Download CARNIVAL CENTER FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS

HOUSE OF WORSHIP ISSUE
www.stage-directions.com
DECEMBER 2006
Spotlight on Toronto’s
Soulpepper Theatre Co.
& Sheridan College
How to generate profit
for YOUR theatre outside
of ticket sales
THE JEWEL OF SOUTH BEACH
CARNIVAL CENTER FOR
THE PERFORMING ARTS
300.0612.C0VER.indd 1
11/14/06 2:16:12 PM
300.0612.ADS.indd 2
11/14/06 2:08:33 PM
300.0612.ADS.indd 1
11/14/06 2:00:33 PM
300.0612.ADS.indd 2
11/14/06 2:02:15 PM
Table Of Contents
2 0 0 6
Schuler Shook
D e c e m b e r
Features
26 Theatre Space
A multi-million dollar arts complex opens
to great fanfare in Miami. By Christine Puleo
44 Beyond The Box Office
We offer some offbeat ways to expand your
theatre’s coffers and bring in bucks.
By Christine Sparta
Special Section:
Houses of Worship Theatres
46 Rime of the Mariners
At one California church, sound is paramount. By Evan Henerson
54
50 Look, Listen and Learn
A Chicago-area church’s new children’s ministry
theatre provides a bright space for kids to share
their teachings. By Lisa Arnett
A temple outside Minneapolis gives
congregants a feeling of intimacy.
By Elizabeth Weir
Spotlight:
Toronto
Guntar Kravis
54 By Natural Design
36
36 Soulpepper Theatre Company
A theatre company born from a prestigious
festival is drawing prestige of its own with
a steady menu of quality productions.
By Richard Ouzounian
40 Sheridan College
For almost 40 years, this school has been
turning out the most skilled of performers:
the triple threat. By Richard Ouzounian
www.stage-directions.com • December 2006 300.0612.TOC.indd 3
11/14/06 1:22:54 PM
Photo courtesy of Acoustic Dimensions
46
Departments
7 Editor’s Note
62 The Play’s The Thing
Ch-Ch-Changes. By Iris Dorbian
9 Letters
The 2006 Theatre Hall of Fame Inductees are announced, Actors’ Equity names new head, up and coming playwright wins MacArthur Fellowship and Sapsis Rigging has a special celebration. By Iris Dorbian
32 Musical Stages
Nineteenth-century German drama meets contemporary American rock in Broadway’s Spring Awakening.
By Brooke Pierce
60 Off The Shelf
Gift ideas for the theatre person in your life. By Stephen Peithman
Plays from the perspective of those who don’t fit in. By Stephen Peithman
64 Answer Box
Readers voice their approval of recent articles.
10 In The Green Room
If your rigging is causing a problem with your scenic elements, you might consider the following solution. By Erik Viker
Tech Talk
16 Resource Roundup
This month brings a list of companies with restoration specialties that will help your old theatre shine like new. By Christie Rizk
On Our Cover: Knight Concert Hall in Miami’s Carnival Center
Photography by: Robin Hall
December 2006 • www.stage-directions.com
300.0612.TOC.indd 4
11/15/06 1:51:18 PM
300.0612.ADS.indd 5
11/14/06 2:02:59 PM
300.0612.ADS.indd 6
11/14/06 2:03:24 PM
Editor’s Note
Ch-Ch-Changes
D
kimberly butler
id I speak too soon? Last
month, I talked about how
Stage Directions had been
one of several magazines under
the erstwhile Lifestyle Media, Inc.
stable that had been taken over
by Macfadden Performing Arts
Media, LLC. Well, the planets must
have been acting up, because
guess what? (And you probably
have surmised this already by glancing at the new names
on the masthead, as well our new logo.) Stage Directions
has undergone yet another major change for 2006:
SD has been bought by the Las Vegas-based Timeless
Communications Corp., publisher of two top industry
trades, Projection Lights & Staging News (PLSN) and
Front of House (FOH). Many of you may already be familiar with these publications because they have a crossover
readership with Stage Directions, with each focusing
specifically on a technical component of live performance. This bodes well for Stage Directions because it
means we can draw synergistically upon the resources
from both trades as we plan the editorial lineup for
upcoming issues. Also, because much of the Timeless
staff already has an extensive background in theatre,
the acquisition is a great boon for us. In the past, Stage
Directions, though respected by its ownership, had never
been given the proper attention it deserved. But now with
Timeless’ enthusiastic new ownership under Terry Lowe,
that will be changing.
It’s a new era for Stage Directions, which was founded by Consulting Editor Stephen Peithman and the late
Susan Wershing in 1988 to serve the needs of budgetconscious community theatres. I thank all of you who
have stayed with us through thick and thin throughout
the years. Your wholehearted and unflinching support
has transformed Stage Directions — 18 years after its
inception — into the only viable theatre magazine in the
marketplace. Under Timeless Communications’ aegis,
here’s to 18 more years and counting.
Happy Holidays!
Iris Dorbian
Editor-in-Chief
300.0612.7.indd 7
11/14/06 1:21:52 PM
Publisher Terry Lowe
Editor Iris Dorbian
Editorial Director Bill Evans
Managing Editor Jacob Coakley
Associate Editor David McGinnis
Contributing Editor Richard Cadena
Editorial Assistant Christie Rizk
Contributing Writers Lisa Arnett, Evan Henerson,
Richard Ouzounian, Brooke Pierce,
Christine Puleo, Amy L. Slingerland,
Christine Sparta, Elizabeth Weir,
Erik Viker
Consulting Editor Stephen Peithman ART
Art Director Garret Petrov
Graphic Designers Dana Pershyn, Michelle Sacca
Production
Production Manager Linda Evans
WEB
Web Designer Josh Harris
Advertising Director Greg Gallardo
Eastern US Account Mgr Warren Flood
Audio Advertising Manager Peggy Blaze
OPERATIONS
General Manager William Vanyo
Office Manager Dawn Marie Voss
Julie Angelo
American Association of Community
Theatre
Robert Barber
BMI Supply
Ken Billington
Lighting Designer
Roger claman
Rose Brand
Patrick Finelli, PhD
University of South Florida
Gene Flaharty
Mehron Inc.
Cathy Hutchison
Acoustic Dimensions
Becky Kaufman
Period Corsets
Todd Koeppl
Chicago Spotlight Inc.
Kimberly Messer
Lillenas Drama Resources
John Meyer
Meyer Sound
CIRCULATION
Stark Services
P.O. Box 16147
North Hollywood, CA 91615
BUSINESS OFFICE
6000 South Eastern Ave.
Suite 14-J
Las Vegas, NV 89119
TEL. 702.932.5585
FAX
702.932.5584
Stage Directions (ISSN: 1047-1901) Volume 19, Number 12 Published
monthly by Timeless Communications Corp. 6000 South Eastern Ave.,
Suite 14J, Las Vegas, NV 89119. It is distributed free to qualified individuals in the lighting and staging industries in the United States and Canada.
Periodical Postage paid at Las Vegas, NV office and additional offices.
Postmaster please send address changes to: Stage Directions, PO Box
16147 North Hollywood, CA 91615. Editorial submissions are encouraged
but must include a self-addressed stamped envelope to be returned.
Stage Directions is a Registered Trademark. All Rights Reserved. Duplication, transmission by any method of this publication is strictly prohibited
without permission of Stage Directions.
300.0612.masthead.indd 8
Joshua Alemany
Rosco
Keith Kankovsky
Apollo Design
ADVERTISING
Western US Account Mgr Holly O’Hair
Advisory Board
John Muszynski
Theater Director
Maine South High School
Scott Parker
Pace University/USITT-NY
Ron Ranson
Theatre Arts Video Library
David Rosenberg
I. Weiss & Sons Inc. Karen Rugerio
Dr. Phillips High School
Ann Sachs
Sachs Morgan Studio
Bill Sapsis
Sapsis Rigging
Richard Silvestro
Franklin Pierce College
11/14/06 1:21:15 PM
Letters
Midwest
Hurrah
On behalf of the staff for
the Warren Performing Arts
Center, I would like to thank
you and your staff for Richard
Barrett’s wonderful article
on our facility (“A Marvel
In Indianapolis,” October,
2006). We appreciate Stage
Directions for taking the time to look at
high school theatre programs and what they can offer to
the theatre community. If there is ever anything we can do
here at Warren for you, please don’t hesitate to ask. Again,
thank you, and good luck to you and your staff!
Matt Oskay
Director
Warren Performing Arts Center
Indianapolis, IN
Foggy Acclaim
I just wanted to thank you and Stage Directions for the
really excellent write-up on fog effects in the October issue
(“It’s All A Fog”). I think Christie Rizk did a great job clarifying the equipment features and needs for your readers.
Thanks again.
Joshua Alemany
Rosco
Stamford, CT
Let us know what you think of a Stage Directions
article or how your company dealt with a problem.
You can reach us at 311 W. 50th St., #3D,
New York, NY 10019;
or e-mail [email protected]
www.stage-directions.com • December 2006 300.0612.09.indd 9
11/15/06 12:52:19 PM
In The Greenroom
By Iris Dorbian
theatre buzz
2006 THEATRE HALL OF FAME INDUCTEES ANNOUNCED
The 2006 Theatre Hall of Fame will induct
some of Broadway’s finest in a ceremony on
January 29, 2007 at the Gershwin Theatre.
Inductees include actors Patti LuPone,
George Hearn and Elizabeth Wilson; playwright Brian Friel and designers Willa Kim
and Eugene Lee. The late scribes Wendy
Wasserstein and August Wilson will be
inducted posthumously.
Eligible nominees for the Theatre Hall of
Fame must have a minimum of 25 years
of
experience
working in the
American theatre;
they also must
have five major
theatre credits.
All inductees are
voted on by the Wendy Wasserstein
American Theatre
Critics Association and members of the
Theatre Hall of Fame.
ZIMMERMAN IS NEW AEA PRESIDENT
Courtesy of Actors’ Equity
Mark Zimmerman,
who has been a member of the Actors’
Equity Association for
30 years and joined
the Equity Council
in 1989, has been
voted Equity’s new
president. He will
fill the position most
Mark Zimmerman
recently held by
Patrick Quinn, who
died in September after being designated Equity’s
new executive director.
Zimmerman was first elected vice
president of Equity in 2000. During his term
of office, he chaired two negotiations of the
Production
Contract,
which
included
establishment of the 401(k) plan, improved safety requirements and enacted the Experimental
Touring Program. He also served on a number of
other negotiating teams and committees.
As an actor, Zimmerman has appeared in
productions such as Mamma Mia!, On the
Twentieth Century, The Rainmaker and Kiss of
the Spider Woman. He most recently appeared
at the Cape May Playhouse, in productions of
Moonlight and Marigolds and Guys and Dolls.
MACARTHUR FELLOW NAMED
COURTESY OF Joan Marcus
Courtesy of Yale Rep
Sarah Ruhl, whose play The Clean House was a
Pulitzer Prize finalist, and whose recent work, Eurydice,
recently had a run at the Yale Rep, has been named
a 2006 MacArthur Foundation Fellow.The Clean House
recently had its New York premiere at Lincoln Center
and will be directed by Yale Rep Associate Artist
Bill Rauch.
Eurydice, which Ruhl wrote while a graduate student
at Brown University,
is told from the perspective of Eurydice,
focusing on the power
of love between husSarah Ruhl
band and wife and
father and daughter.
In The Clean House, Ruhl casts her eye on domesticity, love and sisterhood and the search for humor at
death. Among her other plays are Passion Play: A Cycle,
Joseph Parks as Orpheus and Maria Dizzia as
Melancholy Play, Dead Man’s Cell Phone and Orlando, Eurydice in the recent Yale Rep production of
the latter an adaptation of the Virginia Woolf novel.
Eurydice
SMOKING
PLEASE!
According to an article
dated October 11, which
ran in the Denver Post,
a Boulder theatre company has gotten into a
peculiar legal wrangle. The
Curious Theatre Company
has filed a lawsuit against
the Colorado Department of
Heath and Environment as a
way to seek exemption from
the statewide smoking ban.
Backed by two other theatre
companies, Curious wants its
performers to be allowed freedom of expression onstage,
including smoking, citing the
First Amendment. Writes
John Moore, Denver Post’s
theatre critic: “The suit asks
for an immediate injunction that would prevent law
enforcement from issuing
any fines for smoking during
live performances until the
matter is heard by a judge.”
Curious, which is being represented by the law firm of
Holland and Hart, took matters into its own hands, rather
than wait for a possible citation due to its production of
tempOdyssey, which opened
in early November. Says
Artistic Director Chip Walton:
“Smoking can be pivotal to
character and plot development. We have both an
ethical and a legal obligation to present the play as
written, and to honor the
intent of the playwright.”
10 December 2006 • www.stage-directions.com
300.0612.10-12-14.indd 10
11/15/06 12:49:59 PM
300.0612.ADS.indd 11
11/14/06 2:03:53 PM
industry news
courtesy of Sapsis Rigging
Sapsis Rigging Celebrates Silver Anniversary
Bill Sapsis
Pennsylvania-based Sapsis Rigging is having a special
toast these days: They’re celebrating their 25th anniversary.
The company, which was begun by namesake owner/president Bill Sapsis in 1981, has been responsible for installations in countless venues around the world, including Lincoln
Center, the White House and a hay field outside of London. In
addition to overseeing innumerable projects, Sapsis has led
over 125 rigging seminars; his company has also inspected
over 1,000 rigging systems for safety purposes.
“I started the company on Friday the 13th and have been
petting black cats and stepping on cracks ever since,” says
Sapsis. “We’ve come a long way since the early days of rolling reels of aircraft cable out of my basement, and I’m looking forward to many years to come. I still won’t walk under
ladders, though. That’s just plain stupid.”
EASY RIDER
The Long Beach Long Riders, an ever-expanding
group of motorcyclists comprised of industry notables
who work to raise money every summer for The ESTA
Foundation’s Behind The Scenes program and for
Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS, has announced their
next four routes.
In the summer of 2007, the group will begin their trip in
Philadelphia,then ride through New England for nine days
before returning to the City of Brotherly Love. In 2008,
the charity coterie will converge in Las Vegas before setting out in southern Utah, Colorado and Arizona; this trip
will end with the group returning to the original destination: Las Vegas. For 2009, the motorcyclists will gather
momentum in the Carolinas, Virginia and Tennessee. And
finally, in 2010, the Harley crowd will begin and end their
trek in San Francisco.
To accommodate all riders who’d like to participate,
the Long Beach Long Riders wanted to plan their routes
as early as possible. Says Bill Sapsis, president of Sapsis
Rigging and organizer of the riders, “It’s our hope that better advance notice will give people an opportunity to plan
their vacations and join us on one (or more) of the rides.”
For more information on The Long Beach Long Riders,
visit www.lrir.org.
BL Expands
BL Innovative Lighting, a 20-year-old Vancouver, British
Columbia-based company, recently acquired Ultratec Fiber Optic
USA Inc. Estimated at $3 million, the acquisition will offer
customers a wide range of lighting products and services. BL
Innovative Lighting will use the fiber optic products that have
become readily available as a result of the acquisition to create
cost-effective, energy-efficient lighting systems and solutions
for a variety of applications. Betty Lou, who is also based in
Vancouver, has been named executive chairman and CEO of BL
Innovating Lighting.
Betty Lou
12 December 2006 • www.stage-directions.com
300.0612.10-12-14.indd 12
11/14/06 1:11:24 PM
300.0612.ADS.indd 13
11/14/06 2:04:25 PM
in memoriam
courtesy of the Phoenix Theatre Ensemble
EVE ADAMSON
Eve Adamson, founder of the once much heralded
downtown NYC theatre company, Jean Cocteau Rep, died
October 9. She was 67.
The Rep, which Adamson founded in 1971, had been
devoted to staging classics at low-ticket prices. Although
production values were not high, the quality of the acting
and directing was usually extolled by critics and audiences alike. Adamson remained artistic director of the
Rep until 1989, directing more than 100 productions,
including plays by Chekov, Ibsen, Pinter and Shakespeare.
At the time of her death, Adamson was preparing to begin
rehearsals for Antigone at the Phoenix Theatre Ensemble.
She is survived by a brother, Lloyd Christopher
of California.
Playwright Tennessee Williams with Eve Adamson
CROWNING ACHIEVEMENT
Elkhart, Indiana-based Crown International, a leading audio manufacturer, is beefing up its
senior personnel with the promotions of Scott Potosky to vice-president of engineering and
Marc Kellom to vice-president of marketing.
Of the appointments, Crown president Mark Graham says, “Both Scott and Marc have
impressive track records with Crown, leading to the development of some of our most important
products over the past decade. Each brings extensive leadership experience and an intimate
Scott Potosky
understanding of our business to their respective positions.”
Potosky, who has been with Crown for 18 years, most recently
served as its product development manager. Kellom, who has been with Crown for 12 years,
also recently held the title of product development manager; he has also been involved
in marketing.
Potosky has a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from Purdue University,
while Kellom holds a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from Milwaukee
School of Engineering and a master’s degree in business administration from Indiana
Institute of Technology.
courtesy of Crown International
changing roles
Marc Kellom
courtesy of Southwest Show Tech
SHOWY APPOINTMENT
Poway, California-based Southwest Show Tech, which has provided technical support
and creative services for corporate theatre and special events throughout the world for
15 years, has added Rebecca Kanter as an account executive to its team. With more than
eight years of experience in advertising and marketing, Kanter will follow SST’s mission of
providing innovative services to the company’s clients.
Rebecca Kanter
14 December 2006 • www.stage-directions.com
300.0612.10-12-14.indd 14
11/14/06 1:12:02 PM
300.0612.ADS.indd 15
11/14/06 2:04:58 PM
Resource Roundup
By Christie Rizk
Everything Old is New Again
Companies with restoration specialties that
will help your old theatre shine like new.
Phillip Handler
Conrad Schmitt Studios
800-969-3033
www.conradschmitt.com For more than 100 years, Conrad Schmitt Studios has
been working to restore, conserve and renovate architectural treasures. Their work on churches, theatres, hotels,
government buildings and other historical landmarks
has been internationally recognized. Their full range of
services includes restoration and renovation of interior
decorative schemes, stained glass, decorative painting,
including gilding, glazing, stenciling and faux finishes
— murals, statuary, sculpture and etched and faceted
glass. They also investigate and document the building’s
original decorative schemes in order to stay true to
the decorative origins. To see pictures of their individual projects and learn more about their services, visit
their Web site.
The Palace Theatre in Waterbury, Connecticut was the recent beneficiary of Conrad
Schmitt Studios’ specialty work.
Roger Farrington
Evergreene Painting Studios, Inc.
The Wang Center in Boston also received specialized restoration
work via Conrad Schmitt Studios.
212-244-2800
www.evergreene.com
For the past 25 years, Evegreene Studios has been nurturing artists and craftsmen from all over the country,
bringing their talents together to form one of the most
comprehensive and thorough teams of conservationists
and artists in the country. Evergreene Studios offers a
variety of conservation and restoration services, and
have done work in more than 100 theatres. Their crossdisciplinary approach — integrating conservation science, restoration craftsmanship, advanced technology,
art history, architecture and construction — ensures that
each unique space will keep its own flavor and design.
Evergreene has successfully conserved murals and fres-
16 December 2006 • www.stage-directions.com
300.0612.16-17.indd 16
11/14/06 2:08:28 PM
coes, decorative painting, ornamental plaster, scagliola
wood, mosaics, wallpaper, metal and wood in a variety
of media. They also do original plaster work, murals and
decorative paintings, and produce their own line of wallpapers. To learn more, please see their Web site.
John Canning Painting
& Conservation Studios
203-272-9868
www.canning-studios.com
With numerous awards and honors under their belts and
over four decades of experience, the
staff at John Canning Studios is dedicated to the restoration and conservation of monuments, and their preservation for future generations. They
have a long tradition of beautifully
restoring intricate and decorative
theatre spaces. Alongside their talented artists, John Canning Studios
employs a staff of sound business
associates, ensuring the success and
sound management of each project.
Their restoration and conservation
services include decorative painting,
trompe l’oeil, mural conservation,
gliding, glazing, stenciling, wood
carving and marbling. You can see
some of their recent projects on their
Web site.
prehensive planning for designing theatres that work for
their owners, their patrons and the theatre professionals
that use them. Their expertise in the areas of theatre technology, interior design, architectural lighting and space
planning have made them a premier firm in the world of
theatrical architecture. They have restored and renovated
illustrious theatres throughout the country, including the
New World Stages theatre in New York City and the John
F. Kennedy Center Opera House in Washington D.C.,
where the architectural lighting included refurbishment
of the enormous Lobmeyr crystal chandelier. More of
their portfolio can be seen on their Web site.
Legend Theatrical, Inc.
888-485-2485
www.legendtheatrical.com
Efficiency and image are the two
essential factors in all of Legend
Theatrical, Inc.’s theatre restoration
work. This company will be there
every step of the way, from design to
construction. They specialize, however, in the renovation of a theatre’s
technological systems, bringing
buildings up to speed and replacing archaic systems with the latest
in lighting and sound innovations.
Using their knowledge and expertise
they customize each theatrical space
to achieve a maximum of efficiency
and functionality. Give them a call to
find out more.
Sachs Morgan Studio
212-765-4144
www.sachsmorganstudio.com
Nationally recognized for their work
in theatre design and architecture,
Sachs Morgan Studio provides com-
www.stage-directions.com • December 2006 17
300.0612.16-17.indd 17
11/14/06 2:08:47 PM
Toys of the Trade
Yuletide Potpourri
The holiday season has a profusion of new products to put
under your Christmas tree.
Don’t
Haze Me In
CITC’s new StarHazer II is a safe-to-use machine whose output is double that
of the previous StarHazer. Its DMX 512 allows control from a light board,
and its insulation eliminates unwanted noise. Other features include
shock-absorbing motor mounts, insulated baffles and seven filters
to keep the unit free from debris. The dual opening in front
allows for two layers of output. The extended panels in the
back of the machine protect the connectors from damage.
For more information on the StarHazer II and its pricing, visit
www.citcfx.com or call 888-786-CITC.
CITC’s Starzhazer II
A
Knight Of A Product
At September’s PLASA show, Robert Juliat introduced Lancelot, a long throw effects projector
and followspot, built for arenas and large venues. This ultra bright fixture has been designed around a
360,000-lumen 4KW HTI lamp, and features smooth dimming control, a fully closing iris, a
color changer and DMX control. It also has a modular design that uses plug and
play cartridges to give the lighting designer a wide variety of options.
Cartridges are available now for progressive color effects,
frost, color correction and color mixing. Future features
include motorized zoom, variable strobe, a moving mirror
head and up to two five-position rotating gobo modules. For
more information, visit www.robertjuliat.com or contact your
local supplier for details.
Robert Juliat’s Lancelot
Audio Godsend
Soundcraft has announced the debut of its new MPM Series of multipurpose mixers. Designed for live sound, houses of worship and other applications, the MP is available in two standard frame sizes offering either 12
(MPM12/2) or 20 (MPM20/2) mono inputs, with each model featuring two
additional stereo input strips. Both the MPM12/2 and MPM20/2 have three
MPM20-2
auxiliary busses, which can be configured for
effects or monitor sends; all main connectors are XLR and 1/4-inch metal jack sockets
for reliability. RCA connectors are provided for disc and stereo playback inputs
and record outputs. Equalization on the mono inputs is three-band with a fixed
mid on stereo inputs. All mono input channels have TRS insert sockets;
inserts are also provided on the mix output. High-quality 60mm faders for
channel control and 10-segment LED output metering are also included
in the MPM set. The MPM series can be quickly and easily converted for
rack mounting by adding optional rack rails (although only the MPM12/2 will
fit in a standard 19-inch rack). Suggested list price for the MPM12/2 is $689 (or
$722 with optional rackmount kit) and $969 for the MPM20/2. For more information,
Soundcraft
log onto www.soundcraft.com.
MPM12-2
18 December 2006 • www.stage-directions.com
300.0612.18-19.indd 18
11/14/06 2:09:18 PM
Martin
Mania
At the recent LDI show in Las Vegas, Martin
Professional’s booth was the place to be in terms
of new products. The major lighting manufacturer
introduced a host of goodies that included
the MAC TW1, the company’s first tungsten lighting fixture, the MAC 700 Wash,
the companion washlight to the popular
MAC 700 profile and the new Mania
series lights.
The MAC TW1 is a 1200W tungMAC TW1
sten wash fixture that provides the lighting designer
a wide spectrum of colors and designs. It features a twin lens zoom
system and full CMY color mixing and dimming.
A 700-watt Fresnel luminaire, the MAC 700 Wash offers a full CMY color
MAC 700 Wash
mixing system and variable CTC plus 8-position color wheel. Other highlights
include a wide range variable zoom, continuous beam shaper and smooth
dimmer shutter system.
Also unveiled at LDI were the Mania EFX700 and the Mania EFX800,
two high-powered 150W discharge effect lights. The Mania EFX700
comes equipped with an array of hues, 12 new gobo designs, a mechaniMartin Mania EFX700
cal dimmer, a separate shutter for fast strobe effect and 12 pre-programmed
macros. The Mania EFX800’s light output has a 170° spread — wider than any flower
effect light of its type, which means you can cover more space with fewer fixtures. The EFX800 contains a separate gobo wheel with 12 gobos, a rotating parabolic mirror dish, a mechanical dimmer, a separate shutter for fast
strobe effect and 12 pre-programmed macros. For more information contact your local Martin distributor, or visit
www.martin.com.
Over The Moon
Nady Systems recently unveiled their latest product, an overhead hanging condenser microphone, the OHCM-200, designed for overhead miking applications
such as choruses, orchestras and stage performances. Top features of the
OHCM-200 include a smooth, flat frequency response, ultra sensitivity
and high SPL capacity for the clearest audio performance. Also, the
OHCM-200 has a permanently attached 20-foot (6.1m) cable with convenient integrated power module, an XLR connector and an integrated
hanging wire for ease of mounting during use. The mic is powered by
external 9~52 phantom power — no batteries are required. The MSRP
for the OHCM-200 is $99.95. For more information on this product,
visit www.nady.com.
Nady’s OHCM-200
www.stage-directions.com • December 2006 19
300.0612.18-19.indd 19
11/14/06 2:09:41 PM
Light On The Subject
By Amy L. Slingerland
all photography by Kevin G. Reeves
Peace, Love
and Illumination
The Bethel Woods performing space
A new performing arts venue — located in the same area as a legendary
outdoor concert several decades ago — comes of age, replete with
state-of-the-art lighting and staging technology.
W
hile carefree hippies of yesteryear may have glamorized
the “back-to-nature” aspects
of the original Woodstock, today’s baby
boomers expect more conventional
creature comforts when it comes to
music venues. And Bethel Woods, a
new performing arts center in upstate
New York located on the site of the
counterculture concert, delivers them
in a magnificent pastoral setting. Ten
years ago, cable TV mogul Alan Gerry
purchased the festival field and 1,700
surrounding acres, envisioning a multivenue arts complex to rival facilities
such as Tanglewood and Wolf Trap. On
July 1, 2006, the new center was inaugurated with a sold-out performance by
the New York Philharmonic.
Bethel Woods features 17 buildings, with a natural palette of wood siding, native fieldstone walls and copper
roofs. Even support buildings such as
restrooms, food courts and backstage
loading docks were designed to blend
aesthetically with their natural surroundings. Cleveland-based Westlake
Reed Leskosky (WRL) provided integrated architecture and engineering
design, while architectural and landscape lighting was done by George
Sexton Associates, which has offices in
the UK, New York and Washington, D.C.
Philadelphia-based Olin Partnership
collaborated on the landscape design,
which includes a gently falling stream
and two ponds, meandering pathways
and three bridges. Nestled in this idyllic setting is the Pavilion, an outdoor
shed venue with fixed seating for 4,800
and lawn space for 12,000 additional
spectators. JaffeHolden Acoustics of
Norwalk, Conn., was acoustical consultant on the Pavilion.
The Pavilion was designed to be
a flexible venue for all types of music,
from orchestral to rock. Over the inaugural summer, acts ranged from the
20 December 2006 • www.stage-directions.com
300.0612.20-24.indd 20
11/14/06 1:06:55 PM
Outside Bethel Woods
www.stage-directions.com • December 2006 21
300.0612.20-24.indd 21
11/14/06 1:07:19 PM
Light On The Subject
Philharmonic to Crosby, Stills, Nash and
Young, who also performed at the first
Woodstock festival (minus Neil Young).
“The Pavilion needed to respond to
the various acoustical requirements of
amplified and unamplified sound,” says
Paul E. Westlake Jr., FAIA, managing
principal of WRL and lead designer for
the project. “A custom cherry-veneer
portable shell fabricated by Wenger
was developed for use with an orchestra, to provide the proper acoustical
environment.” The orchestra shell
can be dismantled and the sections
stored on the periphery of the backstage area, to be assembled on the
stage when necessary. The shell incorporates ETC Source Four PARnels for
an even wash of glare-free lighting
for musicians.
Raymond Kent, WRL’s technical theatre specialist and audio-visual
designer, says that the need to counteract wind loads on the shell “created for some wonderful collaboration
with Wenger Corporation, Jaffe Holden
and myself. We analyzed many possible scenarios of wind direction and
storm protocol, as well as installation
and strike of the shell, to come up with
safe and effective moving and weathermonitoring procedures.” According to
James P. Reilly, the venue’s production
manager, the stage “can experience a
breeze of 10-14 mph across it at times,
so the engineers added anchor points
to each tower base and also wire rope
tethers at each corner of the ceiling to
secure it. The towers also have tethers that attach to points directly above
them in the grid.”
Another unique feature of this
venue is the walkable woven-wire tension grid made of 1/4” aircraft cable over
the stage, “which we believe is an innovative and highly functional approach,”
says Westlake. Darrell Ziegler, a WRL
theatre consultant, says, “Most outdoor
concert venues have a series of steel
beams or trusses over the stage which
requires personnel lifts and/or climbing
along beams using OSHA-required fallarrest systems. These are not required
using the tension grid. The wires are
spaced close enough to provide a safe,
stable walking surface for stagehands,
but still wide enough apart for a motorized chain hoist hook to pass through.
The tension grid allows the installation
of rigging equipment in multiple locations at the same time, and also allows
additional equipment to be added after
scenery is in place.”
Technical systems in the Pavilion
were designed for “maximum flexibility
by proper placement and types of equipment and connectivity,” explains Kent.
“The venue has strategically located
company switches and an even spread
of rigging points for multiple chain hoist
locations. We provided a 400-amp company switch for scenic elements and
lighting, and a 200-amp audio company
switch for touring groups, along with
an in-house portable dimmer rack for
use when the orchestra shell is in place.
We kept lighting positions flexible with
the use of multicable so that the unique
requirements of productions could be
served.” WRL also oversized the rack to
accommodate 96 dimmers in the future
(it currently holds 48) so that only additional dimmer modules and cable need
be installed.
22 December 2006 • www.stage-directions.com
300.0612.20-24.indd 22
11/15/06 1:50:14 PM
Backstage at Bethel Woods
In-house lighting includes an assortment of about 60 ETC Source Four ellipsoidals from 5 degrees to 36 degrees
plus gobo holders and top hats, and six
Lycian SuperStar 2.5 standard-throw
followspots. The stage rigging system
consists of 24 one-ton and 10 half-ton
CM Lodestar chain hoists, operated by a
Motion Laboratories 24-channel controller. The dimming system is composed
of 24 ETC 2.4kW Sensor dimmers in a
portable touring rack for the orchestra
www.stage-directions.com • December 2006 23
300.0612.20-24.indd 23
11/14/06 1:07:53 PM
Light On The Subject
Another view of the Bethel Woods space and audience seating
shell lighting and 48 Strand 2.4kW C21 touring dimmers.
Theatrical stage lighting is controlled by an ETC Express
48/96 console, and the orchestra shell is controlled by an
ETC Express 24/48. Theatrical wiring, stage lighting and rigging were provided by Barbizon and Syracuse Scenery and
Stage Lighting.
The Pavilion’s stage house is 134 feet wide, 55 feet deep
and 56 feet high; the stage itself is 7,500 square feet with
a proscenium opening of 70 feet. Two 15-foot by 20-foot
projection screens are located left and right of the proscenium, with two Digital Projections HIGHlite 12,000-lumen
DLP projectors and three Panasonic high-definition cameras.
“Projection was challenging in terms of acoustics, since they
are very powerful projectors that needed to be in an enclosed
environment to protect them from the elements,” says Kent.
To minimize fan noise without compromising the equipment,
WRL worked with Tempest Lighting and North American
Theatrix to custom-build enclosures that would keep the projector at peak ambient operating temperature while remaining
weathertight.
After a highly successful season with multiple sold-out
shows, Reilly says that “artists and managers have been very
pleased with the venue. Most commented that they can’t
wait to come back and play next year.”
Joel Reiff, lighting designer for the current Crosby, Stills,
Nash and Young tour, says, “Doing CSNY there at Woodstock
was cool! I just loved the grounds — very serene. And the crowd
there was great. I remember that as being a really good show
because the vibe was really good. It seemed like a really positive
place to be. They seem to be really trying to make a good thing
happen there.”
Amy Slingerland is a freelance writer based in New York City.
24 December 2006 • www.stage-directions.com
300.0612.20-24.indd 24
11/14/06 1:08:16 PM
300.0612.ADS.indd 25
11/14/06 2:05:26 PM
Theatre Space
By Christine Puleo
all photography by Robin Hill
The view of Knight Concert Hall from the stage.
The Gem of
South Beach
A multi-million dollar arts complex
unveils to great fanfare in Miami.
T
he view from the MacArthur Causeway, which connects glittery South
Beach with the grittier downtown Miami, is a spectacular one: turquoise
waters, opulent mansions, towering palm trees and rows of colorful
cruise ships. Now, an eye-catching addition to the Miami landscape has recently
appeared, the new Carnival Center for the Performing Arts located in downtown
Miami. Nestled between expressways and Biscayne Bay, the two-pronged stone
and glass complex is visible from many angles.
The project’s architect, Cesar Pelli, always knew he wanted to make the arts
center an iconic structure. Among his broadest objectives was to make the facility,
even the interior, highly visible from a distance. So explains Roberto Espejo, senior
on-site architect of Cesar Pelli Clark Pelli, when discussing what is arguably the
most talked about new building in Florida. Pelli certainly achieved his goals, creating a visual focal point for the city, visible from land and sea, which looks unlike
anything else in the area. In fact, the center’s glass curtain walls are easily viewed
from a distance on the MacArthur Causeway approach.
Other key design team members of the Carnival Center include managers from
Artec Consultants, Inc., specializing in acoustics, and Fisher Dachs Associates, the
highly respected New York theatre consulting firm. Both firms have been with the
project since its inception. Working together for more than eight years, the three
design groups created a facility anchored by the Sanford and Dolores Ziff Ballet
Opera House, a classical European opera house, which seats 2,450. On the other
side of Biscayne Boulevard, accessible via a pedestrian bridge, sits the Knight
Concert Hall, containing 2,200 seats, and named for major donors John S. and
James L. Knight.
Another important space is the 220-seat black box Studio Theatre, flexible enough to accommodate 10 different seating configurations. It is designed
to welcome smaller acts and to nurture local Miami talent. The unique Miami
26 December 2006 • www.stage-directions.com
300.0612.26-31. tspace.indd 26
11/14/06 1:17:06 PM
Inside the Opera House at the Carnival
Center for the Performing Arts
www.stage-directions.com • December 2006 27
300.0612.26-31. tspace.indd 27
11/14/06 1:17:24 PM
Theatre Space
The exterior of the Carnival Center for the Performing Arts
touch is the 57,000-square-foot, palmtree-lined Plaza for the Arts, an openair performance space that crosses
Biscayne Boulevard, where traffic can be
halted to accommodate performances of
various sizes.
“This is the most complicated performing arts center built in the United
States in 40 years — no one tries to
build two major performing arts buildings at once. It’s very ambitious. The
result, after years of hard work by literally thousands of people, is an incredibly successful performing arts center,”
says Alec Stoll, Fisher Dachs Associates’
project manager.
In addition to the thoughtfully
designed performance spaces, the
570,000-square-foot facility, which
broke ground in late 2001, has all the
extras often lost to value engineering,
such as ample storage and rehearsal
space, giving the center a luxurious feel
and the impression that no expense
has been spared. Overall, the effect is
an optimal and efficient performing and
viewing experience.
The major challenge of all performing
arts centers is the marriage of design with
functionality. At this particular venue, the
design teams were tested by additional
factors. “Miami set a very high mark in
terms of the site; it was an enormous challenge,” explains Espejo.
First, the design team had to create an inherently traditional performing
arts building, but simultaneously build a
structure that would effectively straddle
Biscayne Boulevard. The finished product is a two-part, diagonal design. Other
specific design challenges included a
mandate to preserve a 1929 Art Deco
tower, a relic from an old Sears department store. Add to the mix destructive
annual late summer and early autumn
hurricanes that inflict severe damage to
the Miami area. Then, designers had to
contend with the little issue of nearby
Miami International Airport. Located in
a fly-over zone, the center demanded
additional acoustical considerations to
silence the overhead roar of low-flying
commercial jets.
“This is the largest stage in the U.S.
behind the Kennedy Center and the Met,”
explains Stoll as he gives a tour of the
2,450-seat Opera House. The proscenium
arch is 50 feet wide by 38 feet high, and
overall the stage is about 200 feet wide
and 140 feet deep (the main stage is 127
feet by 70 feet, the backstage is 58 feet
by 84 feet, and stage left measures 61
feet by 67 feet). The resilient stage floor is
constructed with layers of wood on neoprene pads, and finished with masonite; it
also has a vented base that lets the floor
breathe. Two separate orchestra pit lifts,
four stage scenery wagons and three
compensating lifts make for a world class
opera house. And behind the scenes
lies plenty of equipment to ensure productions are well run; the stage right
equipment rack contains multiple touch
screens to control house lighting, lifts and
some rigging. There’s also a vast loading
dock with four bays to accommodate
even the largest road shows.
This means that the Carnival Center
can accommodate an opera or ballet of
any size, both logistically and acoustically. “Many signature elements are
incorporated into the Center. We have
28 December 2006 • www.stage-directions.com
300.0612.26-31. tspace.indd 28
11/14/06 1:18:00 PM
300.0612.ADS.indd 29
11/14/06 2:05:56 PM
Theatre Space
movable cloth systems and an adjustable pit to easily move the venue from
ballet to opera,” says Tateo Nakajma,
managing director and principal consultant at Artec. Throughout the audience,
coffers with motorized layers of cotton
velour can be lowered or raised to meet
acoustical needs, and the dazzling gold
dome in the center hall ceiling provides
acoustic refraction.
On the other side of Biscayne
Boulevard, Knight Hall is also an acoustical achievement. The centerpiece of the
symphony hall, which can accommodate
up to a 150-piece symphony and a chorus
of 200, is the elliptical spiraled ceiling
canopy weighing 130,000 pounds, an
advanced acoustical feature that can be
lowered and raised to control and direct
sound as needed. The hall also boasts
four reverberation chambers. Eightyfour concrete doors can be opened and
closed to calibrate the amount of reverberation. Behind these doors, thick blue
velour drapes can be deployed to further
finetune the hall. The seating configuration widens near the stage, creating a
false sense for those near the rear of the
hall of being closer than they really are.
Overall, Knight Hall has a clean, contemporary look with light walls and lighting
and yards of yellow-brown maple wood
accents throughout.
Both Ziff Opera House and Knight
Hall are acoustically isolated by joints
running along the length of the structure,
effectively creating the box-within-a-box
construction so important to maintaining
acoustical integrity. The two-inch joints
provide a cushion of air that outlines the
facility. Overall, every acoustic consider-
30 December 2006 • www.stage-directions.com
300.0612.26-31. tspace.indd 30
11/14/06 1:18:20 PM
The Knight Concert Hall ceiling
ation has been addressed. “We worked
very carefully with the architects and
Fisher Dachs to ensure that the shape
of the rooms, the distribution of the audience and the integration of the systems
all work together to meet regulations,”
says Nakajima.
The Carnival Center has had an
unusually strong impact on Miami — not
only on the visual landscape, but the
economic and arts landscapes as well.
The Carnival Center is a welcome new
space for Miami’s resident companies,
including the New World Symphony, the
Concert Association of Florida, Florida
Grand Opera and the Miami City Ballet,
as well as smaller area arts organizations.
Overall, it is a major cultural upgrade in
this increasingly sophisticated city with a
burgeoning arts scene.
Many also see the center as a major
catalyst in the revival and rebirth of
continued on page 58
Knight Concert Hall audience chamber
www.stage-directions.com • December 2006 31
300.0612.26-31. tspace.indd 31
11/14/06 1:18:43 PM
Musical Stages
By Brooke Pierce
It Might As
Well Be Spring
“M
y show is
moving to
Broadway
— it’s like a dream come
true,” enthuses Steven
Sater, lyricist and bookwriter of Spring Awakening, which opens at the Eugene O’Neill
Theatre on December 10. “I walked through the stage door and
it was like, ‘Oh my God.’ I came in, and we’re just standing on
this Broadway stage.” But it’s taken seven years for Sater and his
collaborator Duncan Sheik to get their show this far.
Based on Franz Wedekind’s play, Spring Awakening is about
teenagers in a provincial German town where none of the
adults will explain to their adolescent children the changes they
are going through — resulting in tragic consequences. “People
have praised the fact that we’re faithful to Wedekind, which has
meant a lot to me, because I made a vow that we would. But the
truth is, we have rewritten the hell out of it,” admits Sater. They
have taken the episodic play and made it a “hero’s journey” for
the thoughtful and intelligent Melchior, also focusing on the
frustrations of his friends Moritz and Wendla.
Playwright Sater and singer/songwriter Sheik (who released
his debut pop album in 1996) first crossed paths because of
their shared Buddhist faith. “We just had one of those amazing
meetings of a lifetime, and I can’t really explain it otherwise,”
says Sater. Though he had never thought about writing lyrics,
he and Sheik tried writing a couple of songs together for Sater’s
play Umbrage, and soon enough the pair were collaborating
on the album Phantom Moon. “I said we should create a piece
of theatre. I gave him Spring Awakening and that’s when we
started talking about it.
“I had long loved the play,” continues Sater, “and it had
seemed to me that it was kind of an opera, potentially — that the
soul of song was already within the play. There’s all this unfulfilled yearning, and these cries.” He felt that the haunted romanticism of Sheik’s music would be ideally suited to the material.
“Pop music is an outlet for this same yearning, and a release that
was so unavailable to those kids. In your room, you’re a rock
COURTESY OF Joan Marcus
Nineteenth-century German drama meets contemporary
American rock in Broadway’s Spring Awakening
star, and you get to sing
about whatever it is. Then
you’re still stuck in your
life. So that was the first
Spring Awakening
conceit for the play. My
thought was that all the
songs would function as interior monologue.”
Though they briefly considered doing an updated version,
the beauty of the play seemed specific to its time and place,
so they settled instead for keeping the 19th century setting,
but creating the songs in a contemporary style. “The kids grab
mics and step out and rock out,” says Sater. “Then they go back,
and they’re trapped in this world of breeches and buttons. The
structure of the show becomes a way of underscoring the timelessness of this theme.” And it’s not just the music that sounds
contemporary, but Sater’s lyrics, too, are strikingly modern,
using colloquial expressions (“we’ve all got our junk, and my
junk is you”), curse words, references to devices like stereos and
the ubiquitous teenage verbal hiccup, “like.”
Which comes first for this songwriting team? “I write the
lyrics first,” answers Sater. “We have had a couple of great
experiences writing music first, but by and large, I give Duncan a
lyric, and he just sets it verbatim. It’s so easy. There’s something
almost mystic about our relationship.”
Unfortunately, getting a musical produced is rarely so easy.
Things started out promisingly when director Michael Mayer
came on board. They did workshops of Spring Awakening in
2000 and 2001, and the Roundabout was set to put on the
first full production. But Mayer became busy with Thoroughly
Modern Millie, so they postponed the production for a couple
of years. Then Roundabout got hit with budget cuts and had
to drop the show from its roster, leaving the Spring Awakening
team to find another home. “Everyone was just confounded
by it,” remembers Sater. “Here was this period script with
German names, and this contemporary rock CD, and they just
didn’t know what to make of it. And everyone said ‘Times have
changed, and it’s dark.’ ”
Tom Hulce, of Amadeus fame, had seen workshops of
32 December 2006 • www.stage-directions.com
300.0612.32-35.indd 32
11/14/06 1:15:04 PM
300.0612.ADS.indd 33
11/14/06 2:06:31 PM
COURTESY OF Joan Marcus
Musical Stages
A close moment in Spring Awakening
the show and came in to help the
guys get it back on track. Eventually
they were offered a slot in the Great
American Songbook Series at
Lincoln Center in 2005, which got
the momentum going again. Says
Sater, “Out of that, producer Ira
Pittelman became interested, and
the Atlantic Theater committed to
doing it, with Ira and Tom’s involvement, commercially.”
Before bringing it to the Atlantic
this past summer, they did a workshop at Baruch College. “That was
one of the most important things we
did,” says Sater. “Michael was able to try out his staging ideas,
the designers were able to grow familiar with the world of the
play. And the kids, who were so young, were able to come and
learn this.”
The kids in question include Jonathan Groff, John Gallagher
Jr. and Lea Michele in the main roles of Melchior, Moritz and
Wendla, respectively. “Because we went on for seven years,
kids kept getting too old for the cast.” But Michele has been with
them for six years. “Somehow she always seemed to me like the
34 December 2006 • www.stage-directions.com
300.0612.32-35.indd 34
11/14/06 1:15:43 PM
Musical Stages
The composers of Spring Awakening:
Steven Sater (left) and Duncan Sheik
soul of the show,” says Sater. To find the other talented young
actors, they had to do a wide search, from schools to bands. “It’s
a really hard show to cast because the kids have to be able to
do classical text and then be able to sing pop/rock. You have to
find really special individuals.”
Now they’re all packing up and moving to the Eugene O’Neill
for the commercial run — “We’ve got a couple of new songs,
we’re adding musicians” — but hopefully Broadway won’t be
the end. “I always thought there was a future for this show at
colleges, regional theatres,” says Sater. “It’s such a great opportunity for kids to do a show that’s about their issues.”
He has found the experience of giving voice to these kids
very rewarding: “Just to write a lyric and then have someone
sing it back to you, it’s a remarkable experience. Then to see kids
onstage embody that song, act it and sing it to each other, it’s
tremendously powerful.”
Despite its dark subject matter, Sater thinks Spring
Awakening should have broad appeal. “We all went through
adolescence, and that’s what the story calls out to in people.
It’s as much about parenting as it is about being a child,” says
Sater, who is a parent himself. But some of the best responses
have come from young people, as in one instance he relates
during the Atlantic run. “There was a set of high school kids
that came in,” he recalls. “It was one of the most amazing performances we ever gave of the show. And afterwards the kids
said, ‘Thank you so much for respecting us enough to put our
story onstage.’”
Brooke Pierce is a freelance writer living in New York City.
www.stage-directions.com • December 2006 35
300.0612.32-35.indd 35
11/14/06 1:16:06 PM
Toronto Theatre Spotlight
Soulpepper Theatre Company
Pepper
and Spice
Guntar Kravis
Tom Arban
Main entrance of the
Young Center for the
Performing Arts
Jordan
Pettle and
William Hutt
in Waiting
for Godot
A theatre company born from a prestigious festival is drawing
prestige of its own with a steady menu of quality productions.
M
any actors dream of forming their own theatre
company, a few even try
— hardly any of them become an
integral part of a city’s cultural life
and acquire their own multipurpose
performance space in eight short
years. But that’s exactly what hap-
By Richard Ouzounian
pened to Toronto’s Soulpepper
Theatre Company.
It began with actor Albert Schultz
and some of his colleagues who had
met during their years in the late
1980s as members of the Young
Company at Canada’s Stratford
Festival. A decade later, they had all
achieved success on TV, stage and
film, but a certain spark was lacking
for all of them.
“We needed something to make
us feel we were alive again,” says
Schultz, speaking of the motivation
that drove the 12 performers who
banded together to form a theatre
36 December 2006 • www.stage-directions.com
300.0612.36-39.TheaSpot.indd 36
11/14/06 1:19:04 PM
Sandy Nicholson
Albert Schultz and Megan Follows in the Soulpepper production of The Real Thing
ensemble that was named by Schultz’s
pre-teen children. He chuckles as he
recalls the way they said, “Dad, you’re
doing this to put some pepper in your
soul again.”
And they did. From their debut
performance of Schiller’s Don Carlos
on July 11, 1998, to the opening of
the Young Centre of the Performing
Arts with a staging of Thornton
Wilder’s Our Town on February 1,
2006, Soulpepper has not only been
the talk of the town, but word has
spread across the border as well.
Of the theatre, The New York
Times wrote, “One of the best reasons to stay in this city is the rethinking of classical plays by the innovative
company Soulpepper.” The Chicago
Tribune raved that “Great cities are
known for the theatre companies they
keep. In Toronto, the one that has
attracted critical attention and audience enthusiasm is Soulpepper.”
It’s almost too good to be true:
an actor-driven theatre that programs
nothing but high-quality works, consistently fills the seats and balances
the budget.
But they’ve done it. For the last
three summers, their sellout shows
have been Waiting for Godot, The
Wild Duck and The Real Thing—not
Forever Plaid or Shear Madness.
“When we want to do a twohander,” jokes Schultz, “we program Ionesco’s The Chairs and not
The Gin Game.”
Initially, Soulpepper operated
out of the Harbourfront Complex on
Toronto’s waterfront, running only in
the summer months.
In 1998, they presented two
plays in repertory (Don Carlos and
The Misanthrope). The next year,
they upped the number to five,
with eclectic programming that
included Beckett, Chekhov, Molnar,
Wilder and Williams.
As the years progressed, they added
Pinter, Shakespeare, Friel, Goldoni,
Feydeau, Ibsen, Strindberg, Shepard,
Goldsmith, Ionesco — the kind of repertoire most North American theatres
dream of, but only get to deliver sporadically, while they cut the mix with
comedies and musicals.
“Our audiences can get commercial entertainment elsewhere
in Toronto,” says Schultz, “and
www.stage-directions.com • December 2006 37
300.0612.36-39.TheaSpot.indd 37
11/14/06 1:19:24 PM
Theatre Spotlight
Sandy Nicholson
Albert Schultz in Hamlet
that’s our good fortune. They come to us for the more
serious stuff.”
There’s a core group of about a dozen actors who form
the backbone of most productions, but guest artists like Brent
Carver and Megan Follows come in for one or two productions. And while Schultz and his associates direct the lion’s
share of the shows, there have been significant guest directors from abroad, such as Ireland’s Ben Barnes and Hungary’s
Laszlo Marton.
It was only a matter of time before Schultz’s vision needed a
home of its own. He discovered it in a historic section of old Toronto
called The Distillery District that was being revitalized. With the
help of his board chair, Roger Garland (former vice-chairman of
Four Seasons Hotels, Inc.), he formed an alliance with the Theatre
School of George Brown, the City College of Toronto.
They moved quickly, and in 2002 they hired Thomas Payne of
the Toronto-based Kuwabara Payne McKenna Blumberg Architects
to design a unique space in a series of historic buildings, dating
from 1842, that would combine eight separate performance venues, ranging in size from 50 to 400 seats, as well as sufficient class-
38 December 2006 • www.stage-directions.com
300.0612.36-39.TheaSpot.indd 38
11/14/06 1:19:42 PM
Theatre Spotlight
room space for the school, full technical
facilities and necessary office areas for
both organizations.
The budget was $14 million Canadian,
and $11 million of that was raised from
the two organizations in a capital campaign. Named the Young Centre for the
Performing Arts, after the family that
provided a major gift of $3 million, it
opened earlier this year on schedule and
on budget.
The building has drawn the same kind
of rave reviews Soulpepper productions
usually receive, with The Globe and Mail
hailing it as “the vital spark that every city
desires” while The Toronto Star deemed it “a
masterpiece of comfort, flexibility and beauty.” With its spacious central lobby, lit by a
huge fireplace, a lengthy tapas bar and wellstocked bookstore, it creates the impression
of a place you belong, rather than a place
you merely visit.
Soulpepper is also devoted to the
process of education. From the start, they
have gone into the city’s schools, teaching workshops, offering classes and making
matinees available at heavily reduced prices,
especially to inner city students. And even
in their new home there is a $5 rush for
unsold seats at curtain time for anyone 21
and under.
They also have a mentorship program for 14 teens to work with the company over an intensive six-week period
each summer.
But their newest pride and joy is the
Soulpepper Academy, just begun in June,
2006, which invites 10 mid-career artists for
a revolutionary two-year training program,
during which they are paid throughout. The
final participants were chosen from 225
applicants across Canada, eager to participate in what Schultz describes as “a unique
combination of studio training, academic
study and applied knowledge-apprenticeship training with the Soulpepper main
stage company.”
They will be an integral part of
Soulpepper’s next season, which runs
from January through December 2007
and includes The Threepenny Opera,
John Gabriel Borkman, Top Girls, The
Time of Your Life, The Three Sisters,
Mary Stuart and Blithe Spirit — as well
as a revival of their acclaimed production
of Our Town.
“It’s an exciting time for us,”affirms
Schultz before breaking into a laugh.
“But it’s always been an exciting time for
us. I think that’s our secret.”
www.stage-directions.com • December 2006 39
300.0612.36-39.TheaSpot.indd 39
11/14/06 1:30:17 PM
Toronto School Spotlight Sheridan College
All photography courtesy of Sheridan College
Students flex their skills in the February 2005 production of The Music Man.
Gotta Sing, Gotta Dance
For almost 40 years, this school has been turning out
the most skilled of performers: the triple threat.
“G
otta sing, gotta dance,”
isn’t just an empty showbiz mantra for the students in the Music Theatre program at
Canada’s Sheridan College — it’s their
academic goal.
And don’t forget to add “gotta
act” as well, because this three-year
course of study is intent on turn-
By Richard Ouzounian
ing out what’s known as the “triple
threats” — performers whose dramatic and movement skills keep apace
with their musical ones.
It certainly seems to be paying
off. Whenever you open a theatre
playbill in Canada (and increasingly,
in the United States), you’ll notice the
phrase “graduate of Sheridan College”
next to a lot of the more promising
young names.
Tina Maddigan, who created the
role of Sophie on Broadway in Mamma
Mia!, played it for two years, and
is currently in The Wedding Singer,
lists Sheridan as her alma mater. So
does Michael Therriault, who recently
earned unanimous rave reviews for
40 December 2006 • www.stage-directions.com
300.0612.40-43.SchoSpot.indd 40
11/14/06 1:24:57 PM
Two scenes from the November 2004 Sheridan College production of Berlin to Broadway with Kurt Weill
his performances as Leo Bloom in the
Toronto version of The Producers as
well as his Gollum in The Lord of the
Rings, which he’ll be recreating in
London next summer.
Sarah Cornell, who played Ulla
in the Broadway and Toronto productions of The Producers, Jennifer
Stewart, the Penny of Toronto’s
Hairspray, and Jeff Lillico, the juvenile star of both the Shaw Festival and
Soulpepper Theatre companies, are
more of the recent graduates who are
drawing rave reviews.
And all of this hard work happens
in a totally non-glitzy environment.
Sheridan College is about 40 miles
from downtown Toronto in suburban
Oakville, and there’s nothing in its
series of ordinary-looking low-rise
buildings to indicate that the Patrick
Wilsons and Kristin Chenoweths of
tomorrow have been honing their
craft inside since 1967.
But that’s just what’s going on.
At any given time, a total of 120 students are enrolled in the three-year
program, working with a faculty of
35, all of whom are experienced professional practitioners.
Greg Peterson, the program coordinator of music theatre performance,
has years of experience as a director, including time at the Stratford
Festival and other major Canadian
regional theatres. His colleagues
often alternate teaching their class-
es with appearing in major musicals
playing in Toronto, which is exactly
what Peterson intends to happen.
“Students learn to understand what it
is to be a professional by working with
professionals,” he explains. “None of
the work we do here is theoretical. It’s
all practical.”
When asked what he thinks makes
Sheridan’s program uniquely successful, Peterson has no hesitation
in answering. “It’s the evenness of
the split in the three different fields:
dance, acting and singing. A lot of
other programs concentrate mainly
on how to sell a song. Our graduates
know how to do the dance numbers
and act the scenes as well.”
In addition, Sheridan places a great
emphasis on the practical side of the
business: no ivory tower syndrome
here. There’s a rigorous series of classes devoted to auditioning, as well as
time spent on how to perform in commercials, microphone technique and
other essential tricks of the trade.
“By the time they come out of here,
they’re prepared for anything,” says
Peterson proudly. “And that’s what
we want them to be.”
In the first year, students divide
their time between studying four
disciplines: acting, voice, dance and
music. There’s also a commercial
performance course, as well as time
devoted to stagecraft, a survey of theatre history and computer skills.
The second year begins by intensifying the study of the four disciplines,
with more specific applications, as in
scene study, music theory and dance
performance. There’s also the first of
two courses on the history of musical
theatre and room for a general education elective.
In the latter half of the second year
— the midway point of the program
— actual performance becomes a
major part of the curriculum, with the
first of three full-scale musical productions the students are all involved
with. These are presented in Theatre
Sheridan’s Macdonald Heaslip Hall,
a well-appointed 300-seat space that
allows them to present full-scale versions of the classic Broadway musicals.
This season includes She Loves
Me, Candide and West Side Story.
Roles are often double-cast, so that all
students get a chance to perform in a
significant role. There’s also a “Bold
Strokes” program each year, which
presents semi-staged productions of
original Canadian works as well as
“Catch a Rising Star,” an annual revue
in which the students can showcase
their talents.
In the program’s third and final
year, the emphasis is increasingly
placed on making the transition to
the professional world, with audition
techniques, performance and production coming to the foreground.
www.stage-directions.com • December 2006 41
300.0612.40-43.SchoSpot.indd 41
11/14/06 1:25:14 PM
School Spotlight
By the time they graduate, the
Sheridan Music Theatre students
are expected to (in the words of the
department’s mission statement):
“Act, sing, and dance applying
a range of healthy vocal, physical, analytical and emotional techniques; collaborate effectively;
behave professionally; prepare
and present appropriate audition material; utilize the inner and
outer resources of a performer; practice self-assessment; employ strategies for personal and professional
advancement.”
Virtually every student finds their
first job in the professional theatre
within a year of leaving the program, and the career arc of some
recent graduates, as noted, is indeed
impressive.
Yearly tuition is approximately
$5,000 (US) for Canadian residents
and $14,500 for students from outside the country. Scholarships are
available, both at an entrance level
through the college itself and within
the department once the students
are enrolled in the program.
It may be 45 minutes from Toronto,
rather than Broadway, but Sheridan
College is certainly doing its best
to shorten the distance between
their students’ dreams and the Great
White Way. For more information
about Sheridan College, visit www1.
sheridaninstitute.ca/theatre/.
Richard Ouzounian is the theatre critic for the Toronto Star.
He is the author of numerous plays, including Dracula: a
Chamber Musical, produced
at
the Stratford Festival.
From the
November 2003
production of Man
of La Mancha
42 December 2006 • www.stage-directions.com
300.0612.40-43.SchoSpot.indd 42
11/14/06 1:25:36 PM
School Spotlight
www.stage-directions.com • December 2006 43
300.0612.40-43.SchoSpot.indd 43
11/14/06 1:25:52 PM
Feature
By Christine Sparta
Beyond The
Box Office
Architectural drawing
of the State Theatre’s
new marquee
Collecting Dollars from “Shotgun
Weddings”
R
egional theatres have realized
there are more ways to bring
in extra revenue besides selling
liquor and other beverages at intermission. Many entertainment establishments have found innovative ways to
generate dollars and, often at the same
time, become a community center.
“In the last couple of years, we’ve
opened ourselves up to a lot of exposure to the community, including leaving the lights on when we’re not home,”
says Marty Schiff, an actor/producer/
director who is now the executive director for the State Theatre Center for the
Arts in Uniontown, Pennsylvania. It’s
easy to notice the theatre because of
the snazzy new marquee that cost a
quarter of a million dollars to create.
Schiff builds interest in his theatre by
speaking at community mainstays like
the local Rotary Club. “All of a sudden,
there is a face to go with a name,”
he explains. “As a non-profit theatre,
we’re asking people to give money, but
often we forget to say thank you.” His
outreach has bolstered his box office.
Ticket sales are up 70 percent over the
last two years. Schiff’s industry contacts
have helped draw big names like Bob
Newhart to his stage.
Schiff has many TV credits, including roles on Dallas and Newhart. He
had great success with Newhart’s
appearance because it attracted a
legion of patrons, some of whom traveled from as far as Toronto just to see
the comedian. Schiff hopes to eventually put a music series on the roster.
He also literally keeps the doors
open more with ballet performances and classic film showings, like a
September double bill of Easy Rider
and The World’s Fastest Indian to
coincide with a local motorcycle event.
He would like to attract more performers who could incorporate his venue
on their tours. John Hemsath, the director of theatre operations at the Playhouse Square
Center in Cleveland, Ohio, an operation
that encompasses a number of theatres
and performance spaces, has found several ways to increase revenue. Visitors
to the Web site can see that they promote space rental on the first page. It’s
been a popular location for corporate
events, weddings and other fetes. Theatre lobbies are available for $185 an
hour for wedding photos.
Working for the organization for
32 years, Hemsath has discovered
that advertising the space wasn’t
really necessary after the first year
because it had become so popular. “We
specialize in shotgun weddings,” he halfjokes, because weddings are planned
around the theatre schedule.
A lot of couples like to reserve their
weddings at the Palace Theatre because
of its dramatic grand staircase. They can
also rent the stage, and that can hold 500
seats. The Palace has sentimental significance for Hemsath because he met his
wife there in the lobby and eventually
married her there. The good thing about
44 December 2006 • www.stage-directions.com
300.0612.44-45.boxoff.indd 44
11/14/06 2:10:55 PM
Feature
events is that they are generally guaranteed revenue, whereas a
show may or may not sell out.
Tour groups also contribute a few dollars to the outfit. Private
tours are available for $80. These visits are popular with seniors,
conventioneer spouses and social groups — people who may
not have otherwise visited the theatre.
The Playhouse Square Center has also been used as a
movie location. My Summer Story, the sequel to A Christmas
Story, was shot there. This made-for-TV movie was a good
revenue boost for the community in general. Though
Hemsath says they got involved to help stimulate the area’s
economy rather than bring in funds, this idea could be good
for theatres.
Becky Hancock, general manager of the Tennessee Theatre
in Knoxville, Tenn., a venue that has been used for political gatherings and as a rental for the Knoxville Symphony, has allowed
artists to record a performance for DVD distribution. She charges a flat fee up front. In addition, she outfitted the space with a
sound and lighting infrastructure to make it easier for film and
TV people to use it.
Movie premieres raise the visibility of a space to help
get eventual donors. The Lensic Performing Arts Center in
Santa Fe, N.M., has premiered such films as North Country
with Charlize Theron.
A wedding in one of Playhouse Square Center’s lobbies
Brick, Balls and Bars
People can leave a literal legacy by purchasing a seat in an
arts center. The Tennessee Theatre has a Take a Seat Program
as part of its capital campaign. More than 1,300 of the 1,600
seats are adorned with brass plaque name plates on the arm
continued on page 58
www.stage-directions.com • December 2006 45
300.0612.44-45.boxoff.indd 45
11/14/06 2:12:51 PM
Special Houses of Worship Section
Rime of the
Mariners
At this California church, sound is paramount.
By Evan Henerson
Outside the Mariners Church
T
he congregation had been steadily growing at
Mariners Church, and the creative elements of the
services were expanding and developing right along
with those increasing numbers. Which meant that the 41year-old congregation based in Irvine, Calif., would need a
new house of worship to accommodate both the expanding numbers and the developing styles. Complicated
theatrics and technical capabilities weren’t top priorities. Comfort, sound clarity and capacity, however,
were critical.
“We’ve gone from pretty much contemporary services
to a lot of electric drums and high energy types of services,” explains Ken Robertson, Mariners’ technical arts
director. “From a design standpoint, we needed to be able
to seat about 3,200 to 3,400 people in a room that would
be acoustically friendly to the type of music we wanted
to do.
“Also, from a stage standpoint, we wanted to build a
black box that would allow us to create sets,” he contin-
46 December 2006 • www.stage-directions.com
300.0612.46-48.indd 46
11/14/06 1:52:05 PM
ues. “We don’t ever keep the same set for more than three
weeks, so we wanted the flexibility of what we could do
thematically with all of the stage.”
One $14 million construction project later, Mariners
gained 1,400 new seats, about 30 percent additional
stage capacity and all the technical bells and whistles you
could want. In fact, there are so many technical aspects to
the new church that both Robertson and administrators
at Acoustic Dimensions, the Dallas, Texas-based firm that
oversaw the project with Newport, Beach-based architects
DeRevere and Associates, now both refer to the Mariners’
project as a “benchmark.” Where Mariners’ former worship hall felt like a theatre, the new venue more closely
approximates a concert hall — even the back balcony
bleachers have been designed in a wrap-around configuration to bring patrons closer to the pastor and absorb sound
caroming off the back and side walls.
“It looks pristine,” says Robertson. “The worship team
and the pastor have all been appreciative of all that went
into it. A lot of other churches have either called, seen our
Web site or come to visit with their building committees to
see what we do.”
“I see a lot of churches doing contemporary small
rock band type stuff, which is a little more demanding on
a sound system than in previous years or generations,”
notes Casey Sherred, a consultant at Acoustic Dimensions.
“But a lot of churches we deal with are more contemporary
based and headed that way. They wanted to sound good
and give that immersive experience they kind of expect
when they go to a concert.
“Churches are competing with the entertainment
industry in some ways,” he adds. “Whether it’s a church
or a Blue Man Group show, expectations are going up, and
churches are trying to deliver something of high quality as
well.” Well, $14 million — and its careful application — gets
you quality and plenty of immersion.
Mariners now has three video screens (two inside the
proscenium), considerably higher ceilings than in the previous space and more than 60 automated moving lights. The
new worship center, which opened in 2005, also carved
All photos courtesy of Acoustic Dimensions
Inside the Mariners Church worship center
www.stage-directions.com • December 2006 47
300.0612.46-48.indd 47
11/14/06 1:52:41 PM
Special Houses of Worship Section
Gear Alert
A short list of the audio
equipment at Mariners Church.
Courtesy of CCI Solutions (contractors for
Mariners church project)
HOUSE SYSTEM
Speakers
JBL VerTec 4888
JBL PD5322 (delay)
EAW UB52 (front fill)
EAW SB625D and
JBL ASB6128 (subs)
Amps and Processing
Crown MA and CT series
amps
BSS 9000 series processors
Console
ATI Paragon Production II
Effects
TC Electronic D-Two, M2000
and M One-XL
MONITORS
AND MICS
Monitor Consoles
Soundcraft SM12-40
Crest XRM
Personal Monitors
Shure P2T
Sennheiser EW300
A view of the audio equipment that make Mariners Church run smoothly
out space for a fully outfitted design shop with welders
and compressors. In-house production is now possible via
a video production suite connected to the auditorium.
The hall itself is long, contains a flat floor, and is asymmetrical with terraced seating toward the back. Project
designers elected not to build catwalks, but they needed
a way both to bring the light in and block it off when the
video screens were being used. Acoustic demands necessitated a clean looking line array system with exposed
speakers and custom built cabinetry to keep the speakers
from blocking sightlines.
“Three years ago, HD was just starting to poke its
head into the church market. At the time I was doing
research, and it was not developed enough to bring into
our facility,” recalls Robertson. “For our building, we spent
about $2.8 million, where some churches of the same size
might spend $8 to $9 million if they’re going to do HD and
broadcast. We don’t broadcast, so we could get by with
Mics
Audio-Technica AT-5000
Shure UC4, UA844, UA870B
a lot lesser system, and didn’t have to keep up with the
Joneses, so to speak.”
Robertson was able to draw from his experience as
the technical director at another Orange County house
of worship, the Saddleback Valley Community Church,
which renovated its 3,800-seat multipurpose room in
1995. Acoustic Dimensions handled that project as well,
although Saddleback Valley, unlike Mariners, had to contend with floor-to-ceiling glass that had the potential to
adversely affect sound quality.
Attendees of the regular Sunday services are the primary beneficiaries of Mariners’ upgrades. Congregational
singers perform choir-like every few weeks. A band may
be composed of a three or four-piece assortment of drums,
guitars and keyboards. Since opening the new worship
center, Mariners has given the stage over to a gospel choir
and the occasional children’s musical.
In such instances, when technical theatrical needs
48 December 2006 • www.stage-directions.com
300.0612.46-48.indd 48
11/15/06 2:10:35 PM
A perspective of the worship center from the congregation
come into play, Mariners can handle
it. “We have a full-time set designer.
A lot of churches are now seeing the
value of having someone on staff to
oversee that,” says Robertson. “We try
not to do things that we’re not — either
technically or talentwise — capable of
pulling off.”
Mariners’ technical staff numbers
five full-time staff members. Between
volunteers, staff and contract labor for
things like video directing and lighting
programming, as many as 11 people
may be working behind the scenes
on an average Sunday program. Kevin
Sorg, the former resident lighting
designer, like Robertson, has worked
extensively in live production, including duty with the Mighty Ducks of
Anaheim.
“To be honest, the church makes
us look really good when the operators know how to use the system,”
says Sherred. “With Mariners, it’s really easy. We can send people there
with confidence and know it will
sound great.”
Evan Henerson is a lifestyle/features writer who covers theatre for
the Los Angeles Daily News.
www.stage-directions.com • December 2006 49
300.0612.46-48.indd 49
11/14/06 1:53:26 PM
Special Houses of Worship Section
Look,
Listen
and
Learn
By Lisa Arnett
One Chicago-area church’s new children’s ministry theatre provides
a bright space for kids to share their teachings.
T
wenty years ago, a drive along Randall Road in the
western Chicago suburb of St. Charles yielded a
steady view of expansive cornfields. Today, Christ
Community Church’s colossal campus has sprouted and
sprawled through the now-developed area, serving more
than 3,000 members with an arts-focused approach to
worship. The newest addition to serve its growing ministry? KidsWorld, a $6 million children’s wing equipped
with a 4,100-square-foot theatre space completed
in June 2006.
On Sundays, CCC’s adults, as well as junior high and
high school students, gather in one of several auditorium
spaces for services that are held theatre-style, often integrating musical performances and dance as well as skits
presented by the resident drama team. “We try and place
a high emphasis on the arts,” says Randy Isola, director
of CCC’s children’s ministry. “That gets carried through
across the board, from the adults to students to children.
We try and make sure that our church is a place where
people who are gifted in those areas can use those gifts
to serve, and, at the same time, we want to train kids
and help shape a new generation that is going to be passionate about those areas and skilled in them as well.”
When planning for the KidsWorld wing — the seventh
phase in the church’s large-scale building and expansion
project that has continued since its 1980s inception
— it made sense to include a theatre for the children’s
ministry, whose tiny members span in age from toddlers
to fifth grade.
Designing for Flexibility
David Schultz & Associates of Barrington, Ill., an architectural planning firm that has designed more than 300
churches, took on the task of designing CCC’s entire
St. Charles campus. The church staff envisioned the
KidsWorld Theatre as a flexible space that would hold
about 300 children for Sunday morning programs.
The result was a rectangular, stadium-style space with
carpet-covered concrete tiers stepping down to a wide
stage. The absence of built-in seating means kids can pile
in and casually sit along the steps, with freedom to gather
in separate groups within the house. Freestanding chairs
could be brought in only when needed, and the design
would allow the theatre to serve as a multi-functional
space, says Schultz. “For example, having those large
risers, it’s conceivable that if they had a traveling youth
group that needed a stopover point to sleep, say they were
coming down from Canada or northern Minnesota, they
could use those tiers as sleeping space.”
The architects’ primary challenge in fitting the theatre
into the new KidsWorld wing was that it was to be contained on the main floor, allowing for staff office space
directly above on the second floor. Because the theatre’s
pint-size audience members would be seated directly
50 December 2006 • www.stage-directions.com
300.0612.50-53.CCC.indd 50
11/14/06 1:33:31 PM
Courtesy of Larry Winers
courtesy of Carl Schoene/McShane Fleming Studios
Another view of the KidsWorld stage
Courtesy of Larry Winers
Inside KidsWorld at Christ Community Church
on each tier, their sight lines were
much more shallow than in a traditional theatre with chairs. “The CCC
staff was very committed to the safety
of the children as well,” says Schultz.
”You can’t make the tiers too steep,
because if kids fall off or push some- Striking lighting is a key feature at KidsWorld
one off, you’ve got a problem.”
To get the depth needed to obtain clear sight lines, they present them in ways that kids can understand and enjoy,”
went the only direction they could: down. “We had to push adds Isola.
the theatre into the ground by about six or eight feet to
Two large projection screens on either side of the stage
get the volume that we needed at the front stage area, as allow staff to project illustrations or show video programs
opposed to going multi-stories above ground,” says project that align with the week’s teachings, such as a vignette
manager Michael Vander Ploeg. In addition, the space is showing a child inviting a friend to attend church with him.
also fully wheelchair accessible in accordance with the “With the building in particular, we’ve tried to get across to
Illinois Accessibility Code.
the kids that we built this very cool facility, but we didn’t
do that solely for them,” says Isola. “We did that so they
Form Serving Function
could have a place that they’d be excited about inviting
The KidsWorld Theatre acts as the main hub for the chil- their friends to church.”
dren’s ministry Sunday services: after the kids assemble in
The KidsWorld Theatre also provides room for CCC’s expanded
separate classrooms by age for small group activities, they creative arts offerings, making sure that kids have the chance
congregate as a large group in the theatre. “When they get to take the stage themselves. This summer, the theatre served
into the theatre, there’s any number of things that might as home base for a weeklong children’s theatre workshop that
happen,” says Isola. “That’s where we teach them the culminated in a mini-production of Godspell. This past fall, the
main biblical topic of the day.” Often, there’s a music por- children’s ministry started a weekly drama workshop for kids led by
tion, ranging from a live band to a solo guitarist leading a volunteers, aiming to train them to perform their own skits for their
sing-along. Adult volunteers act out short dramas that peers at services. Though the space isn’t suited for large-scale propresent a biblical theme in a straightforward, entertain- ductions or lengthy shows, it has proved a smart space for family
ing fashion. “We try to take the truths of God’s word and events like a preschool night featuring comedy and juggling acts.
www.stage-directions.com • December 2006 51
300.0612.50-53.CCC.indd 51
11/14/06 1:33:48 PM
Special Houses of Worship Section
Seeing the Light
Prior to the construction of the KidsWorld Theatre,
Sunday-morning children’s programs were held in several multi-purpose classrooms with fluorescent lighting.
“When they were trying to reach several hundred kids
and keep their attention or create anything dramatic, they
really couldn’t do it — it was pretty much lights on, lights
off,” says Larry Winters, a longtime member of the ministry
and volunteer lighting director for CCC.
“The rest of the kids’ building is very eye-catching, just
in the way it’s decorated and the graphics and the colors
that are used,” says Isola, adding that by contrast, the
KidsWorld Theatre was designed with neutral colors: beige
carpeting and light walls with a black stage wall, with the
investment made in lighting to change the theatre’s mood
with the flip of switch. “We’ve got so much lighting technology in there that we can change the look and feel of the
room without making the room itself the focus.”
“In normal theatres, you’ll re-hang the lighting however
you want it for each show,” says Winters. “But when you’re
dealing with a church, you have a fairly static setup, so you
have to determine what zones are going to need lighting
on a regular basis.”
Winters also had to consider that trained volunteers
would often run the lighting in the theatre, so a permanent
setup that would serve the space’s various activities is
ideal. “With the space being limited and budget being tight,
we have a 3-point lighting system,” says Winters, who
employed WYSIWYG virtual lighting software to design
the lighting system with a budget of less than $50,000.
Using ETC Source Four lights (with 26, 36 or 19 degree
beam angles), he created five lighting zones across the
downstage area and three zones along the upstage area
to provide cross lighting for various speakers and musical
performers. In the back lighting zone, he also added eight
color-scrollers, as well as Altman Q-Lite fixtures, to create
white or colored floodlight across the stage’s back wall.
Rose Brand flies in geometric shapes line the stage, serving as blank canvases for color washes.
“We wanted to add a lot of fun and excitement, so we
chose to take six of our ETC Source Four lights, and we
shot gobos with a break-up pattern on the left and right
walls to create some color and some excitement,” explains
Winters. They also have ETC Source Four lights situated
at the back of the house to project textured patterns onto
the house’s carpeted floor. Two Giotto Spot 400s by SGM
provide the energy of moving lights during upbeat music
performances. In the lighting booth all equipment is controlled on an ETC Express 48/96 Board with a 48-channel
Unison Dimmer Rack, while ETC Unison LED touch stations allow staff members to quickly light key areas with
the touch of their finger.
Because Winters designed the lighting systems for all
of CCC’s auditorium spaces, he was able to make considerations for consistency and ease of use of equipment campus-wide. One such consideration was to program all lights
52 December 2006 • www.stage-directions.com
300.0612.50-53.CCC.indd 52
11/14/06 1:34:03 PM
Courtesy of Larry Winers
A side perspective
on successive DMX channels, so that
if a piece of equipment is moved
from, say the KidsWorld Theatre to
the main auditorium, there’s no reprogramming to be done.
“Most DMX boards will handle a
very large number of DMXs so you
can keep them from overlapping,”
says Winters. “Keep in mind that you
have volunteers working the lighting, and they’re not as knowledgeable about how to do these things,
so if they can take a light from one
theatre and plug it in another theatre, it’ll work. That’s what they want.
Not, ‘Oh I’ve gotta come in here
and redo a bunch of stuff to make it
work.’ ” Such user-friendly elements
make the technology — and the art
it enables — accessible for all, which
certainly mirrors CCC’s special intent
to keep the creative arts a core part
of worship.
Lisa Arnett is a Chicago-based
arts and entertainment writer and midwest editor for Dance
Spirit magazine.
www.stage-directions.com • December 2006 53
300.0612.50-53.CCC.indd 53
11/14/06 1:34:22 PM
Inside Bet Shalom’s stunning sanctuary
By Natural
Design
All photography courtesy of Schuler Shook
Special Houses of Worship Section
A temple outside of Minneapolis gives congregants a feeling of intimacy. By Elizabeth Weir
A
sense of ceremony and the need to connect with
congregants is as old as the early sacrifice of lambs to
honor God. To enhance communication, new houses
of worship often incorporate theatre design elements into
their sanctuaries.
Bet Shalom Congregation in Minnetonka, Minn., built and
completed a new temple in 2002 in which an intimate,
hexagonal sanctuary that seats 480 lies at the center of the
domed building. The space is elegant and meditative, a warm
and deceptively simple room. Walls of translucent glass rise
in deeply recessed triangles to a cedar cupola with clerestory
windows. Below the cupola, a ring of 36 larger clerestory windows flood the room with natural light. Six slender columns
around the room’s perimeter leave the space open so that the
eye settles upon the room’s focal point, the bimah, ark and
eternal flame.
But this sanctuary is less simple than it appears. Three sides
of the back wall can be made to disappear. Sophisticated
acoustics are tuned for the spoken word, programmed lighting
can create the illusion of reducing the room to a cozy space
around the bimah, and columns do much more than support
the dome.
Congregant Tom Silver, who led the building committee for Bet Shalom, says that the congregation wanted both an intimate sanctuary and a sanctuary that
could expand for high holy days, yet still feel inclusive to
those sitting in the expanded room. “We didn’t want anyone to feel marginalized by their seat location.” he says.
54 December 2006 • www.stage-directions.com
300.0612.54-57.indd 54
11/14/06 2:13:14 PM
A periscopic look at the ceiling
The committee chose the Minneapolis architectural firm
of Benz/Thompson/ Rietow, Inc. to design the temple on a
challenging 9.8-acre site with significant wetlands and a busy
highway to the west. “Architects Milo Thompson and Gary
Milne-Rojek honed our concept,” says Silver. “It was Milo’s
idea to have the walls open to the social hall, behind the sanctuary. Milo is broad brush stroke; Gary makes it happen.”
With a simultaneous turn of two separately operated keys,
the three12-inch-thick steel-trussed walls, that measure 36
feet in width and 20 feet in height, part in the middle in the
manner of an old-fashioned freight elevator and recess, one
half rising into the clerestory space and one sinking into
the lower level. The floor reseals, and the curved social hall
becomes one with the sanctuary to seat 1,200 people.
“The walls at Bet Shalom were my first project for Door
Engineering,” says Kevin Landgraff with some pride. “We
custom-designed a winch-style, vertical operating system
with steel tracks and a pulley system housed in three of the
columns. The beauty of it is that the operating system controls
the bottom wall panels; because the massive doors make the
lower walls heavier, they counter-weight the upper walls. The
system only has to lift the 400 to 500-pound difference.”
To solve the sound insulation and acoustic challenges of
the glass sanctuary walls, the project architect Milne-Rojek
and Thompson teamed with acoustician Steve Kvernstoen of
Kvernstoen, Ronnholm and Associates, a Minneapolis-based
consulting firm specializing in architectural acoustics and
environmental noise control. “Our aim was to have everything
integrated into a finished look that was warm, beautiful and
functional,” explains Kvernstoen. “The room’s not a bad size
acoustically, but the hexagonal shape makes for challenges,
and we had to get a reasonable amount of sound insulation
between the sanctuary and the social hall. We used laminated
glass, two layers of glass with a cloudy middle layer. The look
was visually strong, but then we had to adjust the plane of
each pane to avoid flutter echo.”
Invisible to the uninformed eye, each triangle of glass
is slightly tilted so that it does not parallel or reflect its
equivalent pane across the room. The result is a quiet
room, ideal for the spoken word, and just a hint more lively
to accommodate song.
Bet Shalom’s hexagonal sanctuary forms the center of a
Star of David, and the triangles of the walls augment this iconic geometry, yet never quite form a star. “The design process
is a magical thing,” marvels Kvernstoen.
To further add surface volume to the sanctuary, each column is slatted in bentwood cedar sections and backed by dimpled aluminum. The aluminum, called “Interweave” and made
by Harrington and King Perforating Co., conceals effectively,
is sound-absorptive, and allows 53 percent air transmission
www.stage-directions.com • December 2006 55
300.0612.54-57.indd 55
11/14/06 2:13:37 PM
Special Houses of Worship Section
for ventilation. These qualities make the product ideal for Bet
Shalom, since some of the support columns not only house
the counter-weight pulleys, but serve as air vents for the silent
HVAC system, too.
The same cedar wood slats-over-Interweave combination
backs the long curved curtain wall of the social hall and
absorbs sound for times when the sanctuary is expanded on
busy religious days. “This curtain wall serves a further function,” says Milne-Rojek. “The Interweave allows large quantities of air to enter the room in a case of fire, and we designed
an extractor fan into the center of the cupola.”
When spot-lit, the textured look of milled Interweave reflects
light pleasingly. Milne-Rojek applied steel geometric designs
on a base of Interweave to wrap the reading desk on the bimah
and to back the stylized, gold-leaf menorah design of the ark
that holds the Torah scrolls; the look is cohesive and attractive,
and the Interweave further softens sound in the sanctuary.
Bet Shalom’s original sound system designer, MTS, went
out of business after installing the two six-foot stacks of equipment. Now, Farber Sound resolves problems as they arise,
maintains the system and installs updates.
The theatre consulting firm Schuler Shook, which has
offices in Dallas, Chicago and Minneapolis, designed the lighting in Bet Shalom’s sanctuary. “The biggest challenge was the
amount of glass, since glass is reflective,” says Michael DiBlasi.
“We wanted the lighting to be intimate; we didn’t want to overpower the room with light.”
To bring the lighting down from the high cupola, DiBlasi
helped to design a hexagonal, steel chandelier that reflects
the room’s shape. “The chandelier allowed us to design soft
up-lighting to show the gorgeous cedar wood ceiling of the
cupola, and down-lighting for the congregation,” he says, demonstrating the range of the Electronic Theatre Controls’ digital
Unison panel. “It’s a simple, two-circuit track system that is
adjustable, with presets in a control panel behind the bimah.”
Recessed lights ring the ceiling below the cupola, and two
groups of four ellipsoidal spots on fixed mountings are preset
for accent lighting. Two of the spots wash the sandstone-like
finish of the bimah in light and cast an intricately patterned
shadow from the eternal flame.
When a congregant approaches the bimah, during “aliya,”
to help lead the service in this most inclusive community, that
person walks up a barely perceptible cone of incline to the
dais of a bimah that has virtually no steps. “People are uplifted
literally and spiritually as they approach the bimah,” says Rabbi
Cohen. Not only does the inclined floor meet the requirements
for accessibility set by the Americans with Disabilities Act, it
also embraces Bet Shalom’s egalitarian spirit. “We didn’t want
A view of the temple’s bimah from the congregation
a high bimah, with the clergy up here and the people down
there,” he adds. “A rabbi is a teacher. Here I can see eye to eye
with people.”
Bet Shalom used to lease a cramped and dark former
church. Rabbi Cohen says that he no longer has to worry about
how movement flows in the sanctuary and how ceremony is
56 December 2006 • www.stage-directions.com
300.0612.54-57.indd 56
11/14/06 2:13:56 PM
perceived. “In this room, the power of the
service speaks for itself. The design of the
building makes it happen naturally.”
Elizabeth Weir is a freelance writer in the
Minneapolis area.
www.stage-directions.com • December 2006 57
300.0612.54-57.indd 57
11/14/06 2:14:14 PM
Revelers from Playhouse Square’s “Jump Back” parties
Feature
continued from page 45
rests. Each tribute costs $500 or
$1,000 depending on the location
of the seat.
Balls can also be a fun way to bring
patrons through the door. Hemsath’s
venue does an annual Jump Back
Ball that invites people to jump back
to a different era. The theme could be
Camelot or 42nd Street, but it must
have some sort of thread. “People are
interested if a party has a theme,” he
says. The idea is a moneymaker — he
says they make about $100,000 a year
on these events.
One big way Hemsath brings in revenue for his arts institution is through
corporate sponsorships like Coca-Cola,
which contributes a five figure donation
annually. They stock plastic bottles of
the products. Thirsty theatregoers easily down 10 cases a night. People like
bottled beverages because they can
bring leftovers home. The organization
has a relaxed policy regarding drinks in
the venues, with the exception of certain
performances.
“You triple the amount of money when
you do that,” he says, noting that the concrete flooring makes cleanup a lot easier
than a carpeted space. Occasionally he’s
gotten some grumblers, but he’s got a
history-laden reply for them: “Tell that to
Bill Shakespeare. Drinks and the theatre
have been going on for centuries. We’re
theatre for the common man.”
In the end, the concession proves to
be a fail-safe income generator. Hemsath
may have been keen to rent spaces at his
venue, but he also knows that “it’s not
a huge money maker. It’s not as big as
the bar.”
Christine Sparta is a freelance writer
from the New York City area.
Theatre Space
continued from page 31
Biscayne Boulevard, once a family vacation destination that eventually fell into
decay. All around the Center, condos
and offices have sprung up, echoing the
Center’s modern design. Pelli’s structure
is not only visible from a South Beach
approach, but is also a desirable view for
residents of the glossy high-rise towers
clustered around the Center. The arts
complex also provides a stunning new
venue for lectures, parties and corporate
meetings that can accommodate crowds
of up to 6,000 people.
Espejo likens the Carnival Center to
the Sydney Opera House, the iconic building that transformed Australia’s resort
destination into a major and recognizable
arts center. “When thinking of Sydney,
many people think of the Opera House,”
says Espejo. Within Miami’s blossoming
arts scene, there are many who hope the
Carnival Center will have the same transformative effect on the city of Miami.
The Carnival Center for the Performing
Arts opened its doors on October 5,
2006. For more information about
the facility, please visit the website at
www.miamipac.org
Christine Puleo is a freelance writer
from Miami.
58 December 2006 • www.stage-directions.com
300.0612.26-31. tspace.indd 58
11/15/06 2:16:39 PM
Control Systems for
Live Entertainment
$54.99
Second Edition
Author: John Huntington
Sound and Music for
the Theatre
Second Edition
$36.96
Author: Deena Kaye,
James LeBrecht
Professional Sound
Reinforcement Techniques
$24.95
Author: Jim Yakabuski
Set Lighting Technician’s
Handbook, Third Edition
$44.99
Author: Harry Box
A-Z of Lighting Terms
$36.95
Author: Brian Fitt
Illustrated Theatre
Production Guide
$34.99
Author: John Holloway
Live Sound Reinforcement
$29.95
Author: Scott Hunter Stark
Booking & Tour Management
for the Performing Arts
$19.95
Author: Rena Shagan
Automated Lighting
$34.95
Author: Richard Cadena
AutoCAD - A Handbook for
Theater users
$44.99
Author: David Ripley
Technical Design Solutions
for the Theater
$41.95
Author: David J. Slammler
& Don Harvey
Stage Manager
The Professional Experience
$44.99
Author: Larry Fazio
Order online TODAY at:
www.plsnbookshelf.com
300.0612.SD HOUSE AD.indd 59
11/14/06 2:13:53 PM
Off The Shelf
By Stephen Peithman
‘Tis the Season
Gift ideas for the theatre person in your life
D
ecember is the month for gift
giving, and one or more of the
titles in this month’s roundup
of new books and CDs should please
the theatre person in your life — or
yourself, for that matter.
Rising to the top is Theaters by
Craig Morrison, a beautifully illustrated history of American performance
venues in all their colorful and varied
forms, from music halls to vaudeville, from circuses to grand operas,
from nickelodeons to movie palaces. You’ll also find burlesque theatres, show boats, military theatres,
Shakespearean theatres, summer
theatres and arenas, plus the entrepreneurs and showmen who acted as
prime movers of our theatrical heritage. Essentially an annotated photo
album, organized by era and geography, each section begins with an
extensive overview, followed by the
photos of each theatre, with extended
captions. An accompanying CD-ROM
includes the book’s images in .tif format for Mac and PC, plus a direct
link to the Library of Congress online
searchable catalogs and image files,
as well as data files in the Historic
American Buildings Survey, Historic
American Engineering Record, and
other collections. This is a reference
book that also invites the reader to
browse its pages for a unique vantage point on the history and styles
of American theatres. [ISBN 0-39373108-1,
$75,
Norton/Library
of Congress]
The Performing Set: The Broadway
Designs of William and Jean Eckart
will please two groups — lovers of
stage design and musical theatre
buffs. The Eckarts were designers and
producers during
the last golden years of
the American musical, and their work
revolutionized Broadway productions,
including Damn Yankees (1955), Once
Upon a Mattress (1959) and Mame
(1966), among others. Author Andrew
B. Harris uses the Eckarts’ sketches
and production stills (many of them
not seen before), to illustrate the artistic vision and technical skill behind
their work. He also provides a large
helping of backstage stories that make
this book as much fun as it is informative. In short, the book is a delight
from start to finish. [ISBN 1-57441212-4, $37.95, University of North
Texas Press]
If you have children on your list,
The Story of Costumes by John
Peacock, has 325 colorful hand-drawings and clearly written descriptions
on every page. Peacock covers every
historical period, from Ancient Greek
and Roman times, through the Middle
Ages and Renaissance, and on to the
present day. He portrays servants and
laborers, as well as nobility and royalty, and provides intriguing details
on shoes, hats, jewelry and hairstyles.
Besides pleasing children, The Story
of Costumes is a resource for parents
and teachers, as well. [ISBN 0-50051-
309-0, $19.95, Thames & Hudson]
Finally, for anyone interested in
the long-term health of the American
musical, there is the remarkable Grey
Gardens, which concerns the eccentric aunt and cousin of Jacqueline
Kennedy Onassis. Once among the
brightest names in the social register, by the 1970s they were East
Hampton’s most notorious recluses,
living in a dilapidated 28-room mansion. Facing an uncertain future, Edith
Bouvier Beale and her adult daughter, “Little” Edie, are forced to revisit
their past and come to terms with
it for better and for worse. With a
book by Doug Wright, a score by
composer Scott Frankel and lyricist
Michael Korie, the show stars Tony
Award-winner Christine Ebersole,
and Mary Louise Wilson. The music
beautifully echoes the styles of
the eras it represents, and the performances are nothing less than
astonishing. [PS Classics]
60 December 2006 • www.stage-directions.com
300.0612.60.indd 60
11/15/06 1:56:52 PM
300.0612.ADS.indd 61
11/14/06 2:07:11 PM
The Play’s The Thing
By Stephen Peithman
The Outsiders
Plays from the perspective of those who don’t fit in
P
eople who are excluded from, or who do not feel
accepted by, society often think of themselves as outsiders. That said, the experiences of people who don’t
match cultural ideals or social expectations often help bring
those ideals and expectations into sharp focus, as we see in this
month’s roundup of recently released plays .
Beyond Victims and Villains: Contemporary Plays by
Disabled Playwrights is the first anthology of its kind, edited
by Victoria Ann Lewis, founder and director of Other Voices
Workshop at the Mark Taper Forum. Included are Creeps by
David Freeman and A Summer Evening in Des Moines by
Charles Mee, Jr. Subjects and styles vary widely. As a whole,
this collection is a prime example of how disabled people
can offer a valuable critique of a world that non-disabled
people take for granted. [ISBN 1-55936-250-2, $19.95 Theatre
Communications Group]
Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice is really about two
outsiders — Shylock, the Jew in 16th-century Christian Venice,
who is confronted by Portia, a woman of means in a world
dominated by men. She is courted by Bassanio, who wants to
impress her, but lacks the necessary funds. He turns to his merchant friend, Antonio, who is forced to borrow from Shylock,
a moneylender. When Antonio’s business falters, repayment
becomes impossible, and by the terms of the loan agreement,
Shylock is able to demand a pound of Antonio’s flesh. Portia
intervenes, and all ends well (except, of course, for Shylock).
As Harold Bloom points out in a thought-provoking essay, both
Portia and Shylock use money as a means, but to very different
ends. Her wealth means an expansion of possibilities, whereas
Shylock’s world shrinks dramatically by play’s end. Burton
Raffel provides an introduction and the helpful annotations.
[ISBN 0-300-11564-4, $6.95, Yale University Press]
Despite its reputation as an early example of theatrical realism, August Strindberg’s Miss Julie offers many clues that the
action is somehow outside time and space. The setting is late19th-century Sweden, during an all-night festival celebrating
the summer solstice. The play’s title character — daughter of the
local lord — is bored, restless and lonesome. She finds herself
an outsider at a servants’ party, flirting with the footman, Jean.
Both characters are trapped by class and temperament, looking so desperately for an escape that they risk destroying each
other in the process. David French’s adaptation of Strindberg’s
disturbing and enduring drama is exemplary, with a contemporary feel that sometimes seems more like a Sam Shepard play
than something from the late 19th century. [ISBN: 0-88922549-4, $15.95, Talonbooks]
Whether focusing on domestic drama or the broader realms
of culture, history and politics, Chicago’s Victory Gardens
Theater has always worked outside the mainstream, encouraging diverse perspectives and supporting original work. In 2001,
it received the Tony Award for Regional Theatre, and was hailed
as one of the country’s most important theatres for emerging
playwrights. That reputation remains secure with the publication of Victory Gardens Theater Presents: Seven New Plays
from the Playwrights Ensemble. The works tackle a wide range
of topics. Included are Pecong, by Steve Carter; Battle of the
Bands by Dean Corrin; Affluenza! by James Sherman; Voice of
Good Hope by Kristine Thatcher; Hanging Fire by Claudia Allen
and Free Man of Color by Charles Smith. [ISBN 0-8101-2346-0,
$ 34.95, Northwestern University Press]
62 December 2006 • www.stage-directions.com
300.0612.62.play.indd 62
11/15/06 2:01:48 PM
THEATRICAL
MARKETPLACE
Classified Advertising
STAGELIGHTS.COM
the online stagelighting catalog
The Best Brand Name Equipment At Great Prices!
Truss • Stands • Par-cans • Dimmers
Controllers • Lamps • More!
1-800-933-3005
FAX (951) 696-8306
http: / / www.stagelights.com
Where do you
need a
wireless
lamp or
motor today?
THEATRICAL MAKE-UP
EXTRAORDINAIRE!
Q Creme Based Make-up
Q Complete Kits
Q Latex & Latex Appliances
Q Air Brush
Q Fantasy Make-Up...
608-222-7849
www.Graftobian.com
For advertising rates and information
Tel: 702.932.5585 • Fax: 702.932.5584
e-mail: [email protected]
300.0612.63.indd 63
index of advertisers
For more information about the companies advertising in Stage Directions® and serving the theater
profession, go to www.stage-directions.com and
click on the advertiser index link.
Advertiser
Website
Page
All Pro Sound
www.allprosound.com
42
American Academy of
Dramatic Arts - AADA
www.ada.org
C2
American Harlequin
www.harlequinfloors.com
C3
American Musical &
Dramatic Academy - AMDA
www.amda.edu
45
Apollo Design Technology
www.internetapollo.com
25
Atlanta Rigging
www.atlantarigging.com
C4
Barbizon
www.barbizon.com
9
BMI Supply
www.bmisupply.com
7
Bulbtronics
www.bulbtronics.com
49
Charles H. Stewart & Co.
www.charleshstewart.com
2
CM Rigging Products
www.cmrigging.com
21
Contemporary Lights &
Staging
www.lightsandstaging.com
45
Demand Products
www.demandproducts.com
53
Entertainment Lighting
Services
www.elslights.com
35
Flying by Foy
www.flybyfoy.com
57
Genlyte/Vari-lite
www.vari-lite.com
1
Gerriets International
www.gi-info.com
11
High End
www.highend.com
24
IOSP Workshop
www.IOSP.org
34
Kirkegaard Associates
www.kirkegaard.com
22
Light Source, The
www.4clamps.com
15
Limelight Productions Inc
www.limelightproductions.
com
58
Look Solutions
www.looksolutions.com
31
MDG Fog Generators
www.mdgfog.com
27
Musson Theatrical
www.musson.com
28
N Carolina School of the
Arts
www.ncarts.edu
29
New York Film Academy
www.nyfa.com
6
Nutech Industries
www.nutechpower.com
38
Ocean Optics
www.seachangeronline.com
5
Ohio Northern University
www.onu.edu
30
Pro Tapes & Specialties
www.protapes.com
17
Rosco Laboratories
www.rosco.com
39
Rose Brand
www.rosebrand.com
13
Schuler Shook
www.schulershook.com
31
Sculptural Arts Coating
www.sculpturalarts.com
30
Selecon
www.seleconlight.com
33
Southeastern Theatre
Conference - SETC
www.setconline.org
57
Stagestep
www.stagestep.com
23
Texas Scenic
www.texasscenic.com
43
Univ of California, San
Diego - UCSD
theatre.ucsd.edu
22
Univ of Michigan
www.umich.edu
49
USITT
www.usitt.org
61
Wybron
www.wybron.com
29
ZFX Flying
www.zfxflying.com
53
11/14/06 2:10:53 PM
Answer Box
By Erik Viker
Creating
Evan Shuster
a Diversion
If your rigging is causing a problem with
your scenic elements, you might consider
the following solution.
H
Andrew Rich
A view of the diverters
The scenic design for The Winter’s Tale at Susquehanna University included a pair of flying arch flats
immediately behind and slightly overlapping a central arch flat. Rolling diverters allowed the scenic transitions to happen smoothly, with no risk of friction, and no need to adjust where lighting and scenery were
placed by the designers.
aving many rigging linesets to choose from can sometimes become a curse when the battens are too close
together to accommodate that extra-wide piece of
scenery. If your counterweight rigging system pick-up lines
pass through an accessible steel grid, you can use roller diverters to slightly change the vertical positions of each line and
move an entire batten upstage or downstage several inches.
The devices pictured here are suitable for a channel-steel grid
and are modified from a design used at the Bass Concert Hall in
Austin, Texas.The rollers are two-inch diameter conveyer rollers
made of 12-gauge steel with steel ball bearings. Most industrial
supply companies, such as McMaster-Carr, can provide rollers
of this type, and a 300-pound capacity roller with a retractable
7
/16” hex axle is used in this model. The retractable axle allows
you to easily install the roller to the assembled frame.
Begin by cutting the steel components for each diverter, and
carefully grind all cuts as necessary for safe handling. Each
frame is made from two sections of two-inch wide 3/16” angle
steel for the sides and 1” wide 3/16” steel strap for the rollerlength connector panel. Drill 5/8” diameter holes for the roller
axle ends and 3/8” diameter holes for the J-bolts used to fasten
the diverter to a channel steel grid. Weld the frames together,
and carefully grind or file the welds and exit holes after drilling.
Use 5/16” J-bolts to place each diverter so it touches the steel
cable lift line at the center of the roller. Thoroughly tighten each
J-bolt to ensure the diverters cannot slide out of position.
The diverter technique should be used carefully because
lift lines must be moved only slightly from their professionally installed locations to avoid causing friction where the
vertical steel cables exit the grooved blocks. If more than three
inches of extra space is needed between battens, a redesign
of the flying scenery or equipment locations might be the best
course of action.
Erik Viker is an assistant professor of theatre at
Susquehanna University, where he serves as technical director for the Department of Theatre and teaches
courses in theatre production, stage management and
dramatic literature.
64 December 2006 • www.stage-directions.com
300.0612.64.indd 64
11/15/06 2:09:24 PM
300.0612.ADS.indd 3
11/14/06 2:09:04 PM
300.0612.ADS.indd 4
11/14/06 2:09:28 PM