The construction taking place across from campus is to extend the UWMC with a brand new communications building. This building will be the home of a state of the art theatre, the Wisconsin Institute of Public Policy and Service (WIPPS), Wisconsin Public Radio (WPR), and UWMC’s Continuing Education program.

It sounds great, this new building. But, considering these institutions already have homes on the UWMC campus, not to mention our current theatre, some are wondering why we need another building.

The new building project is something that is near and dear to Sarah Rudolph’s heart. As a professor of Communication and Theatre Arts, she has always been right at the front of getting the project started.

“We have a special opportunity with WIPPS,” said Rudolph. “In order to realize this opportunity, we need offices and conference space.”

Right now, WIPPS, which focuses on enhancing the civil life of Wisconsin through public forums, education outreach, and service learning and internship opportunities, is stuffed into a relatively small room. Continuing Education and WPR are out of the way and in the basement.

As for the theatre—“the one in the existing building was cobbled together from an all purpose room,” explained Rudolph. “We will now have a theatre on par with what other colleges have.”

The current theatre also lacks space. There is so little space that during the production of “The Producers,” actors had to change costumes out in the hallway. “[We] have pulled off some big shows in the space we have… but it has meant all sorts of complicated plans for storing and moving scenery,” said Rudolph.

The idea for a new building has been in the works for quite a while now. “I have been harping about the need for a real theatre since the day I set foot in UWMC in 1991,” Rudolph explained. “During the time Jim Veninga was dean, he worked very hard to get the process moving but it started in earnest a couple of years back.”

According to UWMC’s website, the cost of this new building is $6.8 million. The project was financed with $3.6 million from Marathon County, $1.38 million from the State for movable equipment, and $5.068 million from the Federal Government for the building and also for the land acquisition.

Completion of the building is scheduled for November 2010, and a production in the theatre is already planned for that same month. Everything else should be moved in during the spring semester of 2011.