Rachel Yeates, Campus Carrier News Editor

An accident in Blackstone Hall on Oct. 31 left sophomore Emily Wolfe in the emergency room. An air vent in the student lounge fell unexpectedly and hit Wolfe near her eye, breaking her glasses, Wolfe said. Associate professor of theater Alice Bristow helped Wolfe make contact with Berry administration and the Campus police who took a statement.

This incident has prompted discussion about the safety of the building that houses Berry’s theater program. Wolfe is meeting with a Berry legal adviser this week and hopes they can help her cover hospital bills and pay for a new pair of glasses.

“I was sitting there on the main floor, in the Green room area … on a couch by the door, and the air vent, like the whole air vent unit, came down and hit me on the head, right next to my eye,” Wolfe said. “Broke my glasses and everything. I had to go to the hospital … Apparently there weren’t even screws holding this thing in.”

Blueprints contributed by Scott Breithaupt The above plans detail the renovations to Blackstone Hall that will be completed when funds for the LifeReady campaign are raised.

Junior Ari Jerome, a theater major, was in the room when the vent fell. She noted that, earlier that day, the heat in the building had been turned on for the first time this semester.

Sophomore theater major Sophia Brommet, thought this may have affected the vent.

“Apparently, somehow the screws weren’t connected to anything,” Brommet said. “They were in the vent, but they weren’t in the wall. It was taken off for some reason and then put back without properly securing it, and so the push of air probably knocked it out of the wall …”

“… and onto an unsuspecting young lady,” Jerome finished.

Theater students, however, are used to a state of disrepair, Brommet and Jerome said.

“Somehow this is kind of normal in our theater,” Brommet said. “All of us were just like ‘oh, the building’s falling apart on us again.’”

“But because we have the shop, if a stair breaks or something, we just fix it and get back to work,” she continued. “The stairs leading down to prop storage have broken before. People have fallen through, and they just stick a new one in – ‘All right everyone, back to work.’”

Wolfe spoke of problems with mold in costume and prop storage.

“The building’s just not in good shape in general,” she said. “So the things inside it aren’t going to be in good shape.”

The space, which was initially a dining hall, was repurposed as a theater several decades ago. Areas of the building are no longer usable.

“We can’t have class up (on our top level) anymore,” Brommet said.

Bristow elaborated on the safety issues of the upstairs classrooms.

“There’s not proper fire exits because the stairwells are too small, and they don’t exit to the outside,” she said.

Wolfe commented on the problems the top floor will cause should there be renovations.

“Before they even renovate it, they’re going to have to … put a fire escape on the side of the costume shop,” she said. “Because the costume shop has stairs, but … if they’re blocked there’s no way to get out.”

Wolfe thinks the situation is “a little ridiculous.”

“I can’t think of any other building in the school where you can’t even go to certain places in the building,” she said.

Jerome remembered the difficulty Berry College Theatre Company (BCTC) had hosting guest improv group Dad’s Garage.

“One of the members was in a wheelchair,” she said. “The bathrooms aren’t wheelchair accessible – we’re lucky we have a ramp.”

Problems exist in audience seating as well, Jerome said.

“At least every show I’ve worked on – and I’ve worked on at least eight shows – there’s always at least one patron who falls down those stairs,” she said.

Handrails were added a few years ago, but they have not proved to be helpful.

“We only have those little rickety handrails, which we’ve had to screw back into place multiple times,” Brommet said. “We had one guy grab it, and it just gave out underneath him.”

Bristow, who has worked with the department for 15 years, recounted the repairs to the building that she remembers. They include the handrails, new windowsills, renovation of the lobby, new paint in the classroom areas, fixing a hole in the floor of the costume shop and major work with the heating, ventilation and air conditioning units.

Plans for additions and renovations to Blackstone Hall are included in the current capital Life Ready campaign. Now it’s just a question of raising the money.

“Luckily we’re up next for some major renovations,” Bristow said. “We’re in the fundraising period. I just want the building to be safe, as does everyone else.”

She is excited about the prospect of teaching all theatre major courses in Blackstone. Some classes have had to be taught in Ford and Laughlin. She talked about how nice it will be to have “better and safer access to the shops.” The costume shop is currently not in compliance with the ADA.

Wolfe is worried about current students and is ready for renovations to begin – the sooner the better.

“I just hope that this renovation project gets going pretty soon because I would hate for all these people that are theater majors here, and that love theater and want this program to grow, to be displaced – or God forbid have to leave Berry because their major’s not offered – because the building’s condemned,” Wolfe said.

Jerome said she thinks more attention is given to projects like Valhalla stadium as opposed to the arts, especially in regard to fundraising for Blackstone and Ford Auditorium.

Brommet agreed that the arts are often overlooked.

“I’d like for the theater to get more attention,” she said.

Wolfe hopes her experience with the air vent will do just that.

“Hopefully, this is something that makes them reconsider how much we need this,” she said. “And it’s sad that a student had to get hurt before they took action.”

Despite limitations, the theater program continues to attract more students.

“Our program’s growing,” Jerome said. “And we’re becoming more skilled … We’re ready to expand, the problem is I’m not sure the school’s ready for us. We’re bursting at the seams, but I don’t think the school sees that.”