed because a lot of stuff goes on and people are always trying to get into it. Thompson has two theaters and two shows could go on at the same time. Students get more exposure from different groups.”

Laws said she is excited about the renovations and hopes many students will come out to enjoy the building.

“With what they’ve done in the amount of time they’ve had, the end result is going to be amazing and people definitely need to come and check it out,” she said.