School Notes: David Geffen School of Drama
January/February 2014

Music theater program develops two new works

The Yale Institute for Music Theatre will develop two original music theater works this year in an intensive lab setting in New Haven June 2–15, culminating in open rehearsal readings of the works as part of New Haven’s annual International Festival of Arts & Ideas. Mark Brokaw ’86MFA serves as artistic director of the institute, which is a program of Yale’s Binger Center for New Theatre that bridges the gap between training and the professional world for emerging composers and writers. The institute matches the authors of the selected works with collaborators, including professional directors and music directors, as well as a company of actors and singers that includes professionals and current Yale students. Selected works will be announced later this year.

Renovations at Yale Rep

In 1977, Yale Repertory Theatre was presented with a Merit Award from the New Haven Preservation Trust, given to “an historic building that has been sensitively rehabilitated for adaptive use.” The theater, located at the corner of York and Chapel Streets in the Chapel Street Historic District, is part of the National Register of Historic Places. Built in 1871 and designed by Rufus G. Russell, it originally housed the Calvary Baptist Church. This past summer the building underwent restoration, which included replacing the original brownstone elements, repointing the façade, cleaning and re-leading the stained glass windows, and installing bright red entrance doors.