Hayden Hall Theater Reopens

Once upon a time, a student could enroll at Southern University as a Theater major and graduate with that degree. Over time, that possibility has dissolved due to the lack of matriculation through the department.
Although Theater is no longer a major offered at the Southern University, Baton Rouge campus, platforms and resources for students to express their theatrical talents at the university are becoming available.
On September 25, 2017, the Frank Hayden Hall Theater debuted for a second time as a new and improved space equipped with the necessary renovations for it to function as a usable space.
The theater has been closed for the better part of the past ten years, during which time, plans and ideas were constructed for renovation, but none were brought into fruition.
In the past two years, the efforts of a mixture of faculty and administration have led to the necessary renovations being completed to allow the theater to reopen.
“Over time things kind of deteriorated …they needed to replace the curtain. They needed to replace the seats, in fact. They needed most of all to make the facility itself handicap accessible,” said the Program Leader of the Speech and Theater unit, Dr. Joyce O’Rourke.
Dr. O’Rourke spoke this of the work that needed to be done, keeping the sentiment that the work completed has been underway for quite some time.
At the reopening of the theater, there were numerous visible additions to the once deteriorated space, including a new curtain and the necessary handicap accommodations.
During the reopening program, various performances by students and staff gave the audience a precursor of what the theater is capable of.
An Associate Professor of Theater and Speech, Dr. Antoinette McDonald-Ellis partook in the show as well, performing a short comedic scene from the play “Control the Future” by D.M. Larson.
Dr. Ellis recalls when she first saw the space during the time it was not being used.
“My first thought was wow, what an opportunity we have here,” Ellis said.
She went on to elaborate about the visions that the department has for the theater now that it is complete, including being a space for the newly restructured Drama Club.
“We want to present a room available to the campus, our department, and eventually the city,” Ellis said.
The Department of Visual and Performing Arts has much more in store for the theater in the near future, as a Southern University production is already underway for presentation in November 2017.