The construction and renovation of the Roe Green Center and the Music and Speech Center resumed at the beginning of March with the end of winter weather.

“They started working on (the center) as soon as the weather broke,” said Cynthia Stillings, School of Theatre and Dance director.

The exterior of the new performing arts library, which was added in conjunction to the Roe Green project in January, new dance studios, a new black box theater and the new lobby are currently under construction.

Space on the second floor of the center began renovation this week to include a new costume shop, an acting studio and two classrooms.

“The actual first work is going to be done on the second floor because those spaces are empty,” Stillings said. “In order to do the whole renovation and construction with minimal disruption to the current occupants and current classes, they’re going to start with renovating spaces that are empty.”

The renovation for the interior of the new performing arts library will commence in the summer and is scheduled to finish December 2009, Daniel Boomhower, head of the performing arts library, said.

The foundation was laid in July 2008, and now the steel is being put up and the walls will soon follow. The renovations for the new dressing rooms and costume area will begin in June.

The Roe Green Center will bring the School of Theatre and Dance and the Hugh A. Glauser School of Music under the Music and Speech Center. The ground breaking ceremony was in August 2008, and the center is scheduled to be finished by Fall 2010.

The Roe Green Center will also include: a dance rehab room; two new acting studios to replace the existing unsafe ones; a new, safe welding lab; a props and crafts area as well as a larger light lab and renovation of general classrooms throughout the Music and Speech Center.

– Sara Petersen