Theatre Design & Technology - Oct 1970 - 28

over the local loud speaker systems when
a button is depressed. This tone-is somewhat variable, and is governed by the
musician in charge. Thedevice isadjustable,
plus or minus a few cycles per second, to
satisfy anyone who desires tone "a" to be
a specific thing. Needless to say, all the
instruments are tuned to tone" a".
Whenever the house curtain in the opera
theatre is closed, the stage manager and
cast would normally be unaware of action in
the house or orchestra pit. A closed circuit
video system with strategically located video
monitors is provided to fill this need.
In all just about everything was thought
of and provided for within the budget limitations.

THE DESIGN
SPECIFICATIONS
H.R. Poindexter
Jean Rosenthal
Associates, Inc., New York
he birth pains of this building extend
over a period of eight or ten years. Before that there were drawings for about ten
years. Drawings were thrown away and

T

28

brought back again and re-assorted. A new
management seemed to arrive every two
weeks. We were serving two masters, really.
One was the Juilliard School, which is the
tenant of the building, and the other was
Lincoln Center, the building owner. Both had
to be satisfied. Lincoln Center was protective of Juilliard, making sure the school
got what it wanted.
We dealt directly with the faculty of
Juilliard. When the faculty changed, as it
did, quite a few times, we had to go back
and rethink to give the people who were
going to live in it what they wanted. The
shape of the forestage must have changed
eighteen times before it was finally built.
This was multiplied a thousand times over
in every department and every area. The
height restriction on the building were limited by cost. Every bit of space that is
available, in height, width, and depth has
been used. As a result, it is one of the
most complicated, compact buildings I have
ever seen.
These two theatres, I think, are the
heart of the whole operation. Tully Hall is
really a function of Lincoln Center at this
point. It is not Juilliard's per se. The theatres are really working operating theatres.
The dance studios, and the whole dance department, went through a good deal of

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turnover and turmoil. First one person was the
head of the dance department, then another,
then they combined and picked out two more.
During all these phases we went through
renovation and change trying to satisfy each
of the groups. It was a long, arduous and
sometimes tiring process.
The opera theatre grid measures about
sixty feet. The proscenium opening width
is about sixty-five feet, but it can come
down to about thirty-five without destroying
side lines. The house itself is equipped
with about seventy-five straight panel ing
sets.
The floor in the opera theatre is a rolling
trap system. You can open up the entire
hole of about forty-two by thirty feet. The
sections come out. The beams under them
are on trolleys. The hole can be opened up
to any dimension, including fully open.
There are two orchestra pit lifts. The back
one is a double deck with a second level
below which picks up. In its raised position, it gives a fairly deep thrust or a
fairly deep forestage, not really a front.
We had a height limitation on the building. I would have liked to have had another
ten feet below in all of these areas. Nevertheless I think it has worked out very well.

THEATER DESIGN AND TECHNOLOGY

OCTOBER. 1970
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