Chapter 11
Other Stage Forms
Thrust, arena, and open stages sit within the audience chamber and are not separated by a proscenium wall. They are primarily, but not exclusively, used for drama. Many of the considerations outlined in the previous two chapters will also apply to these stage forms. Here, we’ll discuss design considerations unique to these types of stages. We’ll also discuss the design of recital hall and concert hall platforms, which also sit within the audience chamber. And finally, we’ll examine the approaches to adapting proscenium theaters to serve as concert halls.
Other Stage Forms
Thrust Stage
A thrust stage extends into the auditorium and is surrounded by audience on three sides.
Degree of Encirclement
The distance the stage extends and the degree to which it’s encircled by audience members vary. The examples in Figure 11.1 are ordered from most to least degrees of surround: a performer standing “down center” in the Chicago Shakespeare Theatre is surrounded by 280 degrees of audience, while at the Overture Center Playhouse a performer is surrounded by 235 degrees of audience.
Figure 11.1 (facing page) Thrust Stages. (a) Chicago Shakespeare Theater, Chicago, Illinois (1999, 510 seats). Architect: VOA Associates. (b) Swan Theatre, Royal Shakespeare Company, Stratford-on-Avon, England (1986, 450 seats). Architect: Michael Reardon. (c) Ruth Caplin Theatre, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia (2013, 350 seats). Architect: William Rawn Associates. (d) Playhouse, Overture Center, Madison, Wisconsin (2006, 350 seats). Architects: Pelli Clarke Pelli Architects, Potter Lawson, and Flad Architects.
Source: Author
Shape and Size
Thrust stages come in a variety of shapes—rounded, square, chamfered, polygonal, or irregular. Width can vary from about 16 to about 32 feet, but most thrust stages are between 20 and 24 feet wide. The depth of the stage varies from a little less than the width to about one and a half times the width. Large scenic pieces on a thrust will block audience sightlines, so the floor itself becomes an important scenic element. Scenic designers will often change the size, shape, and height of the thrust to suit a particular performance.
Entrances
A thrust stage is often backed by a proscenium stage, even though the majority of the performance takes place on the thrust where the full audience can see. The proscenium opening allows movement of people and props onto the thrust, and serves as a scenic background. Since it plays a secondary role, the proscenium stage may be less deep and less well equipped than if it were the primary performance area.
Performers also enter and exit from the downstage edge of the thrust, usually at the two front “corners.” Props and furniture may also be brought onto the stage from these corners. The designer has a few choices in configuring these entrances: The performers can enter down an aisle stair which also serves as access for the audience. This is the simplest approach and is often used. It’s obviously an overlapping of the dramatic space and audience space, but this is not usually seen as problematic.
A second choice is to have the performers enter from a passage cut through the seating bank—a sort of vomitory (or “vom” for short). If the audience enters at the top of the seating bank, it’s possible to separate audience and performer circulation. Or, the audience and performers can share the voms. These passages must be level or a shallow slope (stairs aren’t acceptable) and they must be high and wide enough for costumed performers to enter carrying hand props. These constraints likely mean that the voms will cut through most (if not all) of the rows of seats, creating gaps in the seating plan. See the Ruth Caplin Theatre in Figure 1.3 for an example of a thrust with voms.
Figure 11.2 Open Stages. (a) Teaching theater, University of Southern Indiana, Evansville, Indiana (2015, 350 seats). Architect: Holzman Moss Bottino Associates. (b) Kreeger Theatre, Arena Stage, Washington, DC (1971, 514 seats). Original architect: Harry Weese. 2010 renovation: Bing Thom Architects. (c) Angus Bowmer Theatre, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Ashland, Oregon (1970, 600 seats). Architect: Kirk, Wallace and McKinley with Richard L. Hay.
Source: Author
Open Stage
An open stage (also called an apron stage) is a different sort of thrust. It doesn’t extend as far into the auditorium and is more likely to be wider than it is deep. As a result, audience encirclement is usually less than 180 degrees. The examples in Figure 11.2 vary from 160 to 130 degrees. There is almost always a stagehouse, and a larger portion of the audience has a good view into the proscenium opening, so the scenic designers can take more advantage of the possibilities offered by an enclosed stage.
In other respects, an open stage is very like the thrust stages discussed above. The scenic designers will treat the floor as an important production element, and they may change its shape and the profile of the stage edge as needed. Downstage entrances are perhaps less critical, but still desired. Without them, it can take an actor ten minutes to walk to center stage, or perhaps it just seems that way.
The distinction between thrust and open stage is not commonly made, and the examples in Figure 11.2 are referred to as thrusts or “modified thrusts.” There are no bright lines between a thrust stage, an open stage, and a proscenium stage with a deep apron—they form a sort of continuum. But there are differences in geometry that affect the ways in which actors and audience gather and interact. If a thrust stage is on the program, the project team should be aware of these differences, and that makes the terminology more than academic.
Arena Stage
The arena stage is easily identified as a distinct form because it is completed surrounded by audience. The design considerations for an arena stage, however, are very similar to those discussed above. Like a thrust, an arena stage can be a square, rectangle, circle, oval, polygon, etc. The dimensions are also similar to a thrust. A reasonable minimum width or depth is 16 feet—a smaller dimension becomes unworkable for any but the most intimate of performances. A reasonable maximum width or depth is about 32 feet. Entrances are required at the four corners (quadrants may be a better term) and more than four entrances may be desired.
The Royal Exchange Theatre (1976/1999) in Manchester, England is an amazingly compact seven-sided, three-level arena stage. It has seven voms shared between performers and audience. Figure 11.3a shows the extent of the open floor at the main level, but this includes circulation to the seats. The typical stage footprint is about 26 feet in diameter.
Figure 11.3 Arena Stages. (a) Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester, England (1976, 700 seats, reopened 1999 after 1996 bombing). Architect: Levitt Bernstein Associates. (b) Fichandler Theatre, Arena Stage, Washington, DC (1960, 680 seats). Original architect: Harry Weese. 2010 renovation: Bing Thom Architects
Source: Author
The Fichandler Theatre at Arena Stage is the iconic American arena stage. It’s shown in Figure 11.3b and also in Figures 1.2 and 14.17. It is a large rectangle with stage voms in the four corners. The public enters from above and is separated from the performance area by a low railing. The stage dimensions in Figure 11.3a are railing to railing.
Recital and Concert Hall Platforms
The design of performance platforms in recital and concert halls is determined by ensemble size, the arrangement of the musicians, and acoustical considerations. As noted in Chapter 1, the terms “recital hall” and “concert hall” are usually determined by the ensemble size that can be accommodated, not the number of seats for audience members.
Size and Shape
A good starting point for instrumentalists is to allow 20 to 24 square feet per musician, plus room for circulation. A recital hall platform will typically accommodate chamber groups with up to 30 instrumentalists and will be about 600 to 800 square feet. A concert hall platform for a symphony orchestra will be 2,000 square feet or more.
Choruses require much less space per person. Seated choruses require about 6 to 8 square feet, and standing choruses require about 3 to 4 square feet. In both cases, this figure only accounts for the space occupied by each person, and doesn’t include circulation.
The typical platform shape is an isosceles trapezoid, except that the downstage edge is often curved. See Figures 11.4 and 11.5 for examples. The down stage edge is the longest—about 40 feet for a recital hall platform and 65 feet for a concert hall platform. A recital hall platform is about 20 feet deep, a concert hall platform 40 to 50 feet. There is much variation, and these are not definitive figures. Platform size and shape should be tested with sample ensemble layouts, also ensuring that a circulation path is provided at the front of the platform.
Figure 11.4 Recital Halls. (a) Recital Hall, Forbes Center for the Performing Arts, Harrisonburg, Virginia (2010, 196 seats). Architects: Hanbury Evans Wright Vlattas + Company and Performance Architecture. (b) Studzinski Recital Hall, Bowdoin College, Brunswick, Maine (2000, 280 seats). Architect: William Rawn Associates
Source: Author
Figure 11.5 Concert Halls. (a) S. Mark Taper Foundation Auditorium, Benaroya Hall, Seattle, Washington (1998, 2,479 seats). Architect: LMN Architects. Platform extension shown in light gray. (b) Music Center at Strathmore, North Bethesda, Maryland (2005, 1,976 seats). Architects: William Rawn Associates and Grimm + Parker. Choral riser lift shown in light gray
Source: Author
Platform Extensions
The platform may be extended by a lift or platform system for performances by unusually large ensembles or by combined orchestra and chorus. This platform extension is similar to the stage extensions described in the previous chapter. The platform extension at the S. Mark Taper Foundation Auditorium at Benaroya Hall (1998), shown in Figure 11.5a, is used for combined performances of the Seattle Symphony Orchestra and the 120-member Seattle Symphony Chorale.
Entrances and Anterooms
Recital hall platforms typically have an entrance at each side of the platform. Concert hall platforms are likely to have two on each side, and sometimes a door in the rear wall for percussion instruments. At least one entrance must be large enough for a concert grand piano. This is usually downstage right so that the piano can be wheeled to “down center” with a minimum of disturbance. The alternative is a piano lift, a small stage lift used to bring the piano up from a storage room below the platform. By convention, the conductor and soloists also enter from stage right.
The areas to the sides of the platform serve as sound locks and waiting areas. Lighting and other performance technology may be operated from there. If space allows, these side anterooms will be connected behind the platform. This U-shaped backstage area functions as a crossover and may provide space for the musicians to prepare their instruments and store their cases.
Orchestra Risers
Orchestras vary in their use of risers. Some perform “on the flat” or with just a few risers. At Benaroya Hall, the Seattle Symphony places only the brass, woodwinds, basses, and the back stand of violins on low risers. When they first moved into the Schuster Center (2003), shown in Figure 11.6b, the Dayton Philharmonic experimented with riser configurations and then settled on risers only for the back stand of violins, the basses, and the harp.
Other orchestras use more extensive riser set ups. The Music Center at Strathmore (2005), shown in Figure 11.5b, is home to both the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra and the National Philharmonic Orchestra and Chorale. The hall has a custom-made, three-tier riser system, roughly in the shape of a half ring. The design places slightly more than half of the orchestra above platform level. These risers telescope to store and can be completely removed from the platform when necessary. The Madison Symphony Orchestra plays on a similar set of risers at Overture Hall, shown in Figure 11.6a.
The platform in a few concert halls is composed entirely of stage lifts shaped to form tiers for concentric stands of musicians. The platform at New World Center in Miami Beach, Florida (2011) consists of 10 such lifts. Each lift is adjustable from the auditorium floor level to 5′-8″ above floor level. Platform lifts are a great convenience, but they also limit the ability to vary the seating configuration—unless filler platforms are used, and then this takes away much of the convenience.
Choral Risers
Choral risers are more common than orchestra risers and come in a variety of forms. Risers with 18-inch deep tiers allow only standing, while tiers 3 feet or more in depth allow both sitting and standing. A number of manufacturers offer portable versions of both kinds. A concert platform of a given size can accommodate three to four times as many chorus members as instrumentalists, so room for the chorus alone is almost never an issue. For combined performances of orchestra and chorus, the choral risers are placed at the rear of the platform and the orchestra moves downstage. Often in this arrangement, the orchestra footprint is wider and shallower, and use of orchestra risers is abandoned.
Permanent choral seating may be provided at the first seating tier to the rear (and sometimes sides) of the concert platform. These seats are sold to audience members for non-choral performances, though one conductor objected that he did not want to see young couples canoodling in the chorus seating! Another, less personal, objection to this arrangement is that it places the chorus too far above the platform for good sightlines and blending. One solution is to design the choral seats to be partly fixed and partly removable. The removable seats occupy the rear of the platform and bring the first rows of chorus closer to platform level. This is the approach taken at Strathmore. The first three rows of choral seating are removable, with two fixed rows behind. The removable seating is on chair wagons, and the wagons sit on a lift that travels to a storage level below the platform—all very similar to the audience chair wagons described in the previous chapter. When the chorus wagons are not used, the lift forms the rear of the orchestra risers. If the platform must be completely cleared, the lift is used to transport the telescoping orchestra risers to the storage area below.
Figure 11.6 Orchestra Accommodation in Proscenium Theaters. (a) Overture Hall, Madison, Wisconsin (2004, 2,100 seats). Architects: Pelli Clarke Pelli Architects, Potter Lawson, and Flad Architects. (b) Mead Theatre, Schuster Center, Dayton, Ohio (2003, 2,160). Architects: Pelli Clarke Pelli Architects and GBBN. (c) Morsani Hall, Straz Center (formerly Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center), Tampa, Florida (1987, 2,370 seats). Architects: ARCOP and Design Arts Group. Seat Counts are for Symphony Performances. Forestage Lifts are Shown in Light Gray
Source: Author
Flexible Concert Halls
Strathmore hosts a variety of other programming in addition to the symphonies. It is a variant known as a flexible concert hall, specifically designed to support uses other than music. The side walls of the platform open completely to facilitate movement of performers and scenery on and off the platform. The backstage space is more generous, and limited performance rigging and lighting is provided. The room acoustics are adjustable to a variety of performance types.
Accommodations for Music in Proscenium Theaters
No matter how well-equipped, a flexible concert hall cannot receive touring Broadway and other highly produced shows. If a community or institution needs a facility for both symphony and touring productions, they will likely build a multipurpose proscenium theater. An orchestra (or smaller ensemble) can be accommodated in a multipurpose theater in a couple of ways. The conventional approach is to place the ensemble behind the proscenium opening, within a demountable orchestra enclosure that simulates the environment of a concert platform. An alternative is to extend the concert platform into the auditorium, to better emulate the “one room” configuration of a concert hall. This has both advantages and repercussions, as we’ll discuss below.
Orchestra Enclosures
A demountable enclosure can range from a pre-engineered stock item to a complicated and expensive custom-designed solution. We’ll discuss three of the most common approaches.
Pre-Engineered
The pre-engineered approach is the least expensive and by far the most prevalent. The enclosure walls are formed by rolling towers clad in stressed-skin panels. Additional hinged panels on each side of the tower extend the wall surface to three times the tower width. These “wings” fold against the tower sides for storage. The ceiling is formed by two to five panels of similar construction. Each ceiling panel is suspended by rigging and tips to a vertical position to store within the stagehouse. All panels are lightweight, typically about 2.5 pounds per square foot. This means they are not good reflectors of low frequency sound, though the stiffness of the stressed-skin construction somewhat compensates for the lack of mass. Even so, each tower and ceiling panel can weigh several tons. If desired, heavier enclosures can be custom-built using the same geometry.
Concert Hall Shaper
Some recent multipurpose halls (including Bass Hall in Fort Worth, Texas) have been built with concert hall shapers—so called apparently because they acoustically “shape” a proscenium theater into a concert hall. A concert hall is a single room occupied by both audience and musicians, who (more or less) experience the same acoustical environment. In a proscenium theater, if the orchestra enclosure is small in volume compared to the auditorium, the stage and auditorium will function as distinct acoustical environments. The concert hall shaper is a massive demountable ceiling that closes off the top portion of the stagehouse, creating a larger acoustic volume on stage. Reflectors hung below the shaper ceiling provide early, high frequency reflections and help the musicians hear on stage. Lower frequency sound propagates within the entire volume below the shaper ceiling, contributing to the overall reverberant sound.
Unitized Enclosure
Other recent multipurpose halls have been built with unitized orchestra enclosures. A unitized enclosure is a monolithic structure that stores at the rear of the stagehouse and is deployed when needed. The enclosure at Overture Hall, shown in Figures 1.11 and 11.6a, is a version of this approach. The main unit serves both as a pipe organ chamber and the rear wall of the enclosure. The side walls of the enclosure hinge out from the main unit like book covers. The ceiling consists of custom “tip and fly” units that function just as the ceilings of pre-engineered enclosures do.
In its furthest downstage position, the main unit encloses 30 feet of depth within the stagehouse. The Madison Symphony Orchestra typically uses this position, but plays onto the forestage lift, which provides 47 feet of total depth. The main unit can also be positioned further upstage and supplemented with rolling towers. This arrangement accommodates the full orchestra and allows audience seating on the forestage—the extra seats may be desirable when a popular soloist performs with the orchestra. When the forestage is used to extend the concert platform, this setting accommodates performances of the combined orchestra and chorus.
Orchestras on the Forestage
The approach to the orchestra platform at Overture Hall is essentially conventional, in that the majority of the ensemble is behind the proscenium opening. The forestage is limited in depth and its use is optional. The other venues shown in Figure 11.6 are better illustrations of the accommodation of the orchestra on the forestage.
In the Mead Theatre at the Schuster Center in Dayton, Ohio, shown in Figure 11.6b, the concert platform straddles the proscenium opening. The theater has two orchestra pit lifts and a third, short-travel lift that extend the concert platform 24 feet into the house. For non-concert events, the third lift holds two rows of auditorium chairs on seating wagons. For concert events, the lift is raised to the stage elevation and the wagons are stored on stage behind the orchestra enclosure.
Figure 11.6c shows the Carol Morsani Hall at the Straz Center for the Performing Arts (1987, formerly the Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center). The stage apron and three orchestra pit lifts comprise a 2,200-square-foot concert platform that extends 36 feet into the auditorium and is 71 feet wide at its front. The proscenium opening can be closed with a massive “concert wall” that completely separates the stage and auditorium.
Proscenium Opening
Moving the orchestra forward can decrease proscenium opening size and/or improve the acoustic coupling of the stage and auditorium. As described earlier, the typical orchestra seating plan is wider at the front—about 65 feet wide—and this often determines the proscenium width in a multipurpose room. Similarly, the ceiling over the orchestra is highest at the front. If the orchestra layout is shifted into the auditorium, it crosses the proscenium at a point where its width and height are smaller, allowing a smaller proscenium opening. Alternatively, a large opening can be retained in order to better couple the stage and auditorium volumes.
The proscenium opening at Overture Hall is 69 feet wide by 45 feet high, dimensions driven entirely by the symphony use. At the Mead Theatre, where half the orchestra is within the auditorium, the opening is 56 feet wide by 42 feet high. Of course, at Morsani Hall the proscenium is closed off, making its size irrelevant.
Equipment Impacts
If there are fewer musicians within the stagehouse, then the orchestra enclosure can be smaller, and perhaps less expensive. There is also less need for a shaper ceiling to close off the upper stagehouse.
On the opposite side of the ledger, the number of forestage lifts and the size and number of reflectors over the forestage may increase. At the Mead Theatre, the forestage reflectors deploy in three sections from storage slots above the forestage ceiling. At Overture Hall, where the orchestra is still mostly on stage, the single forestage reflector is not adjustable at all.
Forestage Access
If the orchestra plays substantially or wholly on the forestage, then forestage entrances are no longer optional, but a necessity. The entrance at stage right must be wide enough for a concert grand piano.
Seating and Sightlines
Shifting the orchestra into the auditorium has a substantial effect on seat count and sightlines.
The obvious consideration is the reduction in seating capacity. Morsani Hall is 2,610 seats at full capacity, but 2,370 for concerts. The Mead Theatre seat count drops from 2,325 to 2,160, and Overture Hall drops from 2,255 seats to 2,100 seats. These are all large halls with seat counts determined by the needs of Broadway tours, not the local orchestra. The reduction in seat count is likely a positive for the orchestras.
The effect on sightlines is less obvious and more concerning. The patron seeing the latest Broadway tour needs an unobstructed sightline to the stage floor at the proscenium opening, but the symphony-goer needs a sightline to the conductor—who is 24 feet downstage of the proscenium at the Mead Theatre and 36 feet at Morsani Hall. Sightlines must be designed for the more stringent condition—the symphony performance—and this makes the seating tiers steeper and the room overall higher than it would otherwise be, resulting in a less intimate room.