September 1, 2004
Author: ANGELA FOREST Daily Press

The Ferguson Center will allow CNU to compete with some of the nation's top art schools in preparing students for music and theater careers, officials say.

For Steven Breese, walking through the Ferguson Center for the Arts and knowing how it will help his theater students at Christopher Newport University, is like riding in a shiny new sports car.

"We've always worked in a space that was like a 1964 Volkswagen with only three cylinders," said Breese, the school's director of theater. "Now we're going from a 1964 Volkswagen to a new Maserati. With a Maserati, you can really, really drive."

For acting students, that means the flexibility of practicing their craft in either a 440-seat music/theater hall or a black-box theater designed to showcase experimental productions that bring the audience into the action.

For those interested in costume and set design, shops with new sewing machines, steamers, well-ventilated painting and welding laboratories, plus a dye vat machine for garments, will make the center a learning paradise.

"These shops in our old space were tiny, and we tripped over ourselves," Breese said. "Both costume and scenic design will be hugely improved by our new shops."

A new light lab will train students in lighting techniques without having to use those on the stage. And a dance studio makes it possible for CNU to teach dance classes every semester, rather than every year or two when space in the gymnasium or Freeman Center opened up.

Some academic departments don't rely heavily on the facilities used for instruction in the way theater and music do, where building space and acoustics make all the difference in training budding professionals and educators, said Breese and Mark Reimer, director of music.

Well-designed structures for music students "helps their playing and singing and also helps develop their professional attitude toward music," Reimer said. "It's hard for us to demand high academic and performance standards and be in facilities that really don't support that mission."

Designed by the I.M. Pei architectural firm, the Ferguson Center took eight years to get from conception to construction at a cost of $54 million. The bulk of the facility is complete -- a 1,700-seat theater is expected to open by September 2005.

Students already see how the center enhances their educational experience.

Juniors Margee Rader and Megan Price say they love that the center's music classes are near practice rooms, which remain open to students from 7 a.m. to midnight.

"It encourages you to practice more," said Price, a choral music education major from Chesapeake.

Lauren Koteski, a CNU senior theater major from Richmond focusing on arts administration, said she'd like to use the Ferguson Center as a launching pad for her career after she graduates in May.

"To say, 'I worked here,' because it's so prestigious and it's so high-tech."

Rader and Price also are excited about the prospects of learning from national and international artists scheduled to perform at the Ferguson Center. Along with composer/conductor Marvin Hamlisch, musician Doc Severinsen and actor Hal Holbrook will hold sessions with CNU students.

Music students will not only sharpen their voice or instrument skills in the Ferguson Center's 440-seat theater, but will occasionally perform in the 1,700-seat one. Other benefits include two rehearsal halls for instrumental and choral practices; three music classrooms and a music technology lab, to teach introductory music production courses. Reimer said the center puts CNU's music department on track to compete with schools such as The Juilliard School of Music and the University of Rochester's Eastman School of Music.

The quality of music and theater productions at CNU has always been top-notch, said Reimer and Breese. Now students and faculty have the structural support they need to build upon that tradition.

As more students learn of the Ferguson Center, interest in arts education is expected to grow, said university officials. In response, CNU has added five full-time faculty members to the music department and three full-time faculty to theater arts this semester.

Reimer now hopes that the university, the business community, alumni and others who have spent time and money to turn the Ferguson Center into reality continue to remember the students.

"If education is our central focus here for the university and the community, then hopefully that will be manifested through scholarships," he said.*

PUBLIC REVIEW

The public can view the arts center from 6-8 p.m. on Sept.14. For more information or to order tickets, call 594-8752 or visit www.cnu.edu/ferguson center.*

Copyright 2004 Daily Press (Newport News, VA)