Theater students are cultivating their talents of adaptation in the accurately named Interim Theatre during the renovation of the Garvin Theatre complex on West Campus.

“It’s because we’re concentrating on smaller projects,” said Rick Mokler, an associate professor in the Theatre Arts department.

The Interim Theatre is “more like an arena theater,” said Sandarbh Tripathi, one of the students helping to run the play “Moonchildren,” directed by Katie Laris.

“It’s going to be really fun for the audience to watch because the actors will be right in front of them,” Tripathi said.

During the fall, when the department was still operating out of the Garvin and Jurkowitz Theatres, there were about 40 openings for students to participate in theater, according to Mokler. This included actors, stage managers and other supporting positions.

This semester, however, 90 positions are available to students, although the department is working out of the Interim Theatre and is generating fewer performance sales. The temporary facilities are affecting the department’s budget profoundly.

“Money we generated at the box office at the Garvin Theatre was a significant part of our budget,” Mokler said.

Laris believes “Moonchildren” is a good play for this kind of temporary theater.

“The play is supposed to be in a pretty shabby house,” she said. “The students (were) supposed to redo the kitchen. They haven’t done that.”

That state of disrepair is helping to set the scene for the run-down house in the play.

Laris also pointed out how most theatergoers are unaware of set changes and backstage procedure, but they won’t be in this case.

“(They) think the technical stuff just happens,” she said. “When the audience comes in, they’re going to be aware of our running of the show.” She added that it was particularly important to get the props and details right.

The Interim Theatre has made the performers raise their standards, Laris said. Because the audience is so close to the actors, they really have to stay focused.

“It was particularly important to get the details right,” she said.

Laris believes the audience will be enriched as well.

“We’re part of this world, but also part of this theater,” she said.

Theatre Arts department Chair Tom Garey described the Interim Theatre as “a chance to explore some stuff we haven’t done before.”

The department is planning to stay in the temporary building until the construction on the Garvin Theatre is completed in the summer of 2010.

“We’ll be doing smaller pieces,” Garey said. “We’re focusing on different kinds of theater experience,” he added. He thinks this is a good time to take a look at the new direction of their program.

The SBCC Theatre Group is the longest running theater in Santa Barbara. It normally produces four shows each year.

“At the time the Garvin Theatre was built, it was a state-of-the-art facility,” Garey said, adding that this was 32 years ago.

The renovation will cost $17.5 million, Garey said. The state has approved $12.4 million, and the rest will be financed through Measure V, a special property tax voted on by the citizens. The tax will raise costs for homeowners by $36-40 every year for a period 30 years, he said.

This construction will allow the department not only to improve the accessibility for disabled students and audience members, but also to bring the latest technology to the department.

After the renovation, “we will resume doing the kind of shows we have been doing,” Garey said. “We will also do more kinds of avant-garde.”

He thinks 10 to 12 percent of 300 to 400 students enrolled in the department will work in the field after their education.

“The rest will be theater-goers,” Garey said. “The best course a student could take to make them ready for the real world is a theater course. They learn all the survival skills.”