Local theater companies respond to the loss of UNCA’s drama department

Lise Kloeppel has been experiencing what she describes as “a roller coaster of emotions but mostly grief” in the buildup to and official elimination of UNC Asheville’s drama program. Yet the department’s chair is working to balance that pain with gratitude for the 16 years that she’s worked in its ranks and its overall impact that long predates her time on campus.

“For over 50 years, the department has produced exceptional graduates and consistently contributed to the intellectual and creative life of the campus and Asheville communities,” Kloeppel says. “I’m extremely proud of our work and saddened by this tremendous loss.”

On July 24, the program was officially cut by the UNC System Board of Governors, which unanimously approved UNCA Chancellor Kimberly van Noort’s proposal, which also included the end of the philosophy, religious and ancient Mediterranean studies programs, plus French and German language concentrations. The measures were in response to a $6 million budget deficit — the result of several factors, including a 25% decrease in student enrollment since 2019.

Following an academic portfolio review process that began in February, van Noort announced the proposed cuts on June 13. Kloeppel and her drama colleagues quickly got to work, organizing the 10-day “Keep Theatre at UNCA” letter-writing campaign, which resulted in over 1,200 letters from community members being sent to van Noort and Peter Hans, president of the UNC System. In addition, Kloeppel was one of 24 UNCA department chairs to co-author and sign a 25-page faculty letter, arguing the drama department’s merits and those of the other proposed departmental cuts.

The UNCA faculty senate also issued a statement, which Kloeppel thinks most accurately represents the faculty’s collective response to the academic program review process and proposal. Among the statement’s key points is that the humanities division was the lone division targeted for elimination or curtailment and that “the metrics for how programs were chosen for elimination or curtailment are unclear, inconsistent and have yet to be fully shared with the campus.”

With the discontinuation of the program now official, UNCA will start a “teach-out” process to help currently enrolled students in the impacted concentrations finish their degrees. Kloeppel says the drama department began meeting with the administration the week of July 29 to develop teach-out plans.

“I’m still learning what this process will look like for the department,” she says. “I hope the university can continue to give the students a high-quality educational experience that will prepare them to pursue their postgraduation personal and professional goals.”

But once the class of 2028 graduates, the professional future for Kloeppel and her drama department colleagues remains murky.

“I’ve been told by the administration that personnel decisions should be finalized sometime in late September,” she says. “As far as my future employment with the university goes, the only thing I know for sure is what the UNC System code states: ‘One who has permanent tenure shall be given not less than 12 months’ notice.’”

Industry implications

While Kloeppel and her colleagues are confident that the loss of the drama department will have negative impacts on UNCA at large, the decision is likely to reverberate beyond the campus, impacting the local theater community that’s come to rely on the program’s students and alumni.

Among those preparing for the changes is Jeff Catanese, artistic director of Attic Salt Theater Company and founder of the Asheville Theater Alliance. When the industry veteran moved to Asheville from New York City in early 2010, he was worried that there would be no theater opportunities. Instead, he was happy to discover that they were myriad and quickly noted a common thread.

“Performing in my first show in Asheville, I was surprised by the overwhelming number of graduates of UNCA’s theater program I was working with,” Catanese says. “They came from all over, both in- and out-of-state, and filled the stage and backstage alike. They stayed in Western North Carolina to partake of the vibrant arts scene they just spent four years learning about.”

Since then, Catanese has worked with dozens of current UNCA drama students and alumni and says he can count on roughly a quarter of his cast and crew for any given Asheville-area show coming from its department. Furthermore, he can count on them, noting that they have always shown a great amount of knowledge and professionalism.

“They feed our community and, subsequently, the city,” he says. “Losing the drama program at UNCA will be a travesty for our theater scene. Although actors, directors, writers, designers, set builders and people in every aspect of Asheville drama come from all over the country, the heart of all of them are the UNCA grads that fill our local theaters. I find the prospect of losing them very disheartening.”

Katie Jones, co-artistic director of The Magnetic Theatre, has collaborated with multiple UNCA students and alumni over the years, hiring them as actors, stage managers and technicians.

“They were skilled, creative and bright young people who greatly contributed to the atmosphere of our theater,” she says.

Jones’ work with the Asheville Fringe Arts Festival for several years also brought her into contact with UNCA interns on an annual basis. Using the students helped the organization keep costs down, but it also benefited from, in her words, “having passionate, organized students on board to keep the festival running.”

“The loss of UNCA’s drama department is a major one for our community,” Jones says. “Not only do students participate in community events, but community members got the experience of directing and teaching in the university setting, which is an important source of creative work and income for artists in our area. Pay for artists, especially theater artists, in Asheville is low, and this situation will be even harder without the support of UNCA’s drama department.”

Jones adds that the department’s demise will eventually result in a lack of UNCA alumni going out into the world and telling people around the U.S. about the artistry and passion of Asheville.

“This is an effect that can’t be quantified but will certainly affect the reputation of our town as an arts-focused community,” she says.

Steven Samuels, producing artistic director and publisher of The Sublime Theater & Press, says that his theater troupe and the Magnetic, which he also co-founded, wouldn’t have come into existence or been able to function effectively without UNCA graduates in every aspect of the company’s work.

“But it gets worse: The shuttering of Warren Wilson [College]’s theater program hurts, too. I understand the economics of these schools, but theater in particular and the arts in general are wrongly devalued despite all they provide to the public, not only emotionally and intellectually but economically,” Samuels says.

“The loss of training programs will make the furtherance of local theater harder than it always is anyway, and it’s terribly shortsighted regarding positive economic impacts on the community and the educational benefits of vibrant arts programs.”