The apartments of Lattimore Hall are a home away from home not only for students of Cayuga Community College, but for actors from the Merry-Go-Round Playhouse.

Throughout the school year, the residence hall provides apartment-style living for CCC students, including multiple bedrooms, a kitchen, living and dining spaces and bathrooms in each apartment.

The hall offers shuttle buses to and from the college, downtown Auburn, heat and central air, and cable and Wi-Fi internet.

When school ends for the summer, the MGR season is just getting ready to go. An empty, state-of-the-art residence hall and a large influx of actors in need of temporary housing becomes a match made in heaven.

Elyse Darmettler is the company manager of Merry-Go-Round. Among her many duties is ensuring that the actors are housed comfortably.

“Housing is part of the actors' contract,” Darmettler said. “I have to find places for them to live, furnish them, make sure the utilities are up and running when they get here, that kind of thing. We hire them to come up here and perform, and part of that is ensuring that we have housing for them.”

Lattimore Hall, with the capacity to house 97 students, one resident director and five resident assistants, helps Darmettler meet that contactual obligation.

The playhouse has a multi-year lease with the building, and Darmettler said “it's a pleasure” to work with the building manager.

For the actors, life at Lattimore Hall offers convenience and comfort.

“It's great to be so centrally located,” said Maddy Apple, an actor currently experiencing her very first season with the Merry-Go-Round Playhouse. “For the most part we can walk wherever we need to.”

Just in case the actors need to get somewhere outside walking distance, shuttles are also provided for them - to the playhouse, stores and anywhere else a performer may need to go, Darmettler said.

Cast and crew members also enjoy having the opportunity to get to know Auburn.

“It's a cute little town,” said Apple. “There's plenty to do, and a lot of history as well. I just went to Seward House the other day.”

Living in a college residence hall is “overall a really great experience,” Apple added. “I'm still in school at NYU, so living in a dorm is something I'm used to. The setting is different; down in the city it's generally just an apartment, but Lattimore Hall is great, and (Sheila McElwain, Lattimore Hall's building manager) takes care of any issues we have.”

Ernie Pruneda is working at Merry-Go-Round for his third season, making him an “old pro” at living in Lattimore Hall - and enjoying everything Auburn has to offer.

“I'm really starting to love Auburn,” Pruneda said. “I'm really fortunate to be back with MGR, and I'm making friends here in Auburn. It has really become my home away from home. When I'm not up here, I find myself missing things, like the food over at Parker's.”

Pruneda compared Merry-Go-Round's arrangement with Lattimore Hall to the living arrangements included in other acting jobs. When he was required to find his own place, the expense bit into his paycheck. Even among other provided lodgings, Pruneda still prefers Lattimore.

“The apartments are real nice, very clean and Sheila is the best,” Pruneda said.

For her part, McElwain enjoys having the actors from Merry-Go-Round in her building.

“The people from MGR are a lot more laid back,” McElwain said.

“They are a lot more mature and businesslike. I love having the students here, there's never a dull moment with them, but the summer is a lot less stressful, less demanding. It's nice to have those three months to recharge.”

The lease with Merry-Go-Round also helps financially by keeping Lattimore occupied during the summer months, when it would otherwise be empty.

However, the arrangement between Merry-Go-Round and Lattimore Hall may not be able to last forever.

“They are great people, but we are starting to grow beyond Lattimore,” said Darmettler.

“We have about two-thirds of our actors living in the hall, and a third living in other apartments. We are also seeing the end of the school year and the start of our season getting closer and closer together.”

For the time being, however, Lattimore Hall provides a great living arrangement for the actors during their time in Auburn.

“We are so close to everything,” Pruneda said, “and having the other people living so close builds a real sense of community.”