Theatre Design & Technology - Oct 1971 - 25

THE RUTH TAYLOR THEATRE
Trin ity Un ive rs ity
Arthur J. Rogers, AlA
Arthur J_ Rogers was project architect with 0' eil
Ford for the Ruth Taylor theatre at Trinity University,
and later took a two-year sabbatical to study at the
Dallas Theatre Center_
In that time, he played eight roles, designed three
shows and at the present time is on the teaching
staff at the Center_
Mr. Rogers also has his own architectural practice,
known as The Architects' Studio, where he engages
in theatre consulting and general architectural practice.

He is a member of the USIIT, a corporate member
of the American Institute of Architects, and a member of the Southwest Theatre Conference, where he
heads the Conference's Committee on Theatre Plant
and Equipment.
A graduate of Miami University with a Bachelor of
Architecture degree, Mr. Rogers received his Master
of Architecture degree from Rice Institute and a diplome from L'Ecole des Beaux Arts Americaine, Fontainebleau, France_

In the beginning, you see those doors, and you
wonder.
You wonder why there are four little doors, instead of two big ones. You wonder if this isn't a
strange way to enter a 400-seat theatre. You wonder, in fact, what the Ruth Taylor theatre at Trinity
University is all about.
But looking through those narrow portals, perhaps we can envision the historical significance of
this theatre . . . its idea inertia . . . and its dramatic potential.
Theatre origins are always difficult to ascertain.
I have always subscribed to the theory that the
first architectural expression in the theatre was
the Greek alonia, or circular stone threshing floors
found out in the fields. This form, known as the
Primary Form, placed the audience in a circle and
the performers in the center of that circle.
From this evolved the Greek and later Roman
theatres, in which the audience is located in a
semi-circular form around a circular performing
area. This is known as the Classic Form.
During the Middle Ages, when the theatre had
no true architectural form, its traditions were
promulgated by traveling minstrels. And eventually
this led to the Courtyard Form of theatre.

Social changes as well as the passage of ti me
and custom forced the theatre indoors, and brought
the Restoration Form, as seen in European and
English Restoration theatres and the Kabuki theatres in Japan. Here, the acting area rectangle was
removed from the audience, and the U-shaped area
for the audience only partially embraced the playing space.
The final step in this Iineal process of the separation between actor and audience took place with
the advent of the 17th century prosceni um theatre,
known as the Picture Frame Form. Finally the actors' space became one rectangle and the audience'space another; two areas in juxtaposition,
yet still two separate areas.
And then for 300 years not much happened,
until the 20th century brought with it
,ena
theatre, flexible theatres, open stages, and arguments for all forms of theatre.
Basically, every theatre built in the 20th century can be categorized as one of the six forms
mentioned above, with one possible exception.
That lone exception is the Baylor theatre, which
I believe to be a prototype for a new form of theatre, in terms of the historical chain which we have
discussed.

Evolved from the wagon stages with their passion plays, performed first in village squares and
later on the steps of cathedrals, the Courtyard Form
featured a rectangular stage surrounded on four
sides by the audience.

In 1940, Paul Baker built at Waco, Texas, home
of Baylor University, a theatre in which the audience was surrounded on four sides by the stage,
and seated in swivel chairs. And this marked the
first new development since the proscenium
evolved in the 17th century.

Subsequently, the rectangle occupied by the performers moved up against the side of one of the
buildings in the courtyard, giving the audience
area a U-shaped configuration around it. This
Open-stage Form is represented by the Elizabethan
stages in England and the No theatres of Japan.

By the middle 1960's, Baker had moved to
Trinity University in San Antonio, and was director
when the Ruth Taylor theatre was built. He was an
integral part of its conception and planning, and
the Baylor theatre form is easily seen in the Ruth
Taylor theatre.

THEATER DESIGN AND TECHNOLOGY

OCTOBER, 1971

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