ASTC - USITT Venue Renovation Challenge 2015

On March 20, 2015, awards for the second annual ASTC/USITT Venue Renovation Challenge were presented in Cincinnati, Ohio at the 55th annual USITT Conference and Expo. The Renovation Challenge was created to give student USITT members an opportunity to work with a practicing ASTC theatre consultant and to stretch their skills and knowledge by developing a scope of work for the improvement of an existing performance venue and present it, as they would in the real world to a client, at an USITT Panel with a live audience.

The members of the Yale University team were Jeong Sik Yoo and Mitchell Cramond with Gene Leitermann serving as ASTC mentor with Matt Welander as faculty advisor. The Yale University team selected their subject to be the University Theatre at Yale. The members of the DePaul University team were; Jamie Davis, David Millard, Jackson Walsh, Alyse Porsella, Alexa Santiago, Joe Clavell, Dana Stringer, Nathaly Garcia, Marisa Melito, Jamie Lynn Woods, Vada Branco, and Kevin Kushman with Joshua Grossman as ASTC mentor and Shane Kelly serving as faculty advisor. Their renovation challenge was for the Merle Reskin Theatre (formerly the Blackstone Theatre.) The $750 award was given to Yale University while the DePaul University team received the $360 Merit Award.

"The student teams came through with impressive projects for the second year of the ASTC - USITT Venue Renovation Challenge. Their presentations at the USITT conference in Cincinnati were thoughtful and professional. The Challenge is proving to be a successful conduit for reaching young, talented, technical theater students and exposing them to theatre consulting as a career." said Mike McMackin, ASTC board member.

The Challenge will be held again next year with details currently on the ASTC website: http://theatreconsultants.org/the-astc-usitt-student-theatre-renovation-challenge-2016/ . Students and teachers who would like to benefit from being part of the next Challenge should consider making room for this opportunity in their academic schedules. For information, contact Michael McMackin at mmcmackin@auerbachconsultants.com. Next year's 2016 USITT Conference and Expo will be held in Salt Lake City, Utah.

A theatre consultant is a professional advisor who provides guidance, advice, and support to owners and design teams for the planning, design, and equipping of theatres, concert halls and other types of facilities used for public assembly and presentation of the performing arts.