Claire Trevor School of the Arts

Claire Trevor School of the Arts
Claire Trevor Theater and related structure
General information
Architectural style	Brutalist
Town or city	Irvine, California
Country	United States of America
Construction started	1969
Completed	1970
Client	University of California, Irvine
Technical details
Structural system	Reinforced concrete
Design and construction
Architect(s)	William Pereira
Structural engineer	Brandow & Johnston

The Claire Trevor School of the Arts (CTSA) is a university arts school at the University of California, Irvine in Irvine, CA. The current dean of the school is Joseph S. Lewis III. The four departments housed in the school consist of dance, drama, music, and studio art. CTSA has undergraduate programs, masters programs, and a doctoral program in drama conducted jointly with UC San Diego. The school was named in honor of the Academy Award winning Hollywood actress Claire Trevor. The school represents the largest contribution to the campus by architect William Pereira, who oversaw its construction in 1970. It features a distinctive "modular" design in which individual buildings are connected by an overhead network of pillar-supported canopies. In 2005, the school's landscape was redesigned by Maya Lin in a retro-futuristic style, featuring an outdoor theater, fountains, decorative LED lighting and landscaping with native grasses and wildflowers. In fall 2011, the new "green" Contemporary Arts Center opened in the heart of the school, a $42.35-million building equipped with state-of-the-art studios and spaces for displaying, staging, and producing art. It serves as the new anchor for the art school complex.

Early CTSA professors included Mehli Mehta (father of Zubin Mehta); choral master, Eugene Loring; dance master with James Penrod as an assistant. Frank Stella, Henry Clay, Tony DeLap and John MacCracken; who were art instructors. Robert Cohen organized the undergraduate repertory company that took Oedipus Rex</> on the road to UC San Diego and UC Santa Cruz. Early productions included The Assassination of Jean Paul Marat by the Marquis de Sade, "Little Mary Sunshine", Night of the Iguana and Midsummer Night's Dream.

Jerzy Grotowski, acting theorist and founder of the Polish Laboratory Theater, joined the drama faculty in 1983, and conducted his Objective Drama project in the fields and barn south of the main campus. UCI graduate drama student James Slowiak was his chief assistant during the project years. Many fellow artists and students, from the UCI student body and around the world, came to Irvine to work with him and explore experimental theatrical exercises in what has come to be known as the "Grotowski Barn." Other drama faculty notables have included Stephen Barker, Keith Fowler, G. Cameron Harvey, Bryan Reynolds, and Robert Weimann (Wikipedia - Deutsch). Choreographer Donald McKayle is a joint member of the dance and drama faculties.

References

• Official website