2001

A space-needs odyssey begins with Oct. 16 groundbreaking

Theatre/Neal-Marshall Education Center named to honor earlier IU 'ground-breakers'

By Susan Williams

Groundbreakings, while rightly important to those who labor to make new facilities possible, happen somewhat like clockwork in a large university. But occasionally the significance of a new structure supersedes others in symbolizing the human spirit it shelters. Such is the Theatre/Neal-Marshall Education Center.

Neal

You are invited to share in the groundbreaking ceremonies for the long awaited Theatre/Neal-Marshall Education Center, Friday, Oct. 16, on the Indiana University Bloomington campus. IU officials will conduct ceremonies at 1 p.m. on the site of the future building at the intersection on Jordan Avenue and Seventh Street.

As the building's name would indicate, the Department of Theatre and Drama will share the finished space with the African American Arts Institute and its performing groups -- the IU Soul Revue, the African American Choral Ensemble and the African American Dance Company. The Office of African American Affairs and activities of the former Black Culture Center will also reside there.

Marshall

The planned facility includes expanded teaching, performance and office space for the theater department, consistently ranked among the nation's top six educational theater programs.

Named in honor of Marcellus Neal and Francis Marshall Eagleson, the first male and female African-American graduates of the university in 1895 and 1919, respectively, the center will become the hub of cultural, academic and social activity for IUB's African-American community and the university's campuses statewide.

The Theatre/Neal-Marshall Educational Center is scheduled for completion in 2001.

Read more about Marcellus Neal at this Web site:

http://www.indiana.edu/~alumni/pubs/conpubs/nealmarsh.html

There's nothing sweeter than southern Indiana on an autumn weekend. Thinking about coming to Bloomington for IUB's homecoming Oct. 16-17? Go to this Alumni Association site for the complete schedule of events:

http://www.indiana.edu/~alumni/programs/homecoming.html

Tavis Smiley, author of Hard Left: Straight Talk About the Wrongs of the Right and Black Entertainment Television host and pundit, will be grand marshal of the 40th annual homecoming parade, which will travel west on East Third Street and conclude at the Sample Gates on Indiana Avenue. It all begins Oct. 16 at 5:30 p.m. and ends with a pep rally on the Student Building steps at 6:30 p.m. IUB's football team meets Iowa Saturday, Oct. 17, at Memorial Stadium.

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