Grand Opening, Sept. 14 Open House Set, First Performance Sept. 16
By Darcie Shinberger
The curtain is finally rising on a project that has been a dream for Western Illinois University and the west central Illinois region for over 50 years. With construction almost 95 percent complete, the new Western Illinois University Goldfarb Center for the Performing Arts (Goldfarb Center) will be open for classes Monday, Aug. 24. A grand opening/ribbon-cutting/open house is set for 2 p.m., Sept.
15, with the first performance in the 870-seat Great Hall – Chicken Wire Empire – kicking off 'A Season of Joy' Sept. 16.
While ticket prices vary for each performance, all tickets for the first show Sept. 16 are $10 each.
'Come out and see this first show and see what this new space is about,' said Goldfarb Interim Director Mick Cumbie.
Cumbie, who stepped into interim director role June 1 after Anne Lefter departed for the University of Northern Iowa, told The Community News Brief during a tour Wednesday that the university's theatre, dance and music students will be in the spaces for classes, rehearsals, practices, lessons and performances starting Monday. Finishing touches are being put on the Clow Theatre, a black box theatre; the Great Hall; green rooms, dressing rooms and other behind-the-scenes spaces.
Building staff and faculty are learning the sound systems and the ins-and-outs of the state-of-the-art facility leading up to the first day of classes and the upcoming theatrical, dance and musical performances.
The first show in the Clow Theatre will be Shakespeare's 'Twelfth Night,' Oct. 8-11, while the first dance performance is 'Stand/ Resist' Nov. 12-15. Cumbie and his staff are dedicated to making the new Goldfarb Center an 'experience' for those who attend shows.
The building will open 90 minutes before a performance, with concessions and a bar available, for people to meet and mingle, and to just 'enjoy the space,' and will remain open for 30 minutes after, again to simply visit and take it all in.
'We want people to make the Goldfarb Center a night out,' he said.
The new fine arts center has been the number one priority on Western's capital development list since 2006 and has been in some form of planning and/ or discussion since December 1972. Construction began on the accessible 100,000-square-foot building in September 2022. The Capital Development Board, which provided the $119 million for the facility through Gov. J.B. Pritzker's bipartisan Rebuild Illinois capital plan, has been overseeing the project, with River City Construction, LLC, of Peoria, IL, as the general contractor; Cannon Design, Inc. as the architect-of-record, and Pelli Clarke Pelli as the architectural design firm.
Cumbie shared there are 55 naming opportunities, with 34 of those 55 spaces bearing such names as the man behind the building, Al Goldfarb, who was Western's 10th president and helped move the project forward; Ken and Lorraine Epperson Gallery; the Melissa Inman Reception Room, and the Gene Kozlowski Green Rooms.
The finishing touches are being put on the 870-seat Great Hall, with the first performance in 'A Season of Joy' set for Sept. 16. (P.S. We tried out the seats and they are cushy and comfy!)
The Grand Entrance - featuring the Epperson Gallery and the Clow Theatre to the right.
Lin Stults, owner of Engraving by Lin in Macomb, is creating the naming plaques for the seats in the Great Hall. Seat plaques are still available for a $250 donation. Contact Patrick Downing at [email protected], (309) 762-3999, Ext. 62782 or wiu. edu/giving.
In addition, individuals can purchase a seat for $250 in the Great Hall, with the plaques engraved by local icon Lin Stults (aka Engraving by Lin) so memories – and names – can live on in perpetuity. There are approximately 210 seats remaining, he added.
Cumbie noted that the building is also an 'all-Steinway building.' There is the initial Steinway grand piano, donated by Herb and Nancy Strong several years ago, along with one Boston (a Steinway company) baby grand and four Boston uprights. The lighting, sound system, rigging and acoustics (designed by Kirkegaard) throughout the building are all high-tech and ready to go.
'We are excited to open the Goldfarb Center for the campus and the region and create an elevated theatre experience,' Cumbie said.
From the hot spice walls in Dance Studio One overlooking Western Avenue on the first floor to the electric lime drenched acoustic tiles of Jazz Studio One which looks out over the east side of campus on the second floor to the terra cotta fabric (and very comfortable!) seats in the Great Hall to the touches of purple, natural wood and soft grays amidst soft lighting throughout, the Goldfarb Center is a feast for the eyes and live performances will be a symphony of sound and sensation. And when the crowning touches are completed and artwork from WIU's WPA Collection, along with other pieces from the institution's permanent collection, adorn the walls, the Goldfarb Center will set the stage – literally – for a remarkable journey that will continue to unfold for many years to come.
WIU's dance program used to call Brophy Hall home, on the other side of campus from the fine arts college. Now the longstanding WIU program has performance and practice space in the new Goldfarb Center.
Left: Mosaic floor featured in the Epperson Gallery. Right: Beautiful tones of purple tile highlight the concession area which will offer a wide variety of refreshments including wine and beer.
