Ohio University’s performing arts groups certainly understand the saying,
“There’s no place like home,” after losing the stage they have used for more than four years in Seigfred’s Mitchell Auditorium.
Nathan Parsons, the president of Your Lost Flamingo Company and a senior studying English, thinks the group can no longer use the auditorium for several reasons, including a misunderstanding with a few glued together beer cans as stage props.
“Well, a bit before the new rule, someone from the school went backstage and saw a bunch of beer cans,” Parsons said. “They thought we had a party and called OUPD. We wouldn’t have even known about it if our director hadn’t stopped by and was questioned.”
Although the misunderstanding was cleared up, the College of Fine Arts has still taken the step to ban student organizations from using the auditorium.
Following the ejection from Mitchell, OU Improv began performing in Bentley. Although the group attempted to make the switch to a lecture hall in Morton, neither room lends itself to the space it needs.
“After a while in Bentley, people stopped coming again because we didn’t have enough space,” said Travis Khoury, an executive board member of OU Improv and a junior studying urban planning. “Of course, we are anticipating losing more of our audience right off the bat, but hopefully they will start coming back.”
But OU Improv President Emilee Copus said Morton is not a permanent fix because it is not always available and presents technical issues as well.
“I was actually sick for the first performance, but the members told me they had a lot of issues with the lighting, the microphones and voice projection and stage presence due to the fact that Morton isn’t actually a stage,” said Copus, a senior studying media studies.
The theater company’s faculty advisor and associate professor John McCarthy said regardless of whether the groups regain the use of Mitchell, they will find a place to perform.
“I don’t exactly have perspective from both sides,” McCarthy said. “But the person in charge of the theater space does have a right to claim the space and the group didn’t seem too concerned, we have found other spaces before and we are now. I feel like they are working through it and are handling it well.”
The groups have also reached out to the director of the College of Fine Arts, David LaPalombara, who was unavailable for comment.
Patrick White, a member of OU Improv and a junior studying fine arts, said he wonders why none of the school officials have stepped in to lend a helping hand as they continue to struggle.
“This has been a difficult time for us and I’m disappointed right now. We’re kind of just stuck on our own,” White said. “I think the school is trying to work with us, but I don’t think they realize how many people are coming to the shows and I think if they saw that they would help us out a bit more.”
lf328610@ohiou.edu
