Three-act post-flood drama running its course at the UI’s Hancher

I wrote my Sunday Gazette column for Feb. 12 about a story Diana Nollen did about Hancher Auditorium's efforts to present shows without a theater, the result of the Great Floods of 2008.

Some stats popped out at me, such as a 65 percent drop in annual revenue from the year before the record 2008 flood rendered the building useless and a 77 percent drop in annual audience numbers during that same time.

Part of the solution to absorbing the loss, Diana's story points out, rests in the fact that the UI can deal with some of it in a larger institutional setting.

The situation differs from that of Theatre Cedar Rapids, Diana told me when I asked her about the Hancher's lost revenue. Theatre Cedar Rapids, whose downtown Cedar Rapids facility also was flooded in 2008, is its own entity. It didn't have a larger institutional safety net while presenting shows at other venues and rebuilding for its reopening two years ago.

The impact at Hancher goes beyond revenue numbers, and Diana's story points that out. Thousands of UI students will go through school without the chance of having the full Hancher experience. A popular destination spot on campus is shut down, with no replacement expected until a little less than four years from now.

In another time the fact that the UI has to replace a ruined Hancher Auditorium would be one of the biggest news stories of recent years, much like the UI Old Capitol dome fire was a little more than 10 years ago.

However, even with an estimated price tag of $161 million Hancher is just one small piece of a multibillion dollar recovery necessary in several Eastern Iowa locations hit by the 2008 floods, as well as in places across the state hit by subsequent disasters. But its recovery still is a big deal and worth your time with today's paper.

Like a good drama, this post-flood story about Hancher Auditorium is playing out in three acts. The opening act introduced the flood and our initial response to it. That set the stage for the second act currently playing out, when antagonists such as costs, disagreement over details and impatience over the passage of time create conflict.

What has those who care deeply about Hancher pumped up is their expectation for the third act: when conflicts get resolved and protagonists win the day.

Link to Diana's story