Loyola Replacing Mullady Theatre With Sports Training Facility

Loyola is transforming the Mullady Theatre into new practice facilities for the golf and softball teams. The new space will provide enhanced training opportunities for student-athletes and offer both programs upgraded amenities to address long-standing challenges.

Located below Mertz Hall, the theater was home for all mainstage productions on campus for over 40 years.

According to the Current and Recent Projects page on the Facilities website, the new space is expected to be finished by August 2025. The top floor will be a permanent home for softball, and the bottom for golf.

The Loyola Athletics Department declined to comment, citing the project’s uncompleted status.

Loyola’s first theatrical season in the space was in 1968. The theatre held 299 seats and featured a fly-loft for flying scenery. After closing in 2012, alumni came together to produce Memories of Mullady, an original production to celebrate the theater’s history and to raise scholarship funds for theater students, Director of Theatre Lee Kennan wrote in an email to The Phoenix. Kennan said the department is discussing hosting a similar event in the near future. 

Fourth-year music major Zach Li said while the space might hold sentimental value for people in the past, the change hasn’t impacted him nearly as much. 

“I haven’t performed there,” Li said. “If you can use this space for something, might as well use it for something not as traditional as it may be. I think it might be a good idea for a change.”

The last time Li said he remembers the theater being used was during his first year in 2021, when it was used for talks with important individuals from the neighborhood. 

While he acknowledged the importance of repurposing the space, he also expressed concerns over resource availability for the Fine Arts Department.

“Personally, I think there should be more practice rooms,” Li said. “The practice spaces we have, they’re really great but there aren’t a lot of them. As the music program grows, I feel like that would become a more pressing need.”

Li said it seems like department size determines the amount of university funding they receive. While he said he thinks Loyola is dedicating more to the Athletics Department because it’s bigger, he doesn’t know if he’s seen results from the investments. Li said there should be more transparency on how funding benefits the teams, whether it’s recruitment or performance goals.

First-year environmental policy major Alexis Hill said although this was an expected change, she’s disappointed by the repurposing. 

“As someone who is a theater person and did sports in high school where a lot of money wasn’t allocated to theater, I knew this is how it is,” said Hill. “I was definitely kind of sad because while I don’t know how many theaters we have right now, we do have a good theater program.”

Hill said the decision could reflect Loyola’s priorities in funding, amplifying the divide between athletics and arts. She said she feels changes in facilities should rely more on student input, especially since she feels Loyola isn’t widely recognized for their athletics.

“Both should be equally valued,” Hill said. “I wish they sent out a survey to get feedback from the community and students. Obviously people who play sports are going to say one thing, but I think students in general should have a say on what gets built.”

Hill also said she believes student spaces, such as new dorms or additional study areas, are running low. While she’s not opposed to the space turning into an athletic facility, she said she wished the space could be more universally accessible. 

Although she hasn’t yet attended a theater performance at Loyola, Hill said she’s participated in a capella group and dance classes, which occasionally perform in spaces around the university, such as Palm Court and the Crown Center for the Humanities. 

She recommended better advertising and social media outreach to non-arts students to emphasize interest in spaces, which may generate a desire to support arts facilities. 

“I would love for us to perform in a theater or host different a capella showdowns because we have Northwestern and Depaul doing similar things,” Hill said. “Why don’t we bring the whole community together in a space at Loyola, in a theatre.” 

Third-year molecular and cellular neuroscience major Elliot Hawks recalled attending a student theater performance at Mullady during his first year. While the performance left an impression, he had little memory of the theatre.

While not actively involved in the arts or athletics, Hawks said he sees the potential negative impacts of the theatre’s closure on students in performing arts and how the change reflects funding disparities for the arts department on campus. 

“When I think about the Fine Arts Center, it looks like a high school,” Hawks said. “Especially when I think of the building compared to the physics or life sciences building.”

Hawks said part of the negative effect would be taking away a space for a creative showcase. He also felt major decisions like this should involve more student input, such as including students in discussions about campus facilities. 

“Students are the ones who actually use the buildings,” Hawks said. “Honestly if they were going to repurpose it, I’d want them to build another chemistry lab. But I’d rather they just keep it as a theater.”

After frequently attending student performances to support friends in the theater department, Hawks noticed such productions hold their performances in smaller, less formal campus spaces. 

“Having spaces to showcase the arts helps keep the Loyola community engaged and provides creative outlets for students,” Hawks said. “It brings new perspectives to the student experience.”