An Update on the Effects of the June, 2008, Flood
on the Theatre Arts Department  

Summer, 2008

 On June 13, 2008, the Iowa River overflowed its banks and flooded more than twenty buildings on the University of Iowa campus. During the summer of 2008 the School of Music, The School of Art and Art History, and the Theatre Arts Department moved to temporary quarters.

Fall, 2008

During the fall term the Theatre Arts Department is being housed in downtown Iowa City. Department offices, classrooms and rehearsal spaces are at Brewery Square, on the corner of Linn and Market Streets. Several performance spaces are in use including West High School, where Three Sisters, the first main stage production, will be presented. All classes and all but one of our scheduled productions will be presented during the semester.

Spring, 2009

 We expect to move back into the Theatre Building in December, 2008. The basement will no longer be used as it was before but it may be available for rehearsals. For this reason, we expect to continue to hold some classes and some evening rehearsals in Brewery Square. All faculty and graduate students will move back to the Theatre Building.

We expect Thayer Theatre and Theatre B to be ready in December. Thayer Theatre, in fact, will have a new lighting system. Mabie Theatre will be ready in March. We expect that spring term productions, readings, the Ten Minute Play Festival and the New Play Festival will all be presented in the Theatre Building as usual. The costume shop and costume storage have been moved to Menards (now called Studio Arts). They will be there until the space lost in the basement is recovered or other adjoining space is determined.

The Future

What will the Theatre Building be like when it’s finished? We’ve developed two plans already and they are quite different from one another. There will be further planning before we see the final picture. We anticipate that the rooms lost will find a new home in a reconstructed basement, or in an addition to the Theatre Building, or in existing space nearby. Overall, we expect our facilities will be improved. The timetable for these changes is not yet clear, but we anticipate complete recovery before the end of the next academic year.

Student Information

Early Registration begins November 26. All Theatre majors are encouraged to see their faculty advisors as soon as possible.

Other News and Events

For further information and long term planning, please use the links below.

UI Theatre Season Calendar
ArtsIowa Calendar
Online Callboard
Alumni News
Auditions