Pudding Fix-up Lags, Show Goes On

Renovations of the Hasty Pudding building will not begin for at least another year, a full 12 months behind College administrators' orignial plan to start construction this spring.

The Hasty Pudding Theatricals will stage another drag burlesque extravaganza on the storied Pudding stage next winter. Renovations costing upwards of $10 million are now scheduled to begin in the spring of 2002.

The Faculty of Arts and Sciences (FAS) assumed ownership of the Holyoke Street building last spring and had hoped to begin construction on the 125-year-old building this June.

Harvard has chosen the Boston architectual firm Leers Weinzapfel Associates to draw up the renovation plans.

Drawing plans and getting bids on the building project from construction firms will take longer than expected, says David P. Illingworth '71, associate dean of Harvard College, who had been optimistic throughout the fall about starting renovations in June of 2001. Illingworth is the College's point person for the building's renovations.

Illingworth says he is meeting twice a month with a committee of administrators and two student representatives, Angela A. Wu '01 and Michael S. Roiff '01 (this year's vice president of the Pudding Theatricals).

The groups is working to decide how the building can best be reconfigured without permanently displacing the Theatricals, the Hasty Pudding Social Club, and the a cappella groups, the Krokodiloes and Radcliffe Pitches.

A Social Club in a College Building?

Illingworth says that out of respect for the 100 plus year tradition of the Hasty Pudding Social Club he would like to find a way for the group--which currently selects it members through a "punch" process--to stay in the building after the College has renovated the space.

The social club is still holding parties with alcohol in the now College owned building and will continue to do so throughout the academic year, says William B. Decherd '01.

"The administration basically told us that while we're working out a solution this year we can continue to operate in the building. It's just a matter of now informing the College when we have events" Decherd says.

It is unclear how the social club might structure the content of a merit based comp, the type the College permits.

But Decherd says "Our goal is to reach a resolution by the end of the year."

"If they could come up with a fair comp, they could be approved as a Harvard organization," Illingworth says, and could continue to use a renovated Pudding building for club events.

"At this point, we're in continuing discussions with the University about the possibility of remaining as a student organization," says Decherd. "If that doesn't work out, then we'll look at our other options."

The social club has enough capital to look into renting space for its events, Decherd says, or even to consider buying its own property.

But, "ideally, we would really like to be in the [Pudding] building," Decherd says.

Physical Priorities

Illingworth says that the renovation project will focus on creating a state-of-the-art theater for undergraduate use.

The current theater is simply inadequate, Illingworth says. The seats are too small, theatrical productions are forced to bring in their own lights and the backstage space and dressing rooms are substandard.

The planning committee will have to figure out a way to maintain the current seating capacity of about 350, even though the actual size of each seat will have to be enlarged to comply with building codes.

Maintaining the seating capacity is important for ticket revenues, and Illingworth speculates that building a balcony level may be a solution.

Additionally, Roiff says, the theater will require a box office and a lobby.

"The entire building could conceivably be filled with parts of the theater," says Roiff. "Our main focus at this stage is to figure out how to revitalize the theater as a centerpiece of the building."

And once the theater has been made first rate, the committee will figure out how to divvy up the remaining space in the building.

Presently, the restaurant Upstairs at the Pudding occupies much of the building's second floor. But as a result of Harvard's acquisition of the property, the restaurant will leave by the middle of this coming summer, Illingworth says.

With the restaurant gone, space will be available in a renovated Pudding building to create offices for student groups, or even a larger area that could be rented out for meetings, Illingworth says.

"We'd like to keep a place for social events or parties," he added.

And at this point in planning stages for renovations, Roiff says, the sky's the limit for the Hasty Pudding building.

"We're at this really exciting point right now," Roiff says. "It's sort of like right before Christmas--there's just so much energy."