Tucked away on the second floor of Randolph-Macon’s Center for the Performing Arts, overlooking the scene shop and just outside beloved theatre professor Gregg Hillmar’s office, is a newly imagined mezzanine space.

The McFather Mezz—made possible through a gift from alumni of RMC’s Drama Guild honoring the late Sarah McFather ‘01—provides a welcoming warmth: comfortable couches, shelves with books and board games, tables to work on homework. The vibe conjures the feeling of a hangout for the main characters of a sitcom.

When McFather passed away tragically from leukemia in the summer of 2023, her friends from her RMC theatre days came together around a plan to name something in her honor.

“We came to campus and saw the ‘mezz’, and that was the hangout space for students, and it reminded us of the Green Room, where we used to hang out a lot,” said Megan Rowe ’01, one of several alumni who helped coordinate the gift.

The group, which spanned students from a wide range of graduation years, raised enough money to cover the naming rights, with funds left over to purchase new furniture. As the Director of Campus Housing at the College of Charleston, Rowe had connections to source quality furniture at efficient prices. The group picked a weekend in which they knew they could also catch a theatre production (Love of Labyrinths, written by Myles Blue ’25) to come to campus and put together the space themselves.

Beyond bearing McFather’s name, the spirit of the Mezz is what makes this such a special place. “Sarah was the glue that kept a lot of us together,” remarked Katie Swineford ’02. The Green Room in Old Chapel was where the group hung out and became friends while working on and rehearsing plays.

“We want other people to have the same experience we did too,” said Dean Browell ’98.

Laura Leflar ’01 concurred and reiterated how important the connections made in these spaces are to the college experience. “It was important for us to create a space for people to continue to evolve their friendships, maybe make some new ones, but also a safe space,” she said. “I was very introverted when I came to college, and this was an outlet for me. The theater was an outlet for me. It was where I found my people.”

While the friends are happy to provide a space of warmth for students to be themselves, they’ve also achieved the goal of honoring the legacy of McFather, who they say “loved life and loved fun.”

“Sarah always made people feel like they could be themselves with her,” said Charles Raffetto ‘00. “And I don’t know anybody that didn’t consider Sarah one of their best friends.”

On the plaque commemorating the space is a reference to the Mary Oliver poem “The Summer Day,” a fitting tribute to an adventurer who visited all seven continents, and a cherished friend.

The final two lines of the poem read:

Tell me, what is it you plan to do
with your one wild and precious life?