This is a cool project that reclaims an old 19th century building that once was a manufacturing facility and later (1950s) served as Wesleyan’s physical plant. The site had fallen into disrepair and was a local eyesore until this significant adaptive reuse. I can’t wait to get back to campus someday and see it.
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Very cool. I am a total sucker for reused industrial buildings. Like this interior picture is awesome to me:
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As am I. For some odd reason, I find comfort in the solitude one can experience wandering around industrial sites of various kinds, especially the really old ones. I always imagine as I’m walking around the many people who worked there, what they made and all the activity that once took place. It’s a first cousin to walking around a cemetery I suppose.
This is what it looked like not that long ago:
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It is very cool. Unfortunately, so far the university has not made it available to student-run theater groups, which put on a significant portion of the plays performed on campus. Hoping that changes while my kid is still there….
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Yes! I once used the word “romantic” to describe that sort of feeling, and it didn’t go over very well, but I didn’t mean in the lovey-dovey sense, I meant in these sense of sparking my imagination and emotions and interest in very different people’s stories.
And in that sense, a great venue for performing arts (at least for people like me).
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Wesleyan has been busy with facilities upgrades. Just opened a new 200,000 square foot state-of-the art science building last year.
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You heard it here first: official opening date is September 6, 2026 although all indications are that construction is complete:
![1000006466|666x500]
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When they get all the landscaping done, tear down Hall-Atwater and rehab beautiful and historic Shanklin, that is going to be a very cool spot on campus.
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I’m not sure I follow. Isn’t that who these facilities are for? If not student-run groups, then who is performing at them?
Or is it that the facilities aren’t quite done?
As my kid understands it, it’s reserved for the exclusive use of the theater department (and presumably other university departments, like dance? Not sure). So Spike Tape, Shades, Noisy Visuals, etc., won’t have access for their shows.
I see. Isn’t one of the old gothic buildings used for student-run theater? Or where do they perform?
Yes, the 92 on College Row is used by the student theater groups. But there are more shows than availability there, so many student shows are put up in WestCo Cafe, which has its weird dank charms but is not an ideal space. I’ve also seen a student show in the Eclectic house, which, same.
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I think it’s useful pointing out what a unique theater community the students at Wesleyan comprise, especially when compared to other SLACs. The kids in Middletown have the best of both worlds: state of the art, professional facilities that are accessible through classroom experiences usually culminating in full rigged productions as well as a slew of adhoc, independent productions that thrive throughout the year, in nontraditional spaces like WestCo, Eclectic, Russell House - even the SciLi.
By comparison, Swarthmore kids put on productions, too, but they are almost all with the help of faculty advisors who help manage things through something called, the Drama Board which oversees the main Lang Theater complex as well as other spaces on campus.
My sense is that the Miranda Theater will occupy a niche similar to Swarthmore’s Drama Board with student led productions being put up with extensive help from on-site professionals; it’s not called, “state-of-the-art” for nothing.
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