Theatre Design & Technology - Fall 1985 - 11

structed in 1917; a gymnasium was
added to the rear of the building in 1925.
It is a four-story structure with a basement, and prior to the renovation contained 43,600 gross square feet and an
estimated 31,000 net assignable square
feet.
The first floor of the YMCA contained a number of large rooms that
had been used in the past as club rooms,
reading rooms, a game room, and offices. The rear of the floor housed the
gymnasium, exercise rooms, and handball courts. The basement contained a
pool, mechanical equipment rooms,
and other health-club-type facilities.
An L-shaped residential tower extended
above the front of the building. (This
section has since been renovated to
provide dormitory rooms for Rutgers
graduate students.)
The YMCA had remained in good
condition. It was built as an all-cement
structure with long concrete joists designed to bend and flex-innovative for
the time-and the walls were clay
block on the inside and brick on the
outside. Unfortunately for the renovator , the original structural drawings
had been lost and only the elevations
existed, so some structural intricacies
could only be uncovered during the
renovation.
The Playhouse and DEVCO agreed
that the Playhouse would occupy the
entire first floor and a good portion of
the basement, and that, to save money,
architects, engineers and the Playhouse
theatre consultant Daniel Stratman
would utilize as much of the existing
facility as possible. Still, expenses skyrocketed: the renovation was originally
budgeted for $900,000; the final figure
was closer to $1.6 million.
Not surprisingly, the design priority
for a theatre that produces six or more
major productions each season was the
new main tage and house, which was
designed to seat at least 350 in 3/l round.
The only space suitable for a house that
size was the former gymnasium, but
here designers and engineers discovered
their first structural hitch. The gym
floor extended over a good portion of
the swimming pool. In order to eliminate any upport pillars from the pool
area, the original architects had designed a 45-foot free span across the
gymnasium floor. One of the major
challenges for the renovators, and ultimately one of the incremental costs,
was to build a structure that could sup-

port the weight of the audience seating
arrangement. The solution involved
building an entire steel structure underneath the gym and the new backstage
extension (building another building inside a building, in effect); removing the
original wooden floor (it was not flameretardant); and pouring new concrete
underneath the seating risers and indeed over the whole extent of what had
once been the gymnasium.

Breaking fhrough fhe north

11'0/1

element of the original gymnasium that
did not require major adjustments.
The ceiling is vaulted and, as desired,
considerably higher than that in the
original Playhouse. However, there is
not enough height to allow for a catwalk, nor can the metal grid be lowered, so it i necessary to use extension
ladders when hanging lights.
There were a few other compromises
brought about by the demands of the

of fhe former gymnasium,

The next challenge was to make an
opening for the proscenium arch (40
feet wide) and build an upstage area
and wing space. The north wall of the
gym was broken through and largely
destroyed, along with two doors, a
stairwell that led to a handball court on
the second floor, and an outside wall.
But again, the renovators encountered
the unexpected. In order to hold the
roof up and create the prosceni urn arch,
two steel columns were to be inserted
from the roof through the building to
footings below-these columns would
also form the proscenium arch.
It turned out, however, that this section of the yr-,ICA was resting on fill
and, and in order to set the steel columns on solid footings, the construction cre\\ had to dig 24 feet before they
hit shale. This unexpected development
affected cost more than design, although the 40-foot-wide pro cenium
was, from the start, a concession on the
part of the Playhouse, that had wanted
a 50-foot arch. However, this would
have meant readjusting pipes in the
boiler room, directly below back stage
right, and much higher steel cost for
columns 50 feet apart.
The roof was the only significant

ovember /983.

YMCA's construction, but these were
relatively painless. For instance, the
light booth was originally designed to
be placed at the center of the back of
the house, but that would have meant
cutting a hole under a roof joist, and
the weight of the roof would have been
too heavy to support. Thus, the booth
is at the right side of the back wall, and
the operator has a slightly obstructed
view of the stage.
Some compromises were simply the
result of limited funds. There is no fly
system; drop or other pieces can only
hang and be masked by the arch, because the cost of building another 20
feet higher on the back stage extension
was prohibitive. Gi en the artistic history of the Playhouse, however, with its
desire to continue to produce straight
plays rather than elaborate musicals requiring multiple set changes, the fly
space would have been a luxury, not a
necessity.

Production Spaces
The new George Street Playhouse
opened officially September 15, 1984,
with a production of Tennessee Williams' A Srreercar Nall/ed Desire. The
Playhouse produces a six-play season
USITT Fall 1985/Thcatre Design & Technology

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