Procrastinator Theatre is ready for its close-up

By GAIL SCHONTZLER Chronicle Staff Writer

Montana State University students can watch recent films like “Ironman” and “Get Smart” on a big screen, in comfort and for just 2 bucks at the new Procrastinator Theatre -- the last major piece of the Strand Union Building’s $12.8 million facelift.

“I’m really pleased with the new space,” Shane Colvin, president of the Associated Students of MSU, said Thursday, scanning the recently finished theater.

Inside the theater are 200 blue cushioned movie-theater seats, which students should find far more comfortable than the hard wooden seats in Linfield Hall, Procrastinator’s old home. The seats are stacked stadium-style, so everyone can see. Walls are painted Bobcat gold, and the theater has attractive drapes and wooden floors.

Outside, there’s an art deco-style box office and comfortable new lounge.

And ticket prices are still just $2 to see art-house films or second-run films n which is appreciated by students who get by eating Ramen noodles.

It almost didn’t come off. When money ran short on the entire SUB renovation project, administrators briefly considered turning the space into a regular meeting room, Colvin said. Students fought for the theater, because it was part of what MSU students were promised when they agreed to pay for major campus renovations.

It was a student, Mark Egge, last year’s head of the ASMSU film committee, who realized that architects’ plans to use a high-definition digital movie projector would result in fuzzy, poor quality picture, Colvin said. Student government leaders fought to keep their theater-quality 35mm projector, even though that required spending more for architectural plans, better ventilation and a reinforced floor for the projection booth.

The Associated Students of MSU agreed to put up $30,000 and MSU’s auxiliary services put up $60,000 for the redesign.

The new theater will be able to show films six nights a week, instead of three. It will also be used for conferences and lectures, like today’s 4 p.m. lecture by a Nobel Prize winner in physics, John Hall.

The theater’s completion is one of the final steps in the SUB renovation, which started as an idea about six years ago.

In April 2004, students passed a fee to pay for upgrading the SUB, building the new Black Box Theatre and renovating the Health & P.E. Complex. The student fee raised about $18 million of the $31.7 million cost of the three projects. MSU paid the rest, largely through auxiliary services, which runs business operations like food services and dorms. The Student Facilities Enhancement Project fee now costs students $61.80 per semester.

The SUB, once described as MSU’s living room, got a badly needed makeover of its dated and tacky furnishings and spaces.

Now when students first arrive at MSU, their first impression is the SUB’s new glass south entrance.

They can stop in at the new Admissions Office, across from the new SRO Espresso coffee bar. Bathrooms have been upgraded, the Ask-Us information desk spiffed up and the Union Market cafeteria given a fresh look with new furniture, floors, lighting and food courts. The Avogadro’s Number deli has been turned into a Subway-style sandwich bar. The well-loved Leigh Lounge was left alone.

Still to be finished is the SUB’s downstairs Recreation Center, where the bowling alley is getting an upgrade, Colvin said.

Work on the SUB renovation plans started when he was a freshman, Colvin said. He gave credit to the many students who supported the project even though it wouldn’t be completed during their time at MSU.

It will helps MSU compete with other colleges to offer attractive, “21st century” spaces for students to socialize, study and work out, he said.

The projects also epitomize, Colvin added, the power of the students’ voice and what they can accomplish.

Gail Schontzler can be reached at 582.2633 or gails@dailychronicle.com

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