Download Sidney Harman Hall The Origin of the Design Concept

Sidney Harman Hall
Shakespeare Theatre Company, Washington DC
The Origin of the Design Concept
Fisher Dachs Associates Theatre Planning and Design
“I want a muscular space for robust plays of epic scope,”
said Michael Kahn, Artistic Director of the Shakespeare Theatre Company one day in 2001. Our design
team, Fisher Dachs Associates Theatre Planning and Design, and Diamond Schmitt Architects, had gathered in his office to discuss the new 770-seat theater we’d be creating at a site on F Street in Washington, on
the ground floor of a new office building. Michael’s direction was wonderfully clear and evocative.
The development agreement included sufficient height to accommodate a fly tower in a portion of the site,
but a key question remained open: should the new hall be a straightforward proscenium theatre, like the
company’s 450-seat Lansburgh Theatre a block away, or should it be capable of accommodating other formats? The company did powerful work, and its aesthetic was built around stunning stage pictures; in spite of
the Lansburgh’s small proscenium stage, the company had established a strong reputation for its beautiful
productions, with rich costumes and striking scenery and lighting.
The new theatre would clearly have to accommodate that style of production, and at an even larger scale.
Would it be possible to make a room that could be used in other ways as well? Kahn was most comfortable
with the proscenium arrangement, but acknowledged that other directors might be interested in a less pictorial approach. The discussion continued for weeks, as we brought models and sketches of alternate proposals to the table for Kahn and Jack Diamond to consider.
We had quickly rejected the notion of a convertible space, one that could be re-arranged in various configurations; at nearly 800 seats (and on a modestly sized piece of land) we just didn’t have the elbow room to be
moving huge pieces of the theatre around even if we wanted to. Instead we looked elsewhere for inspiration.
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Since the theatre was to house a company producing a lot of Shakespeare, we thought about two wonderful spaces; the Globe reconstruction in London and the Swan at Stratford upon Avon. At two quite different
scales these rooms are marvelously vibrant, responsive, and alive. In essence, these theatres are simply
courtyards with a stage platform extending out from one end and an audience surrounding the platform on
three sides; they are designed to work without scenery. Each is wallpapered with faces, and the Globe has
the added benefit of the groundlings and their special energy. The familiar materials used in both - timber,
brick and plaster - make for warm and comfortable environments that are also robust and, in a sense, timeless. Other thrust theatre models, like the Guthrie (where we at FDA were designing a new building for the
company at the time), the Vivian Beaumont (which we had renovated) or Stratford Ontario didn’t lend themselves to traditional proscenium productions either. Since the new theatre in Washington would often need
work with extensive moving scenery, we needed to take a different kind of approach.
We thought about other theatres we admired that had certain desirable qualities: a predominantly frontal
geometry that would lend itself to proscenium-format productions; the ability to be used without scenery, where the room itself could provide a visual environment sufficiently strong, rich, and ambiguous to evoke
London, Rome, Denmark, or Agincourt as needed; and a geometry that could be simply inflected (rather than
rearranged) to provide a variety of staging options. One particular example kept coming to mind – the Harvey
Theatre at BAM in Brooklyn.
The Harvey began life as a proscenium theatre, and was modified by designer Jean Guy Lecat and architect
Hugh Hardy to accommodate Peter Brook’s famous production of The Mahabharata in 1987. It is one of a
string of marvelous performance spaces that housed that production, including the Bouffes du Nord in Paris,
and the Tramway in Glasgow. At the Harvey (originally known as the Majestic) the stage was raised six feet
above its original elevation and a new main floor was stepped steeply upward to join what had been the
first balcony. The first several rows of the second balcony were removed entirely, and its upper rows modified. The main floor geometry preserved the proscenium arch and box area, but introduced a deep apron
extending out into the house, where the main bank of seating curved slightly in a gesture of embrace without
actually placing seats to the side of the acting area. The room could be inflected for use as a sort of thrust or
proscenium, and the very act of breaking the proscenium line – walking from far upstage, through the arch,
and down onto the apron - had a certain power which has been likened to going from a long-shot to a closeup in a film, as the actor left the stage realm and entered the audience’s space. Sometimes cushions are
placed on the deep apron to add seats at the sides of the acting area as if in a thrust theater, and sometimes
for proscenium productions cushions are placed in two or three new “front rows” on the apron. While another
aspect of the Harvey, the state of “arrested decay” of its aged finishes, gives it an extraordinary emotional
resonance with everything that’s done in it, it’s the geometric concept that we found most useful to consider.
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The Globe
The Swan
The New Guthrie Theater
The Harvey
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We decided to pursue a room that would join a single-balcony, frontally organized theatre (to best serve
proscenium productions) to a stage area enclosed by a continuous wooden columned gallery that, when
left exposed, could serve as both set and backdrop. In addition, certain moveable pieces were added, like a
moveable proscenium arch and a small number of seats, which could be manipulated to inflect the relationship between the audience and the work.
The room allows artists to calibrate the percieved relationship between the audience and the work to their
needs. With the portal in place a traditional proscenium arrangement is achieved, and the theatre divided into
two rooms - one for the audience, and one for the world of the play. With the portal removed the two rooms
become one, and the room functions like an open end-stage theatre; the two-story gallery itself can be exposed and function as scenery, it can be “dressed” and supplemented, or concealed behind new scenic elements. Using the seating wagons one can break the strictly frontal relationship of audience to the stage, and
reposition seats to the sides of the acting area to place the actors in the context of spectators/participants;
the wagons can be pressed closely together or pulled far apart, set parallel to the centerline or rotated at a
slight angle, and used with or without a framing portal element. They could even be placed upstage facing
the auditorium.
In considering materials, details, and execution, architect Jack Diamond worked hard to strike a difficult balance: a room that looked warm, attractive, and ‘finished’ without being so delicate and precious that it could
not be manhandled by set designers and technicians with powertools; a room robust enough to be improved
by time and enriched by the scars of past productions; and a room that looked permanent and solid while
meeting the technical staff’s requests for large bits of it to be dismantled at times. The acoustician, Rick Talaske, collaborated closely with Jack and with us to produce room acoustics that were warm and vibrant and
would serve every configuration equally well.
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An early FDA study model, showing alternate configurations with and without portals. At this point we were exploring a
circular pattern of columns, which would later become the rectilinear arcade.
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Guide to the Pieces and Parts
The Harman is equipped with a number of moving and stationary parts
that enable alteration of the seating and stage area.
Two movable seating wagons may be set below stage level in the proscenium configuration, or be arranged anywhere onstage to alter the
nature of the relationship between the performance and the audience.
They can also be stored completely offstage to afford a larger stage area
with a reduced seating capacity.
The demountable proscenium portal is made up of a large fixed frame
with adjustable legs and borders so the aspect ratio of the opening may
be altered. The entire frame can track upstage and downstage on two
beams that are mounted in line with the side galleries.
A number of other architectural elements are changeable or moveable
based on the requirements of a given performance.
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seating wagons
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moveable/demountable proscenium arch tracks up/down
stage on rollers
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permanent side galleries with stair trap openings
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demountable lower column arcade & rear gallery
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seating wagon storage
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trap room
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Guide to the Pieces and Parts
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seating wagons
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moveable/demountable proscenium arch
tracks up/downstage on rollers
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permanent side galleries with stair trap openings
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demountable lower column arcade & rear gallery
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Configurations
Using the kit of parts, the arrangement and feeling of the room can be altered considerably:
Proscenium Perhaps the most traditional arrangement is the proscenium configuration, with the
portal in place, and the seating wagons parked on the lift. In this arrangement, the
stage can be used very much like any typical proscenium theatre.
Open EndstageIf the frontal configuration is maintained, and the portal removed, the arcade becomes a powerful potential backdrop for the play. The arcade can be “dressed” or
supplemented, and the director can capitalize on the architecture of the room by
using the upper levels of the side and rear galleries, the large entrance up center, or
side and rear entries. Or it can be concealed behind scenery, and function as a oneroom endstage theatre.
Other OptionsBy bringing the seating wagons up to stage level and positioning them on the stage,
other stage arrangements can be created. In this way one can break the strictly frontal relationship of audience to the stage, and position seats to the sides of the acting
area to place the actors in the context of spectators/participants; the wagons can be
pressed closely together or pulled far apart, set parallel to the centerline or rotated at
a slight angle, and used with or without a framing portal element. They could even be
placed upstage facing the auditorium.
It is also possible to use the proscenium portal in this arrangement, upstage of the
seating wagons to narrow the area of scenic focus to the space between the side
wagons.
The exact arrangement of the seating wagons can be altered slightily depending
on the needs of the production. One option would be to angle the wagons slightly
towards the stage.
Of course, there are many more permutations that will be explored over time by the
Shakespeare Theatre’s creative team.
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Theatres mature over time, adapting to new artists, new technologies, and new practices. Theatre companies and audiences, too, grow and evolve with the years. The Harman resists easy classification. It is neither
a standard proscenium theatre nor a typical thrust, although it shares certain qualities with both. While it can
be manipulated and altered, it is not a flexible studio theater or “black box”. Like an orchestra adjusting to a
new concert hall, it will take some time for directors and designers to explore its capabilities and discover how
to make most effective use of its special characteristics. It is our hope that over time this theatre, its audience,
and its artists will grow and change together, and become more interesting with every passing year.
Joshua Dachs
Fisher Dachs Associates Theatre Planning and Design
New York
2009
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Harman Center for the Arts
610 F Street NW
Washington, DC 20004
owner
architect
theatre planning & design
acoustical consulting
The Shakespeare Theatre Company
Diamond and Schmitt Architects
Fisher Dachs Associates
The Talaske Group
Fisher Dachs Associates is one of the world’s leading theatre planning and design consultants. Our mission is to help our clients plan
and design successful projects in accordance with real programmatic and budgetary goals. We collaborate actively with artistic and
managing directors, leaders of cultural organizations, building owners and architects so that the rooms we jointly create are intimate,
dynamic, and technically superb spaces for audiences and performers alike.
We approach our projects with one goal: to design a successful room from the inside out. We pride ourselves helping to create memorable experiences for patrons from the time they enter the space to the time they exit at the end of the show. We also work hard to
make theatres function equally well for the artists who work in the space, the technical staff who keep it running smoothly, and the
management team that has to operate it as a successful business venture.
www.fda-online.com
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open endstage configuration, season one,
with scenery for Edward II