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Home > November/December 2010 > Austin E. Quigley Theatre Dedicated

November/December 2010

Around the Quads

Austin E. Quigley Theatre Dedicated

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November/December 2010

Dean of the College Emeritus Austin E. Quigley was honored on September 13 with the renaming of Alfred Lerner Hall’s Black Box Theatre as the Austin E. Quigley Theatre. Quigley, the Brander Matthews Professor of Dramatic Literature, was the dean for 14 years, the second-longest tenure in the College’s history, before stepping down in 2009. He is an expert on the works of playwright Harold Pinter and was instrumental in expanding and enhancing Columbia’s theatre program while holding the deanship.

Austin E. Quigley speaks at the dedication of the Lerner Hall Black Box Theatre in his honor.  PHOTO: EILEEN BARROSOAustin E. Quigley speaks at the dedication of the Lerner Hall Black Box Theatre in his honor. PHOTO: EILEEN BARROSOOn hand to honor Quigley was Dean of the Faculty and E.V.P. for Arts and Sciences Nicholas Dirks, who welcomed the guests by noting of Quigley, “His academic interests fed into one of his great passions — to advance theatre at Columbia.” Since coming to Columbia in 1990, Quigley founded the undergraduate major in drama and theatre arts, revived the doctoral program in theatre studies and helped reinvigorate the M.F.A. program in theatre at the School of the Arts.

Quigley, who was joined by his wife, Patricia Denison, and their daughter Catherine, also was praised by Dean Michele Moody-Adams, who said that the renaming of the theater “recognizes Austin’s devotion to the humanized society … and reaffirms the value of Lerner Hall to our community.”

Rita Pietropinto-Kitt ’93, an actress and a theatre professor at Barnard, and Thomas Kitt ’96, a Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award-winning composer (Next to Normal), paid tribute to Quigley. Both were active in theatre as students and noted how Quigley’s contributions were important for “making arts at Columbia University a priority,” as Pietropinto-Kitt noted.

Quigley said that he thought of the renaming “as an honor for all faculty, alumni, students and administrators. The theater will be a resource for our students … it is an empty box wherein you can see anything, do anything, in any way you like. There is freedom in this space.” He then joked, “As long as the door is closed and the dean doesn’t see you!” Quigley then said, on a more serious note, “My childhood, my teaching life, my professional life, all have led to this. Thank you.”

The evening closed with a skit from the 116th Varsity Show, performed by four students from its cast.

Lisa Palladino

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