u\, 'HrVUxvtcL,.. 11. .fDXtqou Wins! mlli n\tdk i 'lUfrW' <51^5 10-ife v-'U\0-'X oVAiH-l) -— Arena Theater in Villard Provides Place for New Stage Techniques By Gail Savage I-nat spring with the production of "Good-bye My Fancy” Univer sity drama funs saw a type of the ater new to the campus urena theater. The play, staged in room 104 Villard, represented a recognition by the University drama depart ment of the importance of the "in the-round" production in the mod ern theater. Audience Circle In the arena theater the audience is seated in a circle surrounding the stage, which is on the same level. Persons sitting in the first row are close enough to touch the actors. The idea of the arena theater is supposed to be recapturing in spir it. the primitve drama around the campfire. The first drama productions in Greece were in a circle, before 'FLY KIM TO EUROPE^ NEW IOW AIR TOURIST RATES Efocflv* May lit. ROUND TRIP NEW YORK TO SHANNON Only $433.80 LONDON* Only 486.00 PARIS Only 522.00 FRANKFORT Only 563.60 •Via Prestwick or Shannon (Far*s subject to jjorwnmonl approval. Good low co$l mtali available on piano.] • KIM Royal Dutch Airlines | 572 Filth Avenue, New York 19, N. Y. | Please send full Information on new ■ KLM Air Tourist Rates to Europe. ■ NAME . | ADDRESS . L J We'n-e all ■nulling jpA, The Medo-Land Creamery hopes you’ll have a pleasant spring vaca tion! And we know that you’ll al ways enjoy the quality dairy prod ucts which have made Medo-Land Eugene’s “fountain of health.” It’ll always be our pleasure to serve YOU. For Quality...For Flavor I Use MEDO-LANU I* A ■ It V Pill) It U €TS buildings wore eroded for u the ater. The theater gradually re stricted the audience to one side only. This Is In relatively recent times 11,000 to 4,000 years ago, according to Horace Robinson, di rector of the University theater. Number of Variations There were a number of varia tions of the same circular theater in the medieval and renulasunce theater. The circus dramas of the 18th and 19th centuries were an example of these. The cercus dram as played in a type of hippodrome with audience surrounding the saw dust stage. The recent Impetus to the arena theater started with Gilmore Brown at the I’asadena Community the ater. Brown used a small building called the "Playbox,’' and gave arena productions there a number of times. Washington Builds Arena Glenn Hughes of the University of Washington was familiar with [ Brown's approach and had the ] Penthouse theater built with WPA help about 1936. This is the first and only building which has been erected exclusively for arena type staging. To Hughes goes the main credit for popularizing for amateurs and professionals the now accepted drama staging of the arena theater ! used throughout the United States. ' Most theaters now produce an | arena theater show in their regular I season. tllll'TH I sill 11 Since the Penthouse theater wan built a number of theaters have been built for arena but none uti I -,lzo it exclusively. The stage can bo i shifted to various parts of the I room with various sides to the , audience. The University of Oregon became interested in the arena theater from the University of Washing ton's success and has produced arena shows since 1938 or 15)39, ‘ some eight to ten arena plays. Oregon’s Arena Shifted Prior to the present location of the arena theater the arena pro ductions were held in various loca tions on campus. Among these were McArthur Court, the old YW CA building and the AWS room on th<- third floor of Gerlinger hall. The present building was pro posed in 1918 and there was an ef fort to have included a large lobby ] to be utilized for arena produc tions. This lobby was taken out of the plans, however, because of ex ! cessive costs. Villurd Room llfqUPMti'i! When it was apparent the lobby | would be impossible, the theater j directors requested 101 Vi Hard, - < ! originally planned to be two class rooms, made into one large room, to be eventually equipped to serve as an arena theater. Equipment would be provided later by the Uni versity. The arena theater is now relatively finished. The first major production, held in it last spring was "Good-bye My Fancy’'. "Petti coat Fever” and “The Second Man” | were produced this season. "We realize that this theater is | not adequate because it can only seat approximately 132 people and therefore requires an extensive run to accomodate the more than 1700 season ticket holders,'’ Robinson said. One Production Annually “It is felt that any university the ater which fails to produce that kind of training for its students is failing to recognize one of the most significant production styles of the 20th century,” Robinson continued. "Therefore we propose to present at least one production through each year so people can have that training opportunity,” Robinson continued. As a playing style, actors enjoy it as a contrast to conventional staging, but most indicate they I like the arena productions as well I or better than picture frame stag j ing, Robinson said. The historian Sallust once wrote I of ancient Rome’s island colony I in the north: "The poor Britons, ! there is some good in them after j all—they produce an oyster.” As *• i early as 80 A.D., oysters were ex I ported from the Thames estuary to Rome.