[Usittne] Brandeis Graduate Design Program to be Eliminated

David Wilson wilson at brandeis.edu
Tue Feb 23 00:56:59 EST 2010 

Yes, Ted Janello was here when I started back in '84. He and the Master Carpenter Larry Elder built incredible shows, just the two of them,
and we 10-12 shows a year back then. 

The design program was built by Howard Bay, succeeded by Karl Eigsti and now Deb Booth. When I began, Brandeis 
was promoted as a model liberal arts university. Leonard Bernstein was the original head of music, the Rose Art Museum was a Gem, widely respected for it's important collection of modern american art, with a strong curator and staff. Over the years we've lost the Playwriting program, Dramaturgy, the performance program cut to 1 class every  3 years, design student enrollment cut in half, budgets cut in half, then cut in half again. The Rose now has no curator, no staff.  The fine arts, music and theater facilities are crumbling down while business schools, science towers and a giant admissions
building are being built around the carcass of the original vision of this University. 
There is still a court case coming to decide if the art can be sold. What is left of a liberal arts education when there are no arts?


On Feb 23, 2010, at 12:12 AM, John Conlon wrote:

> David, so who will be left to carry on the excellence in design?  Ten or more years ago...omg, maybe 20, my friend Ted Janello, TD from Northeastern, long since retired, as am I, recalled a recent USITT conference in Utah or Nev, I think, saying that between our ages and the  folks in their 40s (now 50s, 60s) there were no young people...what will become of the excellence in design we come to rely upon?  I recently had the sad occasion to replace a TD at the local community theatre who had been an asst TD in an Equity House for insurance liabilities, and replaced him with another more qualified TD...but he is in his late 40s.  We need programs to replace ourselves....I could go on...if there is a public meeting on this, I will fly to BOS from TPA and deliver testimony...this is a stupid move that does not take into account the production values that we as the humam species prize without thinking we do...totally stupid....grrr, j
>  
> John J. Conlon, Ph.D.
> UMass Boston, Theatre Arts (Retired)
> USF St Petersburg, English
> President, Board of Directors, St Petersburg Little Theatre
>  
> 
> From: David Wilson
> Sent: Mon 2/22/2010 11:36 PM
> To: USITT New England Section Mail List
> Subject: Re: [Usittne] Brandeis Graduate Design Program to be Eliminated
> 
> WTF indeed. We had just received approval on our 5 year plan, which for the first time, included parity in tuition remission for Design and performance students, which had been a very large hurdle in recruiting all these years. We instituted many new undergraduate design courses to get them more involved in the program, including allowing them access to grad design courses and assistantships (without hiring additional faculty). We were just re-admitted back into URTA (we had left URTA 15 years ago when our budget was cut in half in the early 90's in an attempt to eliminate graduate design). The recent peer review by URTA was extremely positive on the design side of our program. At the very bottom of the facebook page is an eloquent letter of support from
> Ming Cho Lee and Susan Hilferty. I've also heard Cornell and University of Washington are also gutting or completely eliminating their programs:
> 
> http://www.oregonlive.com/performance/index.ssf/2010/01/university_of_washington_puts.html
> 
> http://cornellsun.com/section/news/content/2010/02/03/students-faculty-respond-performing-arts-cuts
> 
> 
> 
> On Feb 22, 2010, at 11:06 PM, John Conlon wrote:
> 
>> HI, I have joined the FB page...Design is/was, to my mind, the essential difference in the Brandeis Program and its chief virtue...I will write to one of my UMass Boston alums who then went on to Brandeis in tech design, taught at Stanford Univ and was TD there, and is now the TD of the largest arts venue in FL, in Miami...as my USF students might put it...WTF???   John
>>  
>> John J. Conlon, Ph.D.
>> UMass Boston, Theatre Arts (Retired)
>> USF St Petersburg, English
>> President, Board of Directors, St Petersburg Little Theatre
>>  
>> 
>> From: David Wilson
>> Sent: Mon 2/22/2010 10:41 PM
>> To: tiala at mindspring.com; USITT New England Section Mail List
>> Subject: [Usittne] Brandeis Graduate Design Program to be Eliminated
>> 
>>> 
>> Crystal, I don't know how much word has gotten out yet about our situation here at Brandeis. I'm enclosing a letter from the design faculty, and
>> we have a facebook page up at:
>> 
>> http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=340628071843
>> 
>> 
>> David Wilson
>> Brandeis Theater Company
>> Brandeis University
>> Waltham, MA
>> 
>> http://people.brandeis.edu/~wilson/DW-Design/Home.html
>> 
>> 
>> 21st February 2010
>> 
>> 
>> Dear Alumni, Students, Friends, and Donors,
>> 
>> 
>> We have been informed that Brandeis has a plan in place to cut the theater program by 35-40% by closing  the Graduate Design Program in the Department of Theatre Arts.
>> 
>> 
>> As you can imagine, the shock at this news is felt by us all, and I’m sure will be felt by all of our alumni, students, friends, donors and supporters as well. The Design Program has a long and illustrious history, a national reputation, and many distinguished alumni including many of you.
>> 
>> 
>> Adam Jaffe’s statement:
>> 
>>             "The Brandeis 2020 Committee is considering phasing out the MFA program 
>> 
>>             in Theater Design, and focusing the Department of Theater Arts to a 
>> 
>>             greater extent on undergraduate theater.  No new MFA students would be 
>> 
>>             Admitted for fall 2010.  By October 2010, we would determine whether 
>> 
>>             with no design students and significantly scaled back production 
>> 
>>             resources it is possible to have a quality MFA Acting Program.  If yes, 
>> 
>>             we would continue the Acting Program in the new structure.  If not, we 
>> 
>>             would terminate the Acting Program when the current class graduates in 
>> 
>>             May 2011.”
>> 
>> 
>> The faculty of the design program is very concerned about the effect of this cut on the legitimacy of a theater program tearing the very fabric of the university itself. Without design you ostensibly eliminate the ability to have production and thereby undermine the integrity of the acting program.  The Theater Department becomes a narrowly academic exercise where rehearsal never realizes its full potential through production and is unable to engage the spirit of its community.
>> 
>> 
>> The Arts have been an integral part of the core of Brandeis’ educational vision from its founding, and the elimination of one of the classic Arts programs is a very troubling sign of the lack of support by the University to its founding principals. As with the controversy over the Rose Art Museum last spring, the first course of action seems to be an impulse to balance the budget through the elimination of the Arts on the Brandeis campus. There seems to be little will or vision to defend any Arts programs and more discouragingly, the value and role the arts play in education and in the world.  What hope is there for a culture where the arts are so marginalized?
>> 
>> 
>> A recent study, a joint project of Public Agenda and the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education, found that most Americans believe that colleges today operate like businesses, concerned more with their bottom line than with the educational experience of students.
>> 
>> http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/17/education/17college.html?emc=eta1
>> 
>> Unfortunately, this decision only seems to reinforce this impression.
>> 
>> 
>> At this point, we believe that Brandeis University needs to hear from friends and Alumni of the Theatre Arts program and all those who care about the Arts. Both the Acting alumni and the Design alumni have different experiences, but all were a part of the school, and all benefited from each other’s work. Having Brandeis University hear from a broad range of alumni and friends, from many parts of the country and many fields within all of the Arts, will help to reinforce the importance of this program within the educational mission of the University. Please help by writing to following people:
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> Jehuda Reinharz
>> 
>> President
>> 
>> Brandeis University
>> 
>> 415 South Street MS100
>> 
>> Waltham, MA  02454
>> 
>> mailto:jreinhar at brandeis.edu
>> 
>> 
>> Marty Krauss
>> 
>> Provost
>> 
>> Brandeis University
>> 
>> 415 South Street MS 134
>> 
>> Waltham, MA  02454
>> 
>> mailto:krauss at brandeis.edu
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> Malcom Sherman
>> 
>> Chairman of the Board of Trustees. 
>> 
>> Brandeis Unviersity
>> 
>> 415 South St MS 102 
>> 
>> Waltham, MA 02454
>> 
>> or at his office:
>> 
>> Gordon Brother's Group LLC
>> 
>> 101 Huntington Avenue, 10th Floor
>> 
>> Boston, MA 02199
>> 
>> mailto:msherman at brandeis.edu
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> We are sorry to have to report this news, but please join us in trying to ensure that this recommendation does not become a reality.
>> 
>> 
>> Sincerely,
>> 
>> 
>> Deb Booth, Head of Design
>> 
>> Michael Chybowski, Head of Lighting Design
>> 
>> Jennifer von Mayerhauser, Head of Costume Design
>> 
>> Robert Moody, Head of Scene Painting
>> 
>> Charles Schoonmaker, Costume Design
>> 
>> Denise Loewenguth, Head of Costume Shop
>> 
>> David Wilson, Head of Sound Design
>> 
>> 
>> We need help organizing and getting the word out:
>> 
>> Post your thoughts to Brandeis’ Facebook page:
>> 
>>             http://www.facebook.com/brandeisuniversity
>> 
>> Post your thoughts on the Brandeis Theater Facebook page
>> 
>>             http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=37043649499&ref=ts
>> 
>> Post on Twitter. 
>> 
>> Write to the Boston Globe, write the New York Times
>> 
>> Forward this message to your friends in the theater
>> 
>> Get the word out. 
>> 
>> If you know how to set up a website to save Theater Arts—please do it to. 
>> 
>> Set up a petition drive. 
>> 
>> 
>> Key points:
>> 
>> That theater is a collaborative art form, an acting-only department will not be viable
>> That undergraduates will not be able to take advantage to a professional design faculty as they currently do.
>> That a narrower focus and lack of production will reach fewer and fewer students across campus and diminish the educational importance of the department and meaningful training in theater as an art for undergraduates as well as graduate students.
>> That the assault on the Theater Department is a further marginalization of the Arts and a continuation of the same policies that produced the Rose Art Museum crisis.
>> 
>> _______________________________________________
>> USITTNE mailing list
>> USITTNE at mit.edu
>> http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/usittne
> 
> David Wilson
> Brandeis Theater Company
> Brandeis University
> Waltham, MA
> 
> http://people.brandeis.edu/~wilson/DW-Design/Home.html
> 
> 
> 
> 
> _______________________________________________
> USITTNE mailing list
> USITTNE at mit.edu
> http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/usittne

David Wilson
Brandeis Theater Company
Brandeis University
Waltham, MA

http://people.brandeis.edu/~wilson/DW-Design/Home.html




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