Theatre Design & Technology - Spring 1977 - 32

1/4" Masonite

~3/411 Plywood
""

-::.

Villi

l'l/.J

Sand

1/2" Plywood
3/4" Plywood

Fig. 2 FLOOR SECTION
2x4 SLEEPERS ARE ON 16" CENTERS

left to purchase material for a layer of %" CDX fir plywood for both areas. The stage floor was completed with
an additional layer of '%" CDX and a topping of %" nontempered masonite with one rough side. The rehearsal
room received a layer of '%" AC fir plywood and was
finished with battleship linoleum.
On November 1, 1974, (the day after the official
completion date of the theatre), the faculty and students
of the theatre department began to lay the add itional
materials. Red rosin paper was stapled between each
layer of sheet stock to prevent squeaking (see drawing).
The %" plywood was nailed with # 4 coated box nails,
six per sheet. The '%" plywood was secured with #8
coated box nails on sixteen inch centers in both directions.
Finally, on the stage, masonite was nailed, rough
side up, with # 4 coated box nails on eight inch centers
in both direction. Some weeks later the linoleum in the
rehearsal room was installed by a professional floor
company. The entire installation of the sheet stock was
accomplished in two and a half days by sixteen people.
This included a total of 450 sheets of material, 10,000
nails, 28 rolls of red rosin paper and 12,000 staples.
Using the masonite rough side up was a practical
solution to a specific problem; we wished to paint
the stage floor frequently. The steep rake of the aud itorium seating makes the stage floor very visible to the
aud ience and an integration of it into the total visual
concept of the production is desirable whenever possible. The rough floor surface holds almost unlimited
coats of latex or vinyl acrylic paint without chipping.
After several coats of paint, the floor takes on a Iinoleumlike texture which is very acceptable to dancers. The
plywood, layered to a total depth of 2%", has a built-in
resiliency, yet there is enought "meat" to hold nails
or stage screws when bracing scenery or securing anything
to the floor. If it becomes necessary to replace a section
of floor, the worn sheets of masonite can be easily removed and new ones substituted. So far, this has not been
necessary. There have been as many as twenty-eight
rehearsals/performances of one production on stage,
and the need for retouch ing pa int during a production
has not arisen. The greatest wear and tear occurs while
building scenery on stage, but the scuff marks are quickly
32

SPRING. 1977

covered with a fresh coat of paint.
After two years of almost continuous usage, the
floors in both the stage and rehearsal room of the Helfaer
Theatre have proven entirely satisfactory to actors, dancers and technicians. Edge grain fir floors in other theatres in the area have split and worn badly. Based on
first hand observation, for Marquette's purposes, this
compromise appears to be an improvement over the
original specifications.
_

News

Continued from page 8

and a 100-seat multi-media lecture room for art history.
The new Music Building will adjoin the existing Music
Building and will be a teaching and practice facility that
includes a 700-seat recital hall. The stage of the recital
hall will be large enough for major chorus, symphony
orchestra or concert band programs, as well as for individual or small ensemble performances. A large new pipe
organ and the Music Department's new Steinway piano
from Germany will be housed in the recital hall. Classrooms, office-teaching studios and practice rooms will
abound in the building.
The Opera Laboratory Theatre, with seats for 400,
will be suitable for production of medium-size operas
and will provide teaching facilities for students to gain
experience through the production of operatic scenes.
The Drama Workshops Building will be used as a teaching resource for the design and construction of scenery
and as a production center for scenery needed in the
Concert Hall, the Opera Laboratory Theatre or other
performance areas on campus. It will have three major
studios for the construction, painting and assembly of
scenery, plus classrooms and faculty offices for instruction in theatre technology.
UT's College of Fine Arts, composed of the Departments of Art, Drama and Music, was formed in 1938
and frequently has been a model after which other fine
arts colleges have patterned themselves.
When the fine arts complex is completed, it will be
the first time the college will have been centralized since
its inception.

THEATRE DESIGN AND TECHNOLOGY

I USITT I

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