Theatre Design & Technology - Summer 1985 - 16

EAST 86TH STREET

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Ground level plan oj the nell' complex. The original complex-the Brooks and Drury Theacres are
at the upper ce/1/er. Philip lohnson's nell' theatre, the Kenyon C. Bolton is at lower center. Note
the wide corridor behind the stage connecting to support spaces. Studio One and Founders Hall is
between the Brooks and the Bolton.

lobby and to the new door between the
Production Center and the old scenic
shop. This latter area is used now
mainly as a storage area for the two
older stages and as a paint and trial assembly area. The stage right slip stage
serves a similar function for the Bolton.
The elevator lobby at ground level
serves the same purpose it did when the
building was a Sears Roebuck store.
Large trucks can back into the enclosed
dock and unload directly into the elevator lobby. From there goods and
materials go to the basement or to the
upper noors. The Production Center
basement is given over, in the main, to
prop storage. Two thousand square
feet at this level have now been converted to a property shop.
The costume shop and storage areas
are located on the second noor of the
Production Center and are accessible
by elevator and stairways. Over the
years the theatre built up a huge inventory of period and contemporary costumes. These are all stored in accessible
and well lighted spaces that would be
the envy of every costume shop supervisor who ever despaired over where to
14

put things so that they might be easily
found when needed.
The extra square footage in the Prod uction Center not currently needed for
production support is now rented to
two area hospitals, the Cleveland Clinic
and Mount Sinai, for storage of medical records. These rentals generate additional income for the CPH, which
helps to meet the cost of heat and light.
Two large rehearsal rooms are also
located on the second noor of the Production Center. They are soundproofed
and acoustically isolated so that both
can be in use at the same time. Though
not yet established there, "The administrative offices ... will be located on
the second noor as well, along with the
Robert I. Kohn library.'"
Another look at the overall ground
level plan reveals the way that the Bolton Theatre's location evolved. Three
elements are central to its placement.
The first of these is the new scenic workshop. It had, of course, to be well situated in relationship to the Drury and
Brooks stages as well as to any new stage.
The second element was the position of the new Play House Club. By

Theatre Design & Technology / USITT /Summer 1985

placing it in the southwest corner of the
Production Center it is effectively separated from the very di fferent function
of theatrical production that must always take first priority. The Club and
the theatres co-exist but do not interfere with each other.
With the Club's location established, Johnson could locate the new
theatre west of the older two and face
all three on the north with the third element, a system of entries, foyers and
lobbies all tied to one central box office
operation. In the original structure, the
public entered a small lobby placed between the Drury and Brooks auditoriums. This space contained a single box
office window. Access to the Brooks
Theatre was directly off this lobby.
Audiences for the Drury Theatre moved
through a pleasant two-story smoking
room / lounge to a narrow passage
leading to the orchestra level of the
house. A stairway in the lounge led up
to the balcony entrance. This lobby
and smoking room had always been too
small for full houses at intermission
time; although the management was
very conscious of the problem, it could

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