The following story was reported in the September 30, 1998 issue of The Week by Adil Qureshi ’00.
Burck Center for the Performing Arts a Success
After six months of designing and fourteen months of construction, students were welcomed back to school with the long-awaited completion of the new performing arts center. The first assembly of the school year was held in the 588-seat theater, during which Mr. Dixon announced to the students that the Board of Trustees had voted to name the facility the Clarence Burck Center for the Performing Arts in honor of the benefactor whose generosity helped make the construction possible.
Prior to his death, Mr. Burck, Class of 1928, named McDonogh his sole beneficiary. When he passed away on November 16, 1994, McDonogh received his gift of more than $6 million. Mr. Dixon also announced during that assembly that the trustees chose to name the theater in honor of Ceres Horn, Class of 1986, who was killed in an Amtrak train accident during her freshman year at Princeton. Mr. Dixon said, “She was energetic, talented, accomplished, but never succumbed to arrogance, smugness, or cynicism. She epitomized humility. . . .The Upper School’s Cornucopia Award is given in her honor.”
Mr. Desmund Corcoran, one of Ceres’ former teachers, commented, “. . .she was such a special person.” He continued, “Everyone who taught her. . .she touched their lives.”
The choice of names effectively immortalized two individuals whose contributions to the School could have gone unrecognized.
Mr. Larry Johnston, Vice President for Finance and Administration at the time, said that though the arts center was just recently built, talk of its necessity began half a century ago, with the completion of the Memorial Field House. Plans at that time focused on the possible conversion of Edwards Gym. While the idea was under repeated consideration, the idea didn’t really take hold until the mid-1980s.
Mr. Johnston also pointed out that “there were actually three false starts for the arts center.” At different times in the School’s history, there were plans to build it in a parking lot located next to the Memorial Field House and in the old bus parking lot. There was also a plan to build the center between the dining hall and Edwards Gym, connecting the two.
The Burck Center has a wide array of extraordinary features. The most notable of these is the Ceres M. Horn Theatre and the full-fly stage. The facility also includes an orchestra pit, a scene shop, a band room, a Lower School music room, and an elevator.
