Rather well written I think...

Central High School needs a new theater

By Sam Hurst, Journal columnist

What goes around, comes around. Ten years ago Justin Speck left Rapid City for the bright lights of Broadway ... well, Off Broadway. Like so many before him, Justin didn't really want to leave, but in 1995 he surveyed his future as a high school drama teacher and all he could see was Sisyphus and his rock.

Carol Saunders at Central and Pam Gough at Stevens were in mid-career and very successful. "It looked like it would be fifteen years before there would even be an opening," he told me.

Then came Carol Saunder's tragic illness. The Central High School drama program fell on hard times. Then came 9/11. Justin's New York office was only blocks from Ground Zero.

In the daze of the weeks that followed the attack, coming home started to look pretty good. He loaded up his car and headed west with no particular plan other than to lock himself away for the winter and write the songs that would make his debut CD, "Cowboy in Gotham City." Then Central High School principal Pat Jones picked up the phone and called. Ten years had gone by in the blink of an eye.

Last Wednesday, Justin stood on the stage of Central's theater, and surveyed 80 freshmen and sophomores sitting nervously in the audience. "I need to hear you speak from the back of the theater," he told them, and then, as an after-thought, "I want you to have fun."

Sure. That's easy for him to say. Fun is for the all-nighters when the cast paints the set. Fun is when a sophomore girl gets to act a scene with a senior boy and there's a buzz on stage. Fun is for the "post party." This wasn't fun. This was audition day, and audition day is all about butterflies.

Next month the Central High School Drama Department will perform Speck's own adaptation of "Alice in Wonderland." There are 35 roles; 150 students auditioned. There will be 15 members of the technical crew; 50 auditioned. Justin teaches six drama classes. He has 288 students. There's something going on here, something absolutely thrilling going on here.

So what's the problem?

Have you ever been inside the Central High School theater? It's a glorified lecture hall that seats only 350. (By comparison, the Stevens theater seats 750.)

Between the orchestra, ensembles, choirs and lectures, the theater is scheduled so tightly that Justin cannot even teach his drama classes on stage. It's a stage, by the way, that thrusts into the audience, making the curtain useless. (The Stevens theater has a full traditional stage and an orchestra pit which can be open, or covered with a thrusting stage.)

The lights and rigging at Central have to be set manually. (At Stevens they are electronically controlled.) The angle of pitch for seating is so severe that half the audience looks at the top of the performer's head, while shadows swallow the face.

The concession stand for the gymnasium is actually built into the theater. On basketball game nights you can't rehearse, much less perform. Referees use the drama dressing rooms as their private locker room.

Did I already say that 150 students auditioned for this fall's production? Ninety tried out for volleyball. Could Justin walk into the gym during a wrestling match and calmly explain, "Sorry, we have to cancel the match. We're rehearsing in the theater"?

"The worst thing that can happen," he tells me, "is that Central won't have the facilities to sustain the student interest."

It wasn't supposed to be this way. When the Civic Center was built, there was a handshake agreement that Central could use the theater. But these days the Civic Center wants big money to rent its theater and besides, the stage crew is unionized. There's no room for students to learn their craft, to spot the lighting, or move the sets, or even close the curtain.

Central High School needs a new theater, and as luck would have it ... so does the city.

In the year-long fight over how and when and where to re-build the Dahl Fine Arts Center, is it possible that we have missed the obvious? Rather than trying to shoehorn a theater into the existing Dahl location, or at the Journey Museum, we should build a new theater at Central High School. Combine 2012 money with school district money. And this time, Pat, keep control, and get the deal with the city in writing.

Build a world-class theater that takes advantage of Central's downtown location and extensive parking. Build a theater that would encourage drama students to work with the Black Hills Community Theater. Build a theater that could host the annual South Dakota One Act Festival, which has never been held in West River because we have no facilities to accommodate 1,200 high school drama students.

Build a facility so that Justin Speck and his students can produce three or four productions a year. "How about a production that is just for freshmen and sophomores," he tells me, eyes gleaming.

Next spring, Justin will stage the musical "Les Miserables." It's a big, sprawling production that matches his confidence.

"We could never have a new theater built in six months," I joke. Then I think about it for a moment. "Maybe we can use the gym."

Sam Hurst is a Rapid City documentary filmmaker. Write to SamHurst@aol.com.