OPENING NIGHT
September 1, 2004 CNU's new arts center will be a place for students and citizens to enjoy together Eight years in the making, the Ferguson Center for the Arts at Christopher Newport University unveils its first phase tonight with a Tony Bennett concert in the music and theater hall. The complex promises cutting-edge training for music and theater students and a rich variety of performances and public spaces for the community. Gleaming marble and a sparkling performing space will dazzle patrons attending tonight's opening concert in the new Ferguson Center for the Arts at Christopher Newport University. What won't be apparent are the dreams and support that guided the eight year project or the ambitious plans for turning this university building into an artistic laboratory and a symbol of a community's artistic growth. "You can't have a great community unless you have a great university and outstanding arts," CNU President Paul S. Trible Jr. said last week. "We were out to change the way people in this community viewed themselves and were viewed by people from afar." Tonight, singer Tony Bennett will perform in the music and theater hall, one of two halls included in the first phase of the center opening this week. The second phase of the $54 million project, a 1,700-seat concert hall, is due to open in September 2005. The music and theater hall, which was designed by associate architects Hanbury Evans Wright Vlattas & Company of Norfolk, contains 440 seats and can be expanded to 463 seats if the orchestra pit is covered over. Next door there are rehearsal spaces and a 200-seat studio theater for small-scale productions. Backstage amenities include a huge scene shop with carpentry, welding and paint shops, a costume shop and dressing rooms to accommodate 36 people. Executive Director William R. Biddle proudly points out that the center includes many "extras" not found in most university performing spaces. An elaborate dyeing vat backstage could almost serve as a marketing tool, he said, in attracting prospective students who want to learn that special costuming theater craft. Biddle is equally excited about the creative partnerships that can be developed in a university setting, especially when the large concert hall is completed next year. Already, agents in New York have contacted him about booking their clients into the concert hall designed by I.M. Pei's architectural firm. "Everybody's just buzzing about this facility," said Biddle. The Ferguson doesn't plan to compete for Broadway shows coming to the Broadway at Chrysler Hall series in Norfolk. But Biddle does plan to use the center as an incubator for developing musicals and as a space where musicals can rehearse and polish before launching a national tour. It also will showcase community and professional groups such as the Virginia Symphony.Next year, choreographer David Parsons and members of the Dave Matthews Band will collaborate on a world premiere work for the Parsons Dance Company. It will be presented at the Ferguson before going to New York. Biddle sees such activities as benefiting CNU's music and theater students. The community has been responding well to the inaugural concert series booked into the music and theater hall for 2004-2005. Tickets to the Bennett concert sold out in a half-hour, he said, even though prices topped at $125. The upcoming concert series is 85 percent sold as well. "We're really poised for that next step here in the city," said Biddle. "The idea of a world-class facility scared people at first. But as I'm explaining that we want to keep things affordable, there has been a lot of support." Newport News Mayor Joe Frank frequently refers to the Ferguson Center as "transformational" in bringing international entertainment to the community."That facility and the growth of CNU itself will give people a new sense of what this community is about and what it can achieve," said Frank. "It's not just for people who aren't here and may want to come here, but for people who are here and want to stay." People with financial means have always been able to travel to New York and Washington to see world-class artists, said Frank. "Now there's an opportunity for those who can't afford to leave to see what the arts have to offer," he said. "We have the kind of amenities that the larger cities have." Those amenities include the center's marble-floored lobby, which can accommodate 350 persons for dinners and as many as 800 for receptions. Last week a bronze David Turner sculpture of an eagle and two eaglets was installed under the lobby's grand staircase. On Tuesday night, the university hosted 300 of the center's major donors for a ribbon-cutting event. First proposed in 1996, the center was originally scheduled to open in December 1999. But dramatic changes to the project, including upgrading the musical and theater hall, drove up construction costs and dragged out fund-raising. "The project became more complex and more expensive," said Trible. "My expectations that we could make this happen overnight were unrealistic." The dream became reality when former Del. Alan Diamonstein secured $5 million in state funds, and Newport News appropriated $5.6 in city funds in the initial years. Businesses and individuals eventually contributed $13 million, Trible said. The hall was named for Ferguson Enterprises after the company and its employees contributed $2.6 million.*
A DECADE IN THE MAKING Almost 10 years in the making, the Ferguson Center for the Arts at Christopher Newport University was made possible with state funding and generous donations from businesses, individuals, the City of Newport News and other localities. 1994: A study by Theatre Projects Consultants Inc. cites the need for a large
performing hall on the Peninsula.
Copyright 2004
Daily Press (Newport News, VA) |
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