Initially, the university's theatre program was part of the department of speech and theatre. As a result, the program benefited from having both speech and acting faculty teach theatre courses.

However, in 1976 the teaching process was altered when the department's name changed to "department of communication and theatre." "The early years were fueled by our connection with the speech program; we were able to support and supplement the theatre program with more teachers," explains Raffeld. The change resulted in a greater "emphasis on communications. We lost faculty who had taught speech science and oral interpretation to retirement ... others were not rehired to fill their positions." In 1991, the department became part of the College of Architecture and the Arts, and changed its name to the department of performing arts.

Liucija Ambrosini is an instructor at University High, which is part of the UNiversity of Chicago Laboratory Schools. "When we were here at UIC, I look back at it as kind of a golden age. I think it was the fact of so many talented people converging and being so willing to give everything they had into creating something of excellence.

Throughout the changes, however, Raffeld has continued to teach budding actors. "Bill's style of teaching is not judgmental at all," says Liucija Ambrosini. "He gives you what you are able to take at the moment. Eventually, I got it. Today when I'm teaching my students at the university level, and I wonder if I'm getting through, I always think of Bill and say, 'Okay, he got through, maybe I'm getting through.'"

"The greatest pleasure for me is to see these kids go out with a certain amount of independent technical skill and succeed," says Raffeld. "Instilling in them that acting is an art--that it's not just something you can learn in a day, is important. I like what I do. There are times I love what I do; and at other times, it's a job. But it's more than just a job. You get a unique kind of satisfaction in creating works of art."

Connections made by the UIC theatre program with other actors and companies have been among the most exciting developments in recent decades. In 1986, the department established its first international program with the National Theatre of Great Britain. For a 10-year period, some UIC students had the chance to study with the British theatre group during the summer. UIC subsequently brought the National Theatre of Great Britain to Chicago for three productions in 1987 and 1989, followed by a one-man production in 1991.

In 1989, a long and rewarding series of connections with Russian theatre began. The Theatre of Moscow Southwest hosted UIC students and was hosted in Chicago. In March 2003, Shadow Theatre of Moscow performed on the UIC campus. In all, the university has had nearly 30 exchange programs with Russian theatre groups, involving complete productions, directors and designers, teachers and workshops.

"UIC students were able to connect with the students from Moscow, who also come from working-class backgrounds, and were themselves working with limited facilities," says Raffeld. "I think that connection helped our students tremendously; you walk [away from that experience] a better person. It has nothing to do with theatre; but, instead, is an understanding that all of these people exist in the world--that you don't exist by yourself."

The demands of such exchange programs require the department of performing arts to seek out grants and raise money almost constantly. "We take the kids over there, but there is no money in the budget for that, so we fund-raise," says McCollam.

But McCollam, who performed in Russia, says the expense is worth it. "It's an incredible experience to see the cultural difference in a country whose people's sensitivity to the arts and theatre is at such a high level of appreciation and standard of excellence. To receive a standing ovation from an audience like that is just an amazing feeling. And then there's the camaraderie of interacting with Russian performers and artists. We found a brother theatre company in Moscow that was more like UIC Theatre than a lot of so-called similar theatres over here."

Today, 50 to 60 UIC students major in theatre. A Bachelor of Arts program is offered, and a new Bachelor of Fine Arts program begins this fall. The Master's of Arts in theatre program has been suspended in favor of a planned Master's of Fine Arts program. The future depends on funding, financing and better physical facilities.

Originally, the third phase of campus development included a theatre complex, but it was never constructed. "We need additional performance spaces, plus scenery and costume shops that aren't bulging at the seams," says Raffeld. "We also need a dance studio within our own performing arts center. There is one in the PE building, but it's too far away. We basically don't have enough space for anything."

Additional funding would help boost the number of faculty. Currently, the theatre program has six full-time faculty and staff, including professors Luigi Salerni and Anthony Graham-White and costumer Jane Bagnall, and two adjunct professors. "We will try to tighten up the program in order to select the best students we can. We need to find more money to recruit the best students, and then get the MFA program going," says Raffeld. "Without a doubt, we are economically the most feasible and least expensive theatre program in the state--given the fact that we are in Chicago, we are a state school, and we are right in the heart of a thriving area for theatre."

Students who graduate with a degree in theatre from UIC can go into specialized theatre programs such as the ones at Yale, Princeton, the Juilliard School and the California Institute of the Arts. Other students remain in Chicago and do well after graduation as teachers, actors, dancers, and set or lighting and costume designers. Still others have relocated to New York and Los Angeles, where they have achieved success.

"Students who have come through the program in the last few years have been very strong in terms of work ethic," says Raffeld. "Many of our students have taken the discipline that they possess to create great careers for themselves. The careers don't have to do with how famous they are, but have to do with what they have instilled in themselves. It's not just a work ethic, but involves taking the talent they have, expanding it and applying it. It doesn't have to take them to Broadway, but it can. But I think the main point is that they're all influencing so many other kids."

Liucija Ambrosini is able to recreate this milieu on a quarterly basis with her students at University High, which is part of the University of Chicago Laboratory Schools. "I look back on our time at UIC as kind of a golden age. I think it was the fact of so many talented people converging and being so willing to give everything they had into creating something of excellence. Excellence was always part of the equation. I don't think I'll ever be in a group like that again--of peers, who were willing to put everything behind their efforts, to be so fresh and so committed. From UIC, I went to a much larger university with lots of resources, and while I had some excellent professors, I was hugely disappointed. I can't even describe what it was like to go there from UIC, where you felt like the world was open."