University of Virginia Library

Amphitheatre Aspirations

Sunday afternoon in McIntire
Amphitheatre the Prism produced the first of
a series of "free" concerts of folk music,
featuring several of the coffeehouse's regular
performers.

The method was similar to that of the
Newport Folk Festivals, where each performer
comes on stage to play four or five songs, then
yields to the next artist. The Prism was
fortunately able to produce some fine folk
musicians, as several artists contributed their
efforts free of charge.

We congratulate the Prism staff and the
performers for an excellent concert, and hope
that the program will continue. The success of
the concert, however, raises another closely
related issue: the future of the amphitheatre
itself. Plans are already being discussed for
razing the amphitheatre and constructing a
multi-level parking lot on the site.

The University is badly in need of more
parking spaces, and the traffic control
committee has searched for a long time for a
solution. Yet we feel that in light of Sunday's
success and hopes for future productions, the
fate of the amphitheatre should be
reconsidered, for the University should have
an outdoor theatre for programs such as
Sunday's which cannot be staged inside.

The concert was such a success that
moderator Eric Sigmund invited everyone to
come back Sundays until the weather
becomes too cold for the shows. In the future,
the Prism could possibly sponsor a Virginia
Folk Festival of its own with these facilities.
Other functions for the theatre come to mind
at once, such as the pep rallies that take on
more and more pep as the Cavaliers keep
winning.

The amphitheatre is not the white
elephant that many people at the University
have come to believe it is. The acoustics for
Sunday's concert were excellent, a condition
not always possible at other University
performances. Moreover, the sound system
used so successfully consisted of two
amplifiers mounted on the stage. The overall
effect was enough to prove future shows
worthwhile; with a face-lifting and some
cleaning up, the theatre could be restored to a
more respectable condition.

It is important that as students seek more
informal ways of expression, the use of the
amphitheatre is not dependent on contractual
arrangements as is University Hall; nor is it
difficult to set up, as the Prism crew managed
its show with a minimum of technical
problems. The case and informality of
producing this concert certainly points up the
potential of the outdoor theatre for student
use.

If the University decides, however, that
the present amphitheatre site is needed more
for parking spaces than as a theatre, we
strongly urge that another outdoor theatre be
built. We feel that the best interests of the
students would not be served by depriving
them of the use of an informal theatre such as
McIntire Amphitheatre. ROM