Askanase Hall

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).