The scheduled construction on the Garvin Theatre and the Drama and Music Department buildings has displaced City College’s musicians and actors, moving them to adjunct buildings and portable facilities.

“This is part of the adjusting process,” said instructor Dave Campos, as he and one of the school’s four jazz combos squeezed into a portable practice room on East Campus.

Campos, along with four drummers, three keyboard players, three saxophones, and four bass players rehearsed “Blue Bossa,” by Kenny Dorham, taking turns playing each part.

Sound leaked in from the other practice rooms, making it difficult not to be distracted.

“That’s part of the process here,” said Campos. “We’re all trying to get our bearings.”

The group tried splitting into two groups to even out the players, but space was an issue.

“It’s a lot of work for the teachers, but I think most people are taking it in stride,” said music student Nick Carlson, as he lugged his upright bass up from the new music facilities underneath the bridge.

Drama Department Chair Tom Garey said that the construction would hopefully begin soon, as early as the middle of March and was just waiting on a formal approval by the Chancellor’s office.

“We will be focusing much more on the students, and experimenting with alternative performing styles,” he said, sitting in his new office, in the new West Campus portable that is the new home of the drama department.

Impressively, the new Interim Theatre, built inside a portable building, is roughly the size of the Jerkowitz Theatre. The interior is set up to seat 100 people, with a real light booth and tiered seating.

The department plans to put on a play called “Moonchildren” later this semester, as well as a production of shorter one-acts, and a showcase for first year students.

This inconvenient relocation doesn’t seem to have slowed down their production schedule.

But some in the music department don’t feel quite so content. Down below the bridge to West Campus lay two more portables, entitle “Choir Room” and “Band Room,” but the large, roughly 100 member, Concert Choir is a tight fit in the over sized classroom. The 10-foot ceilings, the highest of all of the portable buildings according to Garey, severely limit the acoustic possibilities.

Not only have the rehearsal spaces changed for musicians, but the Garvin Theater is completely out of commission until construction is over.

Many student groups already performed off-campus in the past, and those venues will be used even more now. Jazz concerts will take place at Soho Music Club on State Street, and at the Marjorie Luke Theatre. Choral concerts will be at First United Methodist Church, and St. Anthony’s Seminary. And the Fe Bland Forum is still open for smaller performances.

If all goes according to plan, the actual construction will be under way in March, allowing about twelve months to get it all done. So the summer and fall semesters of 2010 will have some major improvements that, according to Garey, have been long over due.

Relocating two entire departments has not been an easy task, and the situation is far from ideal, but the students and faculty are doing the best they can with what they do have, and the concerts and shows scheduled for the year will not lose their beauty or their professionalism.

Click here for a map of the performance locations