Performing Arts Council opens scene shop

Chainsaw in hand, a goggled University President Judith Rodin inaugurated the Performing Arts Council's new scene shop yesterday by cutting a plywood "ribbon" in two. PAC members who crowded into the fluorescent-lit, high-ceilinged workshop for the ceremony dressed warmly for the occasion, as the shop at 4100 Walnut Street still lacks heat. And although the space is far better for storing costumes than for performing, the Intuitons, Quaker Notes and Penn Singers celebrated the long-awaited opening with snippets from recent and upcoming shows. Originally scheduled to open in July, use of the shop above Urban & Bye Realtors was delayed for three months while the University waited for city approval. But despite the wait, PAC members say they are quite happy with the new space, which replaces the technical, costume and prop shops they lost when Irvine Auditorium closed for renovations. "It's really nice because it was designed for us, with high ceilings and a lot of outlets," PAC Chairperson Elizabeth Scanlon said. "It was built with set building in mind, which the basement of Irvine wasn't." "That, and we don't have any pet mice in the new shop," the College senior added. Now settled in and using the shop nightly, PAC members see the opening as a positive, if tardy, symbol of the University's willingness to help performing arts groups find alternatives for the spaces they will lose and have already lost due to widespread campus construction. "This is a case where we just told the University what we wanted, and they gave it to us," PAC Co-Chairperson and Engineering junior Ron Isaacson said. Rodin added that if construction created difficulties for PAC initially, it ended up working for the better. "You guys were handed some lemons, and you really made lemonade," she said. Afterwards, eager students feasted on hummus and cookies and mingled with Rodin, who was monopolized by one admiring Mask and Wig member. "I would have to say, we really liked the long hair, though? I mean, we had wigs like that," said College senior Brian Levine, joking that Rodin's shorn head was harder for the comedy group to imitate. "Why do you think I cut it?" she replied.

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