In January 2025, Northwestern State University of Louisiana’s A.A. Fredericks Auditorium will close for renovation. Renovations will replace the on-stage fire curtain and upgrade the backstage fly systems, rigging systems of ropes and counterweights used to raise and lower scene equipment on stage.
Scott Burrell, director of the Dear School of Creative and Performing Arts, explained that the renovations were initially proposed by the National Association of Schools of Theatre, the accrediting body of NSU’s Theatre and Dance department, in 2006. These renovations will ensure that A.A. Fredericks aligns with NAST’s accreditation parameters.
“If you’re accredited, you have to provide facilities that will provide students the training they need to be successful in their college careers, so you have to,” Burrell said. “And certainly safety is probably one of the highest things when it comes to those facilities.”
While renovations were highly suggested by NAST, NSU was unable to address it at the time being.
“This has been one of their points that needed to be addressed over these years, but we’ve never had the funds to fix it, but now we have funds that have been made available, so now is the time to get it taken care of,” Burrell said.
Jennifer Kelly, director of auxiliary services, is in charge of facilitating funds for the renovations. She explained that they will not come from the capital outlay budget, an organized 5-year plan that includes a specified budget for infrastructure improvements and renovations to the university.
Instead, the funds for this renovation were given by the state. “NSU is providing some of the funding with our ACT 751 money that the legislature awarded this last session,” Kelly said.
Act 751 is a part of the 2024 Regular Legislative Session which provides NSU with deferred maintenance funds from the state of Louisiana. NSU was awarded a budget over $29M and $2.1M of it is designated for use in the 2024-2025 year.
Specifically, this project is estimated to cost roughly $900,000, Burrell said. This portion of the budget will cover all upgrades to A.A. Fredericks’ fly system and the replacement of the fire curtain.
In order to adjust the weight on either side of the fly system pulleys, the weight must be manually loaded onto the carriages. Therefore, upgrades to the fly system will include pushing up the loading rail to allow a safer loading process and installing an all-new ladder that allows safer access to the loading rail.
“When you have students trying to learn technicals, like our stage production and design students, using the fly system, we want to make sure that they’re safe,” Burrell said. “It’s not that they haven’t been safe, because they wear harnesses so if they do fall it’ll catch them and they’ll still do that, but this will be a much safer system.”
Robert Richoux, director of production and design and technical director of the Theatre and Dance department, explained that all the renovations in A.A. Fredericks are related to safety.
“We will be able to implement new protocols and safety procedures as well as have better operation,” Richoux said. “This will also allow our students a better opportunity to learn the proper protocols and safety for running a fly system like this.”
The fire curtain is a large part of fire safety protocol on stage. Since the stage is the most likely place to have a fire, the fire curtain is responsible for separating the audience from the stage.
“This curtain would allow time for an audience to get out of the building,” Richoux said. “The Fire Curtain also blocks airflow on stage that in the case of a fire would prevent the fly loft (area above the stage) from acting like a giant chimney.”
The fire curtain currently in A.A. Fredericks is entirely made of asbestos, which is a known carcinogen, due to its fireproof nature. While asbestos curtains are required based on the regulations of the National Fire Protection Agency, they still pose a high risk if left sitting for long periods of time or are not maintained properly.
“The reason this needs to be replaced is based on building codes and fire codes. The current curtain is made of asbestos which means we are not allowed to move the curtain unless there is a fire,” Richoux said.
Burrell described the process of replacing the fire curtain.
“It really has lived its life, so that has to be replaced now because you can’t take a risk of an old curtain flaking asbestos everywhere. So they’re taking that down, encasing it and getting rid of it to put up a new fire curtain that is sandwiched with stuff that doesn’t let the asbestos out,” Burrell said.
These renovations are set to begin at the end of January 2025 and are estimated to be completed in October 2025. A.A. Fredericks will be closed for the entire period of renovations.
Though the Theatre and Dance department hosts several classes in A.A. Fredericks, plans are already in place to work around the renovations.
“We had a heads up that this might be happening, so we planned our season around this as a potential issue. Organizations that use A.A. Fredericks for events will be impacted, but we have started to let those that typically book the space know that it will no longer be available so they can find alternate venues,” Richoux said.
The need for safer, more modern equipment in A.A. Fredericks is of utmost importance.
“We’d much rather work around it and be inconvenienced for a semester and have it done, than not have it done,” Burrell said.
