The New School Theater Collective’s April production, **The Tale of the Allergist’s Wife**, is currently faced with a steep price tag–$600 to put on two performances on campus, in the 12th Street building’s old Tishman Auditorium. That’s the price the University is asking, anyway.
The group wants to use the 12th Street theater, but because it is normally closed after hours on weekends, including April 17 and 18, when the performances are scheduled, the University says it needs to charge $150 an hour to cover the costs of keeping the building open.
“They [say we] have to pay the security guard, electricity, heat, and basically [want] for us to pay the bills,” said Mimi Barcomi, 21, president of the Theater Collective and the director of the upcoming production.
“The $150 an hour figure presumes the wages for one security guard, one maintenance worker and one AV technician,” said Catherine Gobel, coordinator of student programs.
“Some events do not require an AV tech and that lowers the cost to $100 per hour,”
The Theater Collective, a group which has students from almost every division, puts on at least two productions each semester, and primarily performs student written work. The group only asks for funding when productions require it, and otherwise has no regular funding. They often try to put on events and productions at zero cost when possible.
The University has told the group it could put on productions during the day for free, Barcomi said, but the space is in high demand by other groups and classes during the day. On the other hand, nighttime performances are much easier for both the performers and the audience.
In the past, the group tried performing in the new Tishman Auditorium, but wasn’t able to do so without a challenge.
“It’s definitely some kind of performance space, but it’s not meant for theater,” Baracomi said. “It doesn’t have anything you would find in a regular theater. There’s no wings, no curtains, no backstage area.”
University officials agreed. “The University’s (new) Tishman Auditorium at the University Center is in fact, not a theater, but an auditorium,” said Tim Capalbo, the Director of Productions and Operations at the New School for Drama. “Traditionally, auditoriums aren’t built to suit the needs of modern theatrical or dance productions, they are built for spoken word and/or music presentations.”
Barcomi said that the group has also tried renting out spaces across the city, but those are both incredibly expensive and have to be planned well-over six months in advance.
In the end, the group applied to and received funding from the LSU in February.
“Luckily there are options but it feels kind of dumb that you applying for money from the school, that’s just going right back to the school,” said Barcomi.
“I love creating community within the whole New School system, but it feels like the actual higher up is, like, not encouraging it,” Barcomi added. “They want the students to mix but at the same time the economics or politics are literally keeping the divisions apart from each other.”
Taylor is a journalism + design junior from Florida.
