On Jan. 20, the lower two levels of the Davis Performing Arts Center (DPAC), home to Georgetown’s Department of Performing Arts and Theater and Performance Studies programs, flooded after a pipe burst in an adjacent building. The repairs are ongoing, and no end date has been announced yet.
Facilities is repairing two classrooms, 035 and 036, including floor replacements. 22 classes normally held on the lower levels of DPAC have been indefinitely moved to other buildings.
“Our facilities team and the Department of Performing Arts are working as quickly as possible to address all necessary repairs,” a Georgetown University spokesperson wrote to the Voice.
Community members—including professors, students, and members of performing arts groups—spoke to the Voice about how they’re adapting as DPAC undergoes repairs.
“It’s been an enormous amount of work,” Professor Benjamin Harbert, chair of the Department of Performing Arts (DPA), said. “Everyone has been really quick to act, recognizing that our classes are the most important thing, and we need to get those back on track.”
Rehearsal spaces in DPAC are closed for the foreseeable future. While DPA is not currently putting on any productions, student groups are struggling to find rehearsal spaces.
“The space is built for plays and rehearsals and classrooms, and now not being able to use it has been an adjustment,” Nayab Shiraz (CAS ’25), who is involved with several theatrical organizations on campus, said. “So it’s been kind of frustrating.”
Despite the flooding, the show must go on for co-curricular performing arts groups like Nomadic Theater, Mask and Bauble, Black Theatre Ensemble, (no) pressure, and performances like Diamanté.
Currently, Village C Theater is being used to house theatre rehearsals. Students like Shiraz have also found space in more obscure places, like empty Intercultural Center (ICC) classrooms, but Shiraz said these spaces are less than ideal.
“They’re [ICC classrooms] big in space, they’re not built for the same thing,” Shiraz said.
Using these unconventional spaces often requires moving furniture to make the area functional for rehearsal. Students worry about the effect this may have on facility workers and others responsible for the spaces.
“Not only are we being impacted, but it’s adding work to the janitorial staff,” Shiraz said. “It’s just been frustrating to see the trickle-down effect of one space being flooded.”
Additionally, thousands of dollars worth of props and set pieces which were shared by ensembles and the department were destroyed in the flooding, leaving the groups scrambling to find and afford replacements.
“Anything that was not already above ground was thrown away,” said Antoinette Kersaint (CAS ’25), the executive producer of Nomadic Theatre and an employee at DPAC who was present during the flood. “At least for technical direction and set designers, they had to go back into our budgets and figure out what money we can possibly move around to make up for things that we thought were a certainty.”
Costs aside, the performing arts community has had to say goodbye to props embodying two decades of memories.
“I’m really sad about the loss of a lot of things,” Harbert said. “It’s not only useful props, but it’s also a record of all of the amazing things we’ve done there.”
Students involved in the department and similar co-curriculars have expressed frustration with the university’s communication.
“Just looking back on how we learned about the flood and how information was passed along, in my personal opinion that was a really bad breakdown in information gathering,” Kersaint said.
According to a university spokesperson, Planning & Facilities Management sent an email about the flooding to DPAC faculty, staff, and student employees around 10:30 a.m. on Jan. 20, the day the flooding began. The spokesperson added that DPA also notified affected faculty and students about the flooding and posted signs around the building.
However, some students felt this communication was not enough. Students who were on the scene said they had to alert professors and staff of the issue before they saw or received information from university communications.
“By the time I arrive, other students arrive, we’re the ones telling the faculty what’s going on,” Kersaint said. “That whole day, in my opinion, there was not a lot of communication of being like, ‘Hey professors, your offices are flooded, classes will have to change, please avoid the building.’”
Members of the performing arts community hope the university will step up to support them as they rebuild. Now, they are primarily concerned about funding.
“I think having a well-funded department is step one in keeping it alive,” Shiraz said.
Students are hopeful that more spaces and resources will open soon to ease stress while the lower level repairs are ongoing. In the meantime, the department continues to be in communication with facilities and the administration.
“It’s been my work to really make sure that our community understands that the higher-ups in the university do care about us and have been working really hard to get us back on our feet,” Harbert said. “I’m really hopeful that we’ll be able to get back on our feet soon.”
Members of the theatre community hope the student body will remain supportive as repairs continue.
“If students want to help the Department of the Performing Arts, the best thing you can do is come to performances,” Harbert said. “Reclaiming the stage isn’t just being on the stage, it’s being in the seats, with your friends and faculty. Show up, that’s what I would say. Show up.”
