The School of Dramatic Arts (SDA) this week opened its new drama center at the intersection of Jefferson Boulevard and Hoover Street.
Starting Tuesday, faculty and students were allowed onsite to move into their offices and begin in-person classes in the new facility.
“We’ve been waiting for this for decades, as a school, so it’s a really big milestone moment,” Sara Fousekis, the SDA Associate Dean for Advancement, said.
Since the university broke ground nearly two years ago, Fousekis said the swift turnaround from construction to opening was “pretty remarkable.”
The new building will act as a “home base” to all SDA students who have been jumping between Grace Ford Salvatori Hall and the Physical Education building while the new building was under construction.
“It’s really hard to have a serious conversation about death when the volleyball team is screaming down the hall and you can hear everything that they’re saying,” Keilah Mora, a freshman BFA stage management major, said. “So it’s nice to kind of finally be in a new quiet space.”
Along with classrooms and offices, the new building is home to various resources for SDA students, such as the Professional Development Center, which will provide students with resumé overviews and a self-taping room that students can book for auditions. The Sparks Center for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, which is named after distinguished SDA professor and associate dean of equity, diversity and inclusion Anita Dashiell-Sparks and her husband, SDA alum and current Board of Councilors member Anthony Sparks, will act as a community space and hub for collaboration.
For those missing the Massman Theatre, the two new theater performance spaces — the Stop Gap and Sanctuary — aim to recreate a space for student-led productions.
“I’m a little sad I won’t really get to experience the space too much before I graduate,” senior Caroline Goldenberg, a Theatre major with an Acting emphasis, said, “But I am really excited about the new theater. … SDA is kind of in need of some new performance spaces.”
The Stop Gap houses a smaller cabaret-style theater where students can have late night shows and improv performances, and the Sanctuary is a larger state-of-the-art space for larger stage acts.
Goldenberg said she would be acting in her final show for SDA at the Sanctuary, one of the first few shows in the new performance space starting April 12th.
“It was time to move out of that building,” Fousekis said. “It really had a lot of wear and tear over the years, but the history we’re trying to bring with us.”.
The tradition of the signature wall from the Massman Theatre will be replicated in the student lounge of the new building, and a kiosk-like tool will allow students in independent student productions (ISP) to add on their signatures at the end of a show.
ISPs will also have a place to rehearse with a designated classroom rehearsal hall in the Pollitt Family Rehearsal Hall. The Scene Dock Theatre, located in the corner of campus, will now act entirely as a space for ISPs.
General education classes will be held inside the Sanctuary at SDA, with the goal of connecting students with interdisciplinary classes.
“We want the minors in dramatic arts to feel like this is truly their home,” Fousekis said. “We want to have that engineering or Marshall student taking a Gen Ed class in our building and have a chance to experience the school of Dramatic Arts and this creative space.”
Students will also have access to the Audio and Design Labs and Integrated Media Labs, classroom spaces where students can learn media integration and explore artificial intelligence and dramatic arts. Voice practice rooms will also be available to students for rehearsal practice.
The historic building which the SDA building now stands within was originally designed by C. Raimon Johnson in the 1930s, and has been named to the National Register of Historic Places by the Los Angeles Conservancy. The stained glass windows from the original building were maintained and restored with the help of former Roski dean, Ruth Weisberg.
“This mix between new and old…was actually perfect for sort of everything we stand for,” Fousekis said.
The Board of Counselors, alumni and parents all played a role in fundraising the new building with many alumni opting to leave their names and a personal message on pavers and benches surrounding the building’s outdoor courtyard.
The official ribbon-cutting ceremony will take place March 28th. An event for the USC community is set to take place April 13 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Editor’s note: A previous version of this story did not include Anthony Sparks as one of the namesakes of the Sparks Center for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion and incorrectly stated that Anita Dashiell-Sparks was a former professor.