Theatre Design & Technology - Feb 1974 - 9

achieves a harmony and unity that is further enhanced by

with seven sections of seats mingled with six stages; thrust
stage; and a television studio for live local telecasts,
created by removal of the first four rows of seats for a
small studio space, and removal of eight rows of seats for
a large studio space (both with the lift at stage floor level).

the simple utilitarian pattern of the white catwalks and
black open light bays. However, if I were doing it over
again, I would sacrifice some of this beauty for even more
theatrical utilitarianism. With all the steel roof trusses
com ing together over the center of the stage, there is not
enough open space left for hanging lights in that vital area.
This ceiling area needs opening Up.4 I would also avoid a
catwalk running down the center line from stage to
control booths, as this makes it impossible to hang and
focus center stage specials from a straight on, or to project
films or slides from dead center. In line with this
correction, I would also place the projection booth at the
center rather than to one side of center.

The seating changes are relatively easy to accomplish:
four or five hours work by three or four men work ing
with a hydraulic pallet lift is an average time requirement.
This labor and time consumption might be improved with
built-in casters and caster-locks (or jacks), but the cost of
construction would rise considerably. Also, a more
complex design might allow more subtleties in the various
seating arrangements, but here again it would be more
costly and, perhaps more time-consuming.

Theatrically, the continuous ceiling design over both
auditorium and stage alike is very good: it has the effect
of putting the audience into the same room with the
actors rather than separating or excluding them from the
performance space as is done in the conventional
proscenium or picture frame stage, The audience feels
more nearly a part of the action, even when the seating is
arranged in the proscenium form. The single overall ceiling
also permits the various re-arrangements of seating and
stage configurations to be made without a feeling of
overhead makeshift or mismatch and, in keeping with its
primary purpose, it facilitates the lighting of the various
stage locations. But, here again, a reworking of the ceiling
design to make it a less exact reflection of the basic floor
plan could make it more adaptable to a greater variety of

One thing that we definitely don't have and do need is
enough storage space to take care of the seat wagons
removed from the auditorium to clear it for telecasts.
Again, this was a budgetary compromise which was
reluctantly, but knowingly, made before construction
began.
One of the most aesthetically pleasing features of the
auditorium, both from an architectural and a theatrical
point of view, is the overhead area which consists entirely
of catwalks radiating out from a point directly over the
center of the stage, with other catwalks as chords joining
these radials, and the open Iight bays formed by these
radials and chords (Figure 5). Architecturally, the
reflection of the basic floor plan by the ceiling plan

lEG EH0

l(GEHO
I OPPll Pill Of PlltHtl WAHl
) UPPEI PIIT Of CliSS 100M

101 fIlESnOUClIHS

IDI OIl£OlOIS OffiCE
112 OIPUIOE.TAl SfCIlTnIAl OffIC!S

I OPPfi PUT Of tlASS iOOO

IS tUomo E'TlI

113 fACULTY OHltE
lIS IIC'E I 0 ff IC[

11 SUIIW"TO MAl. AUOITOilUo
W'l' ,OIOSCEIIOO-TliUSt"
UiueEUllS
II [lliUC[ 10 MAli AOOITOIIUM
wm II'Ai[I,nIUCEOEITS
4l SUliW" OOWI lO-PUtIICE
mm(clASS 1000S' OffIC[S
" [Ill OOOIS
U flOll EITlutE OOOIS

III IEFRES . . EI" 01 COil tMEn
III 100EI'S I£ST 1001
119 aElfs tEST 1001
1lI MlCMUICA l SPAC[
121 VEST/lllE EllltUCE TO 1111 IUD. AIEU AlUM.
111 _ECKUICH SPACE ZIlLEYEl
114 MIn omSll; IDOM
IlS MIl'S oUE-n
III Ifn IlSlIDDM
111 £Ill SUI.
Il! PASSlSE IIU lOClElS
110 roO[I'S IfS! '001
III WOMln OlfSSlMO 1000
113 WOIEn _UE·UP
I~ 'RUN 100M
1JS PASSACI

" SUII TO UtISUC!
10 STACE 0001
II S[IVltE Dim
12 mum 10 Dlt'ESTU PI!
53 ClOSS O'U CUIUI
H IUP U(A il011 APIO.

II SUII to IAtlme! U£A Of
MAl. mel WITM-PIOst£IIUOTlUlsr· URlJilCEIEI'
II Sim TO SIOUOE , WOUS.OP Am

136 AUXILIART MAlE·UP AKD STOUCE
1)3 SEAT lin II lOW POSllIOI Plom'NO-TNiVSI
IJ9 TWAl(A O'OEI MAil SHCI

S/ SlAC( TUPS UOVE
SI I£VOllllO mil fOl"uHllHl'
flIl"tES W'E' lEU Ulf Of
OAIM SlADE IS lOWEI10
II COIIIOl tOIlOL( fOI STm
-moms no lift"
&e RIlL

BI< OPP!I PAIl Of WO.. S'OP
/

" £lfUIOI cn WIIM 1IIP U£A
S~"'O'HlMt !fl! t!1U Or"lHQlY(
W'IM II !!!' POSlllDM
'
12 !lOUlIC PISTO.S
I) STAll JO COSIUME 'om-up SlOtlCE
U SiIYICE SlUI nOI lOll SlOP TO
1&11 STlU UOLJCIT IUS
n SUII DonlltU'U.ltCI.IOOI

* *

*

101

, -::"5.!L=::~I.. ~- *
J

'

I

LOBBY

LEVEL

PLAN

" COlll.llfCIUICAlIOOI
III lO .. Y
104 JUllOiS ClOSET

ItS STAff lEST 1001
115 Y£SlIIIU (lUUCE TO IA/JillUDITORIIM
I. liEU 'ltU'flflU

C§D

Fig. 4.

THEATRE DESIGN AND TECHNOLOGY

FEBRUARY. 1974

9
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Theatre Design & Technology - Feb 1974
