Sept. 9, 2014

Valley Icon Celebrates 50

GAMMAGE PHOTOS BY TIM TRUMBLE

ASU GAMMAGE TURNS 50 THIS SEPTEMBER,

HONORING ITS PAST AND CELEBRATING ITS FUTURE

In 1957, ASU past President Grady Gammage had a vision to create a distinct university auditorium on the campus of Arizona State University. He called on close friend and famed architect Frank Lloyd Wright to assist with the project. As luck would have it, Wright had a design prepared for an opera house in Baghdad, Iraq, that did not come to fruition, and he decided to use it for this theater.

During a tour of the campus, Wright took a liking to an athletic field and said, "I believe this is the site. The structure should be circular in design and yes, with outstretched arms, saying 'Welcome to ASU!'" Wright worked on the sketches for the building during the last two years of his life. His most trusted aide, William Welsey Peters, brought his plans to finished form.

Neither Wright nor Gammage lived to see the transformation of the blueprints, but their vision instantly became an iconic venue under the new direction of the R.E. McKee Company from El Paso, Texas, who completed the construction. In 1962, Grady Gammage, Jr. turned the first shovel of dirt in the official groundbreaking.

The 3,000-seat performance hall offers three levels of seating with the furthest seat only 115 feet from the stage. The acoustics are well balanced for unamplified performance, and the floating design of the grand tier assures an even flow of sound to every seat.

The stage can be adapted for grand operas, musical and dramatic productions, or for symphony concerts, organ recitals, chamber music recitals, solo performances and lectures. The remarkable versatility of the stage is enhanced by a collapsible orchestra shell which, when fully extended, can accommodate a full orchestra, chorus and pipe organ.

The shell is telescoped into a specially designed storage area when not in use.

ASU Gammage celebrated its grand opening with great fanfare on Sept.18, 1964. Under the baton of legendary conductor Eugene Ormandy, The Philadelphia Orchestra filled the hall with a history-making first performance. The first Broadway production, Camelot, was staged

in 1964.

For the next 30 years, ASU Gammage was host to many national and international dance companies including Alvin Alley Dance Company, Boston Ballet, Martha Graham Dance Company and Joffrey Ballet and Broadway productions as well as legendary musicians including B.B. King, Neil Diamond, Bruce Springsteen, Johnny Cash and Elton John.

Since it opened, ASU Gammage, has had five executive directors David Scoular, 1964 to 1974; Warren Sumners, 1974 to 1979; Miriam Boegel, 1979 to 1984; and Jim O'Connell, 1984 to 1991. In 1991, Colleen Jennings-Roggensack took the helm as executive director and established the mission of Connecting Communities.

Along with its mission, Cultural Participation programs were created that take artists’ work into classrooms and community organizations so patrons of all ages and backgrounds can reap the benefits of arts involvement. For young people in particular, those benefits can be profound. Studies have shown that students who are involved in the arts perform better academically, are more involved in community affairs, have higher self-esteem and better attitudes toward school, and are less likely to drop out.

In Arizona, more than 134,000 students attend a school without any access to arts instruction, and ASU Gammage provides numerous programs that give K-12 and university students opportunities to experience the arts through artist residencies, teacher development workshops and curriculum-based programs that meet state arts education standards. Through a long-standing partnership with the Kennedy Center, ASU Gammage brings artist-mentors to Valley schools to work with teachers on integrating visual arts, dance, drama and music into mathematics, social studies, language arts and science lessons.

Roggensack has also grown ASU Gammage into the largest university-based presenter of performing arts in the world. The Desert Schools Broadway Across America – Arizona series generates significant dollars, beyond the box office. The series is a leading economic engine for Tempe as well as the rest of the Valley. Even during difficult economic times, the series brought in nearly a billion dollars in economic impact to the Valley in the past 20 years.

Since 1991, hundreds of well-known celebrities, musicians and performers have come through the theater as well, including Mary J. Blige, Billy Crystal, Tony Bennett and Melissa Etheridge. Past artists include icons of dance, Mikhail Baryshnikov, Rudolph Nureyev, Bill T. Jones and the Bolshoi Ballet and pillars of classical music, Vladimir Horowitz, Phillip Glass, Yo Yo Ma and Itzhak Perlman. Gammage also hosted the 2004 presidential debate, lectures and symposiums featuring some of the world’s most prominent scientists, authors, dignitaries, politicians and scholars, including Stephen Hawking, Elie Wiesel, Maya Angelou, and Margaret Thatcher.

To ensure ASU Gammage remains a Valley icon for another 50 years, a 50th Anniversary Advisory Board has been established to work with the staff to help secure the future of ASU Gammage.

Left: The orIginal cast of Kinky Boots, scheduled to run at Gammage Sept. 16 – 21

PHOTO BY MATTHEW MURPHY

For complete 2014-2015 schedule of shows, CLICK HERE.

GAMMAGE BIRTHDAY BASH