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CONVERSION OF DELUXE SHEET METAL FACTORY INTO THEATER FOR AVANTI: A POSTINDUSTRIAL GHOST STORY UNDERWAY The University of Notre Dame’s Department of Film, Television and Theatre (FTT) in conjunction with The Builders Association, an internationally known media-and- performance company based in New York City, announced today that work has begun on their temporary site-specific theater, designed to host nine performances of Jessica Chalmers’ play Avanti: A Postindustrial Ghost Story. Throughout the next month-and-a-half, the interior of the former Deluxe Sheet Metal factory in downtown South Bend will be transformed using screens, video projections and objects, in order to look and feel like the old Studebaker factories in the downtown area, most of which have been empty since the early 1960s. Marianne Weems, artistic director of The Builders Association and Avanti said, “We are known for creating extraordinary spaces for our performances. When we last collaborated with Avanti’s author, Jessica Chalmers on Jet Lag, our Obie-award winning play, we were fortunate enough to have the international architectural design firm of Diller & Scafoldio create a set that resembled the interior of an airplane. Avanti gives us another wonderful opportunity to work together and create a new world for characters to inhabit.” Located adjacent to the Grand Hall of Union Station in downtown South Bend, the factory-turned-theater space will hold 70 seats and incorporate actual relics from the Studebaker factories into its set design. Jessica Chalmers, assistant professor of media and performance studies at the University of Notre Dame said, “It would have been ideal to have the play in the Studebaker factory itself. Deluxe Sheet Metal was the best facsimile of a late 1950’s factory we could find. When we saw all the accumulated years of dirt and grime on the walls, and the old wooden office tables and chairs, complete with a retro 1960s style clock hanging from a crumbling support beam, we knew we had found a home for Avanti.” Unlike traditional theater, in which the set is situated on a raised stage that separates the audience from the production, performances of Avanti will take place directly on the floor of the Sheet Metal Factory. Chalmers added, “In Avanti, the factory is filled with lingering memories and troubled souls who don’t want the past to end. These characters are surrounded by abandoned automotive debris and pools of corrosive chemicals, but; they don’t see the wasteland the plant has become. Instead, they dream of the sleek, new car, the Avanti and remember the days when Raymond Loewy walked among them. We want the audience to feel the tension between the past and the present in a way they wouldn’t if they were sitting in a pristine state-of-the-art theater.” Avanti will premiere in South Bend on September 24th and run through October 3, 2004. It is anticipated that Avanti will tour in the 2005/2006 theater season. Weems noted, “While the story is set in South Bend, deindustrialization is a national phenomenon. We fully expect the show to appeal to audiences throughout the rest belt as well as cities like New York and even in countries like Germany. For an inside look at the creative process involved in the making of the play, interested parties can visit the "Photos: Making Avanti" page at http://avanti.nd.edu. Playwright Jessica Chalmers Receives Fellowship
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