In the 1960s, a campaign began to build a new Little Country Theatre. The campaign's goal was to raise $350,000 for the construction of a new building to house the Speech and Drama Department and the Little Country Theatre. The original Little Country Theatre opened in 1914 in Old Main when the chapel was renovated. The theatre proved to be extremely popular with the community and when discussions began for a new theatre nearly 650 student performances had been given to 150,000 people. It should be noted that the students were working on a stage with an eighteen-foot opening in an area that contained no dressing rooms or work space and the largest audience was 283--the total seating capacity. The theatre also served as a teaching space for the Speech and Drama Department. The space became inadequate due to the fact that the Department rapidly grew and needed twenty classes (only two were necessary in 1952) to accommodate the needs of the beginning speech students (A New Little Country Theatre at North Dakota State University, no date).
By 1965, the campaign raised nearly $100,000. One of the largest donors was Reuben Askanase, a financer from Texas and Fargo native, who contributed $55,000 and offered to match every dollar raised at the local level. Askanase began his career in business at the age of six when he sold newspapers in front of the Fargo Post Office. After a brief period at NDAC, he went east to New York and took a job as a delivery boy with the Abraham and Straus department store in Brooklyn. Ten years later, at the age of thirty-one, he was a vice president. In 1945, Askanase moved to Houston, Texas in order to operate his new business, the Columbia Dry Goods Store. He then helped two friends reorganize their business which became the Evenflo Baby Feeding Equipment Company. Askanase later attempted to help restructure the Astrodomain (owner of the Astrodome) and the Johnson Loggins real estate firm (Houston City, August 1981, p. 94-96).
The building campaign soon reached its goal and in May 1968 Askanase Hall was dedicated. The new building provided the needed classrooms and offices for educational training of the Department of Speech and Drama. The theatre possessed a seating capacity of 420 and could be used as a major classroom in the daytime. It also housed the division of Pathology and Audiology, but the Speech and Hearing Clinic remained in Minard Hall (A New Little Country Theatre).
In 1976, a bi-level addition of 10,600 square feet was added to the building. The new lower level contained a scenery shop, experimental theatre and a costume shop. The new upper level contained a storage area, control for the threatre and a mechanical area. The addition also provided a vestibule, foyer, lobby, offices and restrooms (Fargo Forum, Feb 7, 1976).
Today Askanase Hall still houses the Little Country Theatre and the Drama Department.
Architectural Inforamtion
Designed by Johnson and Lightowler, Architects and Engineers.
   |
univarchives@www.lib.ndsu.nodak.edu
University Archives, 701-231-8914 Published by the University Archives, NDSU Last Updated: 5/19/04 |