Krissie Essilfie ’21
Avani Narula ’21
The price of evening dinners for cast members of the play and musical during Production Week has doubled since the arrival EA’s new dining system, SAGE; just one of the many brisk changes entering the EA community in the past few years. Last year, the Familetti family, who were in charge of EA’s general dining services, charged five dollars per meal per student during Production Week. The dinner cost was completely taken care of by EA’s theater budget in previous years. However, this year, SAGE is charging ten dollars per meal per student, meaning that the Theater department will still pay the initial five dollars, but the leftover five dollars will be passed on to the play and musical cast and crew.
Daniel Clay, Theater Department chair, explains EA’s previous production week deal with the Familettis. “The Familettis just… liked us, and wanted to charge us less, but I think SAGE just counted the cost and they charged based on that.” Because the Familettis had a strong personal connection with the EA community, they simply charged less of their own volition. SAGE Food Service director, Katie Vigna, highlights the same concept. She explainins, “…We only charge our cost (food and labor). The cost of the food and labor is dependent on what food was actually ordered (menu chosen)” SAGE, an objective outside food source, simply calculated the cost and charged the total that the food amounted to.
In addition, when compared with other food sources, SAGE is fairly reasonable. Clay mentions, “I also went to look at other places, seeing if maybe I could get food from outside for cheaper and save money, but there weren’t a lot of options where it was actually cheaper than ten dollars.” The prices of SAGE provisions are evenly matched with other food providers in our area, making them a convenient and affordable choice. As Clay says, “Just paying for the convenience of having it delivered to us on the spot, and that I don’t have to go out and pick it up… it makes sense.” Despite the cost, SAGE is still the best option for production dinners.
While this change is certainly sensible, it still is causing a stir among the EA community, seeing as it is a change that would be considered unfavorable by much of the student body. Sarah Letts, class of ‘20, describes, “I think the price change is not necessarily preferred for some people, because before the cost was less.” On the other hand, she also acknowledges, “Even though it is a bit inconvenient, I don’t think it will be too much of an issue for the people in the play, because we don’t have as many production dinners. For people in the musical, it might start to add up to too much money because there are a few more production dinners in the musical than there are in the play.” Likewise, the EA theater department is very understanding of this situation. “I’m not excited that I have to pass that on to the kids,” Clay admits, “but we have to pass the other half to the students.”
While some agree and disagree with the decision made, in the end production dinners will cost more. This may be, as Letts acknowledges, more of a struggle for the musical members than for the play cast. Despite this, it is just one of the many adjustments being made as the EA community grows and changes.