Theatre Design & Technology - Winter 1976 - 19

Flyloft
SOUTH _ 0 _ NORTH

Stage

Multi-form
Theatre No.1

450 Seat Playhouse-

Tulsa Performing Arts Center: Section. Note Studio Theatre I at lower left and 450 seat Drama - Dance Theatre at lower
right.
a significantly longer "reverberation time" than the
latter. If one is to design a hall to meet the acoustical
requirements of the Symphony, how might the acoustics be varied in that same room for opera, drama, solo
and chamber music?
The Music Hall will employ several adjustable acoustic
elements including a canopy, sidewall banners, side stage
towers and an orchestra shell. The reflecting canopy utilizes 200 curved sound reflectors motorized in four banks,
extending over the lift and approximately twenty-five
percent of the orchestra level seating. Adjustments to
this sound-reflective array will alter the time and space
distribution of sound in the hall.
The "domes" in the array can be set in an infinite
variety of configurations. They are shielded from audience
view by a free-hanging, acoustically transparent screen.
Thus, the interior of the room has an unvarying appearance while still being functionally variable for acoustic
control of critical early reflections. Similarly, movable
side stage towers may be used to adjust reflective patterns and "early" sound.
The interior walls of the Music Hall are a reflective
brick surface set in an intricate sawtooth pattern to
disperse and blend music throughout the room. For
dramatic productions, these brick walls may be covered
by six velour Roman-style banners which descend out of
ceiling storage pockets. The banners serve two purposes: first, they add a degree of absorption to the room
and second, they mask the sound dispersal patterns of
the brick.
A portable orchestra shell, towers and a motorized
shell ceiling will also be provided to adjust acoustics.
The shell will conserve and direct orchestral sounds by

I USITT I

coupling the stage space and audience chamber. Additionally, the shell's design will assist in good sound balances for the musicians.
Seating in the Music Hall is distributed on three levels;
1458 chairs are located in the Orchestra level in a continental seating plan. Fifty-eight of these seats are attached to seating wagons placed on the hydraul ic orchestra lift when the pit, with a capacity for 70 musicians, is
not in use. On the upper levels, 596 persons can be seated
in the Mezzanine, and 352 in the Balcony. Both these
levels have conventional seating layouts.
The stagehouse is 96 feet wide by 55 feet deep with a
proscenium opening measuring 60 feet in width by 35
feet in height. The working height of the grid is 85 feet.
Rigging includes seventy-four single purchase counterweighted line sets, which will accommodate "flying electrics," draperies, movie screens, the shell ceiling (motorized) and a cyclorama. Forty-four well-distributed general purpose sets are available for use by road or local
productions. Provisions have also been made for "hemp"
sets.
Lighting control will be provided by a 380 load circuit system utilizing a 100 dimmer channel memory console. It features a 10 controller pre-set auxiliary manual
override which can be operated from the main control
center at the rear of the orchestra seating or from the
backstage production control panel. The console will
also have library storage capability for 200 cues.
Provisions for the mounting of theatrical lighting
instruments include side lighting slots, caliper towers,
a FOH catwalk, a flying light and sound bridge on the
audience side of the proscenium, five electric and four

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THEATRE DESIGN AND TECHNOLOGY

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WINTER,1976

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