Expanded Home for Theater & Dance

The building, to be named for lead donors John D. Nichols ’49 and his wife, Alexandra, will include a renovated Norris Ely Orchard Theater.

The school has broken ground for a new center for theater and dance at Loomis Chaffee that will feature a renovated Norris Ely Orchard Theater, a black-box theater, and a large dance studio as well as much-needed backstage and production spaces, all encompassed in one building.

The John D. and Alexandra C. Nichols Center for Theater and Dance, to be named for the project’s lead donors, John D. Nichols ’49 and his wife, Alexandra, is slated for completion by January 2022. The couple’s gift of $7.5 million provides more than half of the funding for the project, which will significantly upgrade and expand performance facilities for theater and dance productions while retaining the integrity of the NEO’s familiar and muchloved façade.

“The performing arts have always been a huge part of our program on campus. It’s so exciting to have a new home … with state-ofthe-art equipment that will allow students to take their talents to the next level and for all the community to embrace the performing arts even more,” Susan Chrzanowski, head of the Performing Arts Department, said during a small, outdoor, socially-distanced event convened in November to acknowledge the groundbreaking.

Robert A.M. Stern Architects of New York was retained by the school to design the new center. According to the plans, the project will expand the NEO’s seating capacity to 200 and enlarge its stage and will add a 1,200-squarefoot black-box theater, a 1,400-square-foot dance studio, a scene shop and tool room, multiple dressing rooms, a state-of-the-art control booth, and a spacious lobby.

The overall project will cost an estimated $14 million, and the school is engaged in additional fundraising to reach that total.

“We thank John and Alexandra Nichols, especially, for their leadership and remarkable generosity,” Sheila said at the November gathering. Also in attendance were Associate Head for External Relations Nathan Follansbee; the Nicholses’ granddaughter, freshman Mandarin Wallace; and several other students and faculty members who are involved in the performing arts. Although John and Alexandra could not attend the ceremony, the students expressed their gratitude in a short video that was shared with the couple.

Theater and dance students help to break ground for the new building.

Photo: Cassandra Hamer

A devoted alumnus, John served as a member of the Board of Trustees from 1985 to 1997 and as a volunteer for the school’s Annual Fund. He is the retired vice chairman and chief executive officer of the Marmon Holdings Inc., now part of Berkshire Hathaway, and the former chairman and chief executive officer of Illinois Tool Works Inc. John and Alexandra have hosted admission and alumni receptions in Chicago for the school. Their children, Kendra Nichols Wallace ’91 and John D. Nichols III ’94, are also active members of the school community. Over the years, gifts from the Nichols family have contributed to previous NEO renovations and to endowing the Frances D. Nichols Instructorship in Art in honor of John’s late mother.

“Alexandra and I have strong feelings for theater, dance, and Loomis Chaffee,” John said last year in conjunction with the family’s latest commitment. “We believe that these performance arts inspire young people and instill in them confidence and a sense for collaboration, paralleling perfectly the school’s mission of developing in each student a commitment to their best self while working on behalf of a common good.”

Loomis Chaffee’s theater program includes instruction in acting for stage and camera, improvisation, stage combat, technical theater, playwriting, and directing. The department stages three major performances each year — a fall play, a winter musical, and a collection of plays in the spring that are written, directed, produced, and performed by students. A Stage II production was introduced last winter. The school’s dance program includes classes in ballet, jazz, and hip-hop, as well as choreography and composition. Beginning and advanced dance companies perform throughout the year with a culminating performance in the spring term. Many of the performing arts offerings have continued, in modified format, during the COVID-19 pandemic, with several outdoor performances this fall and online rehearsals during periods of remote learning at the school.

To find out more about the Nichols Center plans, visit www.loomischaffee.org/ magazine.

Head of School Sheila Culbert speaks at the ground-breaking ceremony in November.

Photo: Cassandra Hamer

Artist's rendering of the planned John D. and Alexandra C. Nichols Center for Theater and Dance.

Illustration: Robert A.M. Stern Architects