Theatre Design & Technology - Winter 2012 - 42

Arts Center Wings comprise the academic component of VPAC.
The North Wing contains the large, 250-seat Kurland Lecture
Hall; the university's radio station, KCSN; and the Miller Kaplan
Arase KCSN Newsroom. The prime beneficiary of the East Wing
of the Performing Arts Center is the Department of Theatre.
In full disclosure, the author is a member of CSUN's
theatre faculty and was engaged in the planning of the new
theatre spaces since joining CSUN in 2004. Although the old
adage says "Be careful what you wish for," it remains true
that if you don't wish and wish big, it won't ever materialize.
Such is the case for the new learning laboratories in the Valley
Performing Arts Center.
During the programming stage, between 2004 and 2006,
the theatre faculty was invited to meet with the design team.
Hill posed one of her major considerations about the Academic Wing: "We aren't doing a whole theatre department.
Only a few academic spaces are being added, so how do you
best decide what spaces those will be?" Costume designer
Garry Lennon, set designer John Binkley, and the author
pitched in to help with these choices. Since the Great Hall
was not designed nor intended for student performances, all
of our focus was directed to the needs of our curriculum and
how students could be better served with the new spaces. The
cornerstone to the new venue would be an up-to-date black
box theatre to replace the existing space dating back to 1960.
With a low ceiling, the old space was problematic for scheduling classes and for performances. Moreover, it was not ADA
compliant. Although our two other theatres in Nordhoff Hall,
both proscenium-style spaces, were from the same era, they
had been upgraded over the years and would remain once the
new performance hall was completed.
One thing that Nordhoff Hall facilities lacked was an appropriately sized rehearsal space. By necessity, shows were
rehearsed in the performing venues, a strategy which is an inefficient use of space. The core of the new construction would
be a 250-seat black box partnered with an appropriately sized
rehearsal space. The other support spaces were designed to
better integrate with our production curriculum, in which we
teach classes of twenty students in scenery, lighting, costume,
and makeup practical applications. One of the missing spaces
in the original theatre plant was a design room with natural
light, accommodation for wet media, room for drawing tables,
and room for computers. With this in mind, the theatre faculty
developed the programming plan with the design team and university planners.
As with any new construction project, some challenges
surfaced in the first year of occupancy. Cost restrictions reduced the black box, the Experimental Theatre, down to 175
seats (depending on configuration). Onsite storage is modest, because funding from the California State System does not
program storage space into new construction. The makeup
classroom/dressing room needs some acoustic baffling. But as
teaching and learning spaces for a theatre curriculum, they are
very exciting.

The East Wing of the VPAC opened for classes January 24,
2011. The first production in the Experimental Theatre, Charles
Mee's Big Love, opened February 11. Contractors were madly
finishing punch lists; the new Scenic Laboratory was stacked
with palettes and boxes of new equipment; lighting instruments
were still arriving and went straight from the box to the grid
without a bench focus; there was no signage; and tickets sold
at the Associated Students Box Office had to be transferred to
the VPAC Box Office for our performances. The department was
paying the price of the construction stoppage. There was no
time to "break in" the facility.
All in all, things went amazingly well. Shows opened and
had successful runs. Lost students (and patrons) eventually
found their destinations. The contractors finally finished all the
details on their lists. The new Scenic Laboratory was laid out
and all new lighting instruments were bench-focused over the
summer. Four shows are now under our belts, and the second
term of teaching in the space is rapidly coming to a close.
The Experimental Theatre and the new rehearsal studio,
the Courtyard Theatre, anchor the Academic Wing. The seating
is currently set for theatre-in-the-round which maximizes seating capacity but can be reconfigured into a thrust, proscenium,
or custom configurations. The primary technical element is the
tension grid placed at 25´, which covers most of the space and
provides a safer environment for hanging and focusing lighting
equipment. The grid provides an added bonus of a myriad of
pick points for rigging technical effects such as confetti, spot
lines, and practical lighting. Electrics is supported with 120
ETC Sensor Dimmers controlled by an ETC Ion and a 120/208
VAC 200A company switch. Sound is controlled by a Yamaha
M7CL-32 console. The FOH/Lobby for the space is modest;
however, it is adjacent to the fully covered Ralph M. Parsons
Foundation Portal, providing patrons protection from the occasional rain shower.
The rehearsal studio (Courtyard Theatre) was designed
from the beginning with the same footprint as the stage area of
the Experimental Theatre. The department finally has a rehearsal
space appropriately sized for a performing venue. Not only does
the footprint for the room match the stage size of the Experimental Theatre, but the room also reflects its total volume. This has
proved especially important when rehearsing stylized movement
with lifts and other acrobatic elements for some of the shows.
The wall facing the Central Courtyard is completely glass
and allows students, patrons, and the campus community to
observe many of the activities normally hidden backstage.
Tracked curtains can provide privacy, if desired. Complete with
a sprung floor, as are all performance/rehearsal spaces in the
complex, the room also includes a lighting grid and a 200A
company switch to convert the space into a performance venue.
Where do you put the audience? Simply open the full-size glass
garage door to the courtyard. Seating can be outside to view a
performance in the space, or reverse the relationship and stage
the performance in the courtyard. Although no performances
have been staged in the Courtyard Theatre, Kara Hill was excited

winter

2012

theatre design

& technology

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Theatre Design & Technology - Winter 2012