New lighting equipment and curtains installed this summer and fall in Northlawn Room 109, part of the Music and Theatre Department building at Hesston College, have enhanced the multiple functions of that room immensely. The room becomes the setting for some theatre productions and music programs, serves as rehearsal space for the instrumental and vocal music programs, and hosts student-led Campus Worship every Wednesday evening.

The new black floor to ceiling curtains are multi-purpose, as well as being movable on a track surrounding two-thirds of the room’s space. Doug Peters and John Miller, Campus Facilities staff, also installed a new state-of-the-art lighting system. Peters also serves as technical director for Theatre Department productions.

The addition of the new curtains and lighting equipment excites Megan Tyner, the college’s Theatre Department director, because now Room 109 can be transformed into a studio theatre. “We can do pretty much anything now,” she said. “I feel lucky to work on a campus that supports and appreciates the arts. I know a lot of campuses don’t get that support.”

Prior to performances of “The Diviners” October 9-12, Tyner said, “I’m glad that this play will be initiating this new theatre space, since light plays a crucial role in this drama.”

Tyner said the previous lighting system was outdated at best. “At worst, it wasn’t even usable,” she said. “We’ve had several graduates who’ve gone on to successful theatre careers at four-year colleges and universities. But the one thing that they have felt uneasy about is the lighting and technical aspects. This new lighting system gives students the opportunity to learn on a system that’s going to be like what they’ll use in other places.”

Tyner cited one additional important aspect of the new facilities in Northlawn Room 109. “Before, not having an adequate space on campus to perform meant I didn’t necessarily know where we would be performing a particular drama,” she said. “Not knowing becomes a huge issue. The new facilities mean we can select plays and musicals that utilize intimate spaces, which allows us to focus on acting and all that that entails. Ultimately, that’s what’s best for the students.”

Bradley Kauffman, director of instrumental and vocal music programs at Hesston College, said both programs benefit from the new curtains. The movable curtains provide “an adjustable acoustic, from a live room (with lots of reverberations) to one that is dead (you can hear sound disappear in front of you).”

Kauffman went on to say that it’s a real musical asset to rehearse in a variety of acoustical circumstances. “For the wind ensemble,” he said, “having a fairly dead space is pretty imperative.”

Previously in the room, Kauffman explained, “Brass and percussion instruments overwhelmed the space and made ensemble playing difficult.”

Kauffman said that choral groups benefit from rehearsing in varied acoustics. “We hear differently when the space isn’t so live. Admittedly, singing in a very live acoustic is really satisfying, but to rehearse regularly in that setting is destructive. In the past, we learned to rely on a level of reverberation that we almost never encounter in performances. This can make performances artificially difficult.

“To rehearse in a space that is more dead than where you’ll be performing becomes a conditioning exercise,” he added.

“The addition of the curtains has taken an already multi-functional room (Northlawn Room 109) and enhanced each of its functions,” Kauffman said. “Now it’s inherently more usable and versatile.”

Meanwhile, Campus Pastor Todd Lehman said the new curtains make Northlawn Room 109 more aesthetically pleasing for Wednesday evening Campus Worship led by students and coordinated by Lehman. “The curtains dress up the room and give it a warmer feel than cinder block walls have,” he said. “We’re still experimenting to see what the best arrangement of the curtains is for sound. The room is certainly less live with the curtains, but the curtains give us more options for how it sounds in that space.

“We also look forward to using the new lighting system,” Lehman added, “which will give us many more possibilities. It will be a nice change from the fluorescent lighting we’ve been using.”