Theatre Design & Technology - Winter 1983 - 24

Paper Mill Playhouse
cOl/lil/ued frOIll page 19 ..

inforcement system incorporating a
40-channel mixer and high efficiency
speakers throughout the house. The
intention is to provide enough equipment so that the sound can be reinforced adequately, while still sounding natural.)
Straight Plays
Paper Mill Playhouse mounts several
plays each season. In the past we found
that most dramatic productions are easily accommodated by a good musical
theatre. In our view, the chief special
need for plays is to create an intimate
house with a close relationship between
spectator and actor, and good shortreverberation-time acoustics to convey
the unreinforced spoken word. However, acoustic characteristics, perfectly
adjusted both for sound-reinforced musicals and clear unmiked dramatic productions, have been more difficult to
achieve. In the first season, dramatic
plays have required a minimal amount
of electronic sound reinforcement.
Children's Theatre
Each year Paper Mill Playhouse
mounts several children's productions.
Ideally, we needed a small house. Here
we compromised, using the full house.
Otherwise, the technical requirements
for children's theatre are easily met
with the equipment needed for musical
theatre and drama.
Dance
Paper Mill is the resident theatre of
the ew Jersey Ballet, which mounts
twenty to thirty performances a year.
In our experience, the technical requirements for musical theatre satisfy those
for dance: the large proscenium stage,
especially the depth, the flying capacity,
and an orchestra pit for forty musicians.
However, a special floor is required.
We asked Nananne Porcher, of Jean
Rosenthal Associates, to design a custom floor with good resiliency for dance,
as well as su fficient strength to support
our heavy wagon units.
Opera
Paper Mill hopes to have a limited
program of fully staged opera. With a
fairly substantial orchestra pit, stage
dimensions, and lighting and flying
capabilities, we believe we could adequately handle most of the operatic repertoire throughout the bel canto period
22

as well as some of the smaller scale
twentieth-century works.
Concerts
Trouble follows when theatres try to
stretch their plant to accommodate the
symphony. Proscenium openings are
confining; expensive acoustical shells
are needed and the requirements for orchestra hall acoustics conflict with those
of theatres. Paper Mill Playhouse hosts
the New Jersey Symphony on a limited
basis, so Peter George, our acoustician,
was asked to design natural acoustics for
the sung voice. This meant we would
have to accept a reverberation time that
would be a bit too long for the spoken
word and a bit too short for full orchestral sound. Over the first season in the
new theatre, this acoustical "middle
ground" has worked quite well for us.
A recent series of orchestral concerts,
onstage, without a shell, has received
excellent critical reviews.
The Result
Faced with the imperative of building a virtually new theatre on a limited
budget, especially to follow in the footsteps of a building which had a wide
reputation for its intimate, if idiosyncratic, charms, the Paper Mill Trustees
and Staff had great misgivings. Our
fear was that we would have to settle for
a plain, cold, austere monolith, like too
many modern theatres. While we were
not willing to compromise functional
production needs, we pressed the architect in making each design decision to
give us warmth, intimacy and some of
the peceptual qualities of older theatres.
We also wanted a building complex
which would appear to be a continuation
of the past; we wanted a country-theatre.
Happily, both we and our returning
audience feel the goal has been achieved.
The restoration of the old entry has
been exact, and it leads with gentle
change into the newer, entirely modern
sections using such devices as transition
lobbies, gallery space for local artists,
and glass promenades which make full
scenic use of the site's natural features.
The public areas are warm and comfortable, and with judicious budgeting
we have been permitted a few modest
extravagances such as polished brass
railings and light fixtures inside the
house. We and our constituents feel we
have an elegant house. A modest budget
is not necessarily the road to a flop. C
Jim Thesing is Administrative Director
of the Paper Mill Playhouse.

Theatre Design & Technology/USITT/Winler 1983

Theatre Architecture
COl/IiI/lied /1'0111 page 11.

Backstage, in addition to the cos·
tume shop, rehearsal room, and dressin~
rooms, is a 92 by 44 foot scene shop witr
a double story paint frame that i~
equipped with a lift, enabling whole
scenes to be painted without the use 01
scaffolds.
Clapp Recital Hall
Fine Arts Center
University of Iowa
Iowa City, Iowa
Seating Capacity:

Expected use:
Chamber music and recitals
In another wing of the Music School
building is Clapp Recital Hall, a nO-seat
theatre designed for faculty recitals,
chamber music, chamber opera, small
ensem bles, and occasionally lect ures.
Convex panels on the side walls and
plastic clouds under the ceiling which
can be raised or lowered, make up the
principal acoustic treatment. Red upholstery and white walls echo the color
scheme of Hancher Auditorium. The
orchestra is accessible to paraplegics and
includes space for wheelchairs.
Clapp features a tracker-action Casavam Freres concert organ, designed
and handcrafted especially for the hall.
It is one of only five or six comparable
instruments in the United States.

Helios 80 Outdoor Theatre
Seating Capacity: 3000
Architect:
Frink and Beuchat: Architects
"Design an outdoor theatre using a
tensioned membrane-for economy of
space enclosure, festive color and long
life .... " The competition was sponsored by Helios Tension Products,
manufacturer of soft shell structures, to

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Theatre Design & Technology - Winter 1983