Theatre Design & Technology - Summer 2011 - 23

24 feet above the deck, with 100 dedicated circuits through an
ETC ION board and a 4-foot wide steel catwalk at 18 feet off the
deck from which a 360-degree sectioned black cyc is hung.
Adjacent to the main stage on two levels are a series of studios, shops, practice rooms, and labs. There are two 33-foot by
64-foot sprung-floor dance studios, both fully mirrored, with
adjacent locker rooms and showers, two fashion design studios, the costume shop, two large choral and instrumental music rooms, a digital piano lab and practice rooms, two graphics
studios and a printing lab, two VIP dressing rooms with separate greenroom, a greenroom with kitchen, men's and women's
dressing rooms, and an assortment of "smart" classrooms.
To date we have hosted everything from the intimate settings for Liza Minnelli or Hal Holbrook performances to the
full-blown Movin' Out and Jesus Christ Superstar. In the spring
of 2009, we were the site for the PBS special Marvin Hamlisch
Presents: The '70s, the Way We Were. Peter Bezemes not only
negotiated for this author to design the set, but that the credits
for this nationally televised show included the names of every
undergraduate and graduate student who worked the production, from talent assistants to teleprompter operators, for unprecedented public exposure of the students' involvement.

Construction challenges
Any endeavor such as the Scheidegger Center, no matter how
well planned, is never going to be without challenges, set-backs,
and on-site revisions. Because of delays with the electrical contractors and a re-scheming of the speaker system, the opening
act, Liza Minnelli with a full orchestra, was actually the first dry
run for much of the center's equipment. Final Clear-Com and
sound circuit deployments grew way beyond the original specs
as the hybrid nature of the primary stage, with its mandate to
mount both academic productions and national tours, called
for extensive flexibility and sophisticated delivery. The primary
two Renkus Heinz PN 121 small speakers high right and left of
the proscenium were replaced with hanging arrays, and most
recently a custom RH center cluster was added as well as a
number of low-profile RH Iconyx IC8-R front fills. The input

Any endeavor such as the
Scheidegger Center, no matter how
well planned, is never going to be
without challenges, set-backs,
and on-site revisions.

capacity of the Yamaha board was succeeded by two DIGICO
boards-the SD8 (60 channels) and SD7 (256 processing
paths), one for onstage monitors and one for FOH.
While the foundation and stage house was being built, we
had to rethink certain other specified components. The follow
spot booth was moved to the rear of the house ceiling to allow
students less intrusive entry and exit and to tie it in with second
floor for more convenient access to restrooms. The tongue and
groove maple stage deck was reconfigured to a sleeper subfloor
topped with Masonite on plywood to simplify future repairs and
allow easy replacement of sections. The plan for a stage deck
trap opening required an additional cinder block trap room to
meet fire codes. The projection screen required its own custom-built twelve-inch square aluminum truss frame to maintain
proper tension on its full circumference of grommet holes.
While high-side lighting from the primary electrics pipes was
an option, extensive dance presentations required ordering six
two-part 12-foot castored steel box touring-type towers.
The summer before our opening was unusually humid
which warped the original Masonite on the stage deck. Days of
exposure to high speed drying fans didn't help enough, and all
of it had to be replaced. Carpeting meant for the second floor
was mistakenly installed in the more elegant theatre house. It
had to be pulled up and reordered. In the summer of 2009 the
orchestra seats underwent a complete realignment when it was
discovered they had been set improperly for sightlines.
Fortunately, these mishaps and setbacks have not damaged the utility of this hands-on living laboratory for student
performers and technicians. An unexpected benefit of building
a new venue large enough to host national touring shows on
a small university campus is the fact that the Bezemes Family
Theatre turns out to be the perfect space for road-seasoned
national tours to use overnight or in more extensive ten day
"dry dock" visits to re-tech their shows. These technical rehearsals, though closed to the public by contract, use student
crews in every capacity to share an unprecedented look inside
the professional world of theatre, from designers, riggers, and
sound and light board ops to company managers, often leading
to future employment.
From the first concrete pour to buying the last case of
gaff tape, it is an incredible privilege to witness the birth of a
theatre facility. As we learned, it is vitally important to monitor
the progress of each phase, knowing that your decisions will be
scrutinized by others for years to come, as they try to answer
the inevitable question, "Why did they do it that way?" v
Donnell Walsh, MFA Stanford, free-lanced in Ireland,
England, on Norwegian cruise ships, public television,
and films, and was the scenic designer/technical director
for the Lindenwood theatre department for seventeen
years before his recent appointment as Dean of Fine and
Performing Arts. He continues to design at the university
and professionally.

summer 2011

theatre design

& technology

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Theatre Design & Technology - Summer 2011