Theatre Design & Technology - Winter 2005 - 18

Since both principal companies use full
orchestras, the sound package is relatively
modest. It is designed principally to provide
sound effects for opera productions, simple PA
setups for presenters at lecterns, and small re-

will be available to be rigged from the chain
hoists, either full-width or in sections. The
simplification of the stage machinery is driven
by the decision to place a priority on acoustics
and sightlines, and the desire to build a theatre
on time and on budget.
The Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts is due to open in the fall of 2006 with
several complete performances of the Canadian Opera Company's own production of
Wagner's Ring Cycle. The entire tetralogy is designed by renowned designer Michael Levine
with lighting by David Finn. Each opera has a

different director, with Levine himself directing
Das Rheingold, which starts the cycle on September 12, 2006.
On that date, as the Rheinmaidens sing,
the long struggle to build an opera house for
Toronto will be over. ❖
Paul Court is director of the theatre
production program at Humber College
Institute of Technology and Advanced
Learning. He is also the promotions
coordinator for the 2005 USITT Annual
Conference & Stage Expo.

inforced music events. However, there is a substantial infrastructure of power and rigging
points to allow renters to bring in large sound
and video systems. Cable raceways are accessible under the stage, and through the plenum
under the main auditorium floor to the booths.
Toronto-based system consultants Engineering
Harmonics have also designed audio and video
tie-lines from the sound booth to a broadcast
truck position in the loading dock.
The loading dock is at stage level, and can
house three fifty-three-foot trailers plus a five-ton
truck. The loading facilities have required protracted negotiations with the City of Toronto.
The restricted footprint means that trucks have
to back in from a busy four-lane, one-way
street. Trucks will not be allowed to back in
during rush hours (five to six hours per day).
At other times the police will operate a control
that switches traffic lights for several blocks
east to provide a window to dock the trailers.
The city is also trying to mandate a maximum twenty-eight-foot limit for trailers in the
downtown core. It has been explained to them
that opera drops come on forty-foot rolls that
don't take well to getting bent. Discussions
continue with city bureaucrats.
Backstage, there is a notable difference
between the old Ballet Opera House project
and the new Four Seasons Centre in the staging
and rigging systems. The former project was
designed with an extensive system of stage elevators, while the project that is actually being
built simply has a large trappable area that can
accommodate lifts as needed. The Wagnerscale orchestra pit consists of two sections that
can be raised to stage level on GALA Spiralifts.
Similarly, the rigging system will consist of traditional counterweight linesets, as
opposed to the elaborate mechanized systems
designed for the Ballet Opera House fifteen
years ago. There will be trolley beams above
the grid to carry chain hoists. While there is no
permanent lighting bridge above the stage, one
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Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Theatre Design & Technology - Winter 2005