The story of Storre

Located on the edge of campus, the Storre Theatre building is a place many students have only heard of.

This changed a few weeks ago when students flocked to Storre to a see a production of “Godspell” and many were turned away.

Approximately 100 people can sit in the stadium seating that is currently available in Storre Theatre. For each night pf Justin Madsen’s (‘09) recent production of “Godspell,” there were up to 90 people standing in addition to those seated, along with the many people turned away because the theater could not accomdate them

“That’s the worst, having a show that you want people to see and they want to see and that’s really unfortunate,” Madsen said.

Madsen, president of the student-run SPIN Theatre board, directed the production of “Godspell” the third piece he directed in Storre Theatre. Despite the drawbacks of space, especially in terms of seating, Madsen feels lucky to have the performance area.

“I feel very privileged to have Storre Theatre,” Madsen said. “It’s nice that the school and the department have seen the value of Storre and its use for student shows.”

Named for O.K. Storre who donated his farm to Luther College in 1963, the building was used for many years by the Theatre/Dance department, and now is shared with both the Art department and Facilities.

According to Bob Larson, professor of theatre, the college and Theatre/Dance department originally intended to use Storre in 1975 as a transitional building between the department’s place in the basement of the science building and its move to a new theater building. The department actually left the “transitional” building in 2002.

“It’s a temporary building that we’ve had since 1975,” said Larson.

Storre was originally one large space containing the scene shop, costume shop, classrooms and performance area. This meant that set construction happened after classes and before rehearsals, placing significant time constraints on all department activities.

It was a tough place to be creative in during those times.

“For 20 years, we had discarded, recycled chairs from a cafeteria refitting,” said Larson. “Some people actually brought pillows because the chairs were so hard to sit on.”

Though uncomfortable for human rears, birds found it a cozy place to nest, and rainy weather sometimes threatened performances.

“Once or twice we had to cancel because the tin roof was echoing so much that you couldn’t hear,” Larson said.

“The space has a lot of challenges, but we lived in it for 30 years, so I know what it’s like,” Larson said.

Student productions had to be squeezed in around departmental needs, working late into the night after faculty directed pieces or finding other venues to perform in, including Dante’s in the lowest level of the Union.

Today, students have the performance space in Storre completely to themselves as a workshop theater under the control of SPIN Theatre. These productions have no conflicts with other needs for the space and allow shows to perform throughout the year.

Because of the versatility of the space, student directors can determine how they want to set up the seating, though for Madsen’s show, the size of the cast made a proscenium stage the obvious choice.

“Stadium seating allows the most people to see the show, in terms of sight lines,” Madsen said.

Other options do exist for students, such as studio space in the Center for the Arts, though essentially all venues on campus except Storre have various departments’ demands on their availability. Productions could also run for multiple weekends, though SPIN has exhausted its budget for the year, with 6 shows being produced this semester.

Despite the drawbacks of Storre Theatre, both SPIN and the Theatre/Dance department feel privileged as artists to have the theater.

“Storre is an exciting place for students to use creatively as they want,” Larson said. “Some professionals don’t even have a space. In the world of theater/dance, just having a space is a gift.”