Theatre Design & Technology - Summer 1985 - 17

not always schedule plays whose intermissions in the Brooks and Drury did
not occur at the same time.
Johnson's plan was simple in conception, if not in his realization. He
wanted a single box office location with
enclosed access to the three- four if we
consider the "black box" space-auditoriums. With seven-and-one-half
acres of parking lot real estate he had
all the space he needed.
Rowley and Small had designed the
original building in the style of the Italian Renaissance. The scale was very
well handled and the style suited the
two tage towers plu other elements of
the structure. Faced with the task of
relating a new building to an older one,
he developed an exterior plan that some
now refer to as "Philip Johnson's Theatre Village."
Johnson conceived a series of related structures that would produce a
striking visual skyline, some of which
are deri ved from well- known historical
antecedents. His central box office is
located in a large and impressive rendering of the Roman Pantheon, the
"Rotunda entrance hall." The rotunda's fa~ade is graced with an entry in
the style of Bernini. Yet the barrel vault
in the top ties the entry to the earlier
building's Romanesque style. Other
elements of the exterior are related to
the architecture of several nearby
churches on Euclid Ave. The result is
eclectic yet playful and anticipatory.
One does have to block from vision the
mundane architecture of the Production Center building which appears in
part behind the attractive red brick.
The complex is best seen at night when
the exterior is illuminated and the Production Center cannot be seen. For
audiences approaching from Euclid
Ave. it is truly an inviting prospect.
Having picked up their tickets at the
box office, patrons can check coats in
the Rotunda and then move on to their
respective theatre. Restrooms flank the
entrance to the Studio One/Founders
Hall foyer located directly opposite the
Rotunda's principal entrance. Access
to the Brooks and Drury Theatres leads
through the east foyer to the new Drury
Theatre lobby, a large octagonal room.
An entrance stairway carries patrons to
the rear of the orchestra seating with far
less congestion than the original entrance at house left. A gift shop/book
stall is also a part of this new lobby.

The audience for the Brooks Theatre
passes through this lobby, through the
"Brooks Entry Tower," and along a
rather narrow corridor to the original
Brooks / Drury Lounge.
Audiences headed for the new Bolton Theatre use the west foyer and
move to a large lobby / gallery space.
Three entrances lead into a sound-lock
foyer placed behind the rear of the new
house. Another entrance/ exit connects the lobby / gallery to the long
promenade corridor at the western side
of the complex. Along the promenade
a series of exits give direct access to
several sections of another parking lot
located on the west side of the complex.
At the southern end of the promenade
is the south lobby. This entrance serves
a double function: it gives the Club patrons a direct entry to the small Club
lobby and it serves as the major stage
door for all performance and produc-

tion personnel. The CPH has also centered its security force in this lobby. An
information window in the lobby provides visitors first contact with the 1984
equivalent of the stage "doorman."
The decision to build a third proscenium house to replace the quasiopen stage at 77th St. was made by
Richard Oberlin, director of the Play
House. Whether this decision was a
wise one is moot but one suspects that
an opportunity for the sort of venturesome production activity that marked
McConnell's tenure as head of the theatre may have been bypassed. The preceding comment might at first seem unfair to Oberlin, the current director. A
member of the company since 1955 and
its head since K. Elmo Lowe's retirement, Oberlin has proven an innovative
and capable successor to his predecessors. Theatrical tastes have changed
since the late 1920s when the CPH was
at the forefront of theatrical experimentation. Even later, when McConnell almost single- handedly created a
"different" sort of performance space
at the 77th St. site, audience attitudes
and expectations were going through a
process of change. McConnell had
hoped to use his new stage exclusively
for productions of classic plays suited
to its unique spatial form, but theatre
economics required that the stage serve
for productions of realistic as well as
stylized dramas. In an interview, Oberlin stated:
The problem with lhe Euclid - 77th 51.
Thealre was thaI the stage proved to
be more flexible in lheory than in
practice. Within a year there were
portals inslalled on bOlh sides of the
stage which-in effect-lUrned it
into a form of proscenium stage. The
slage was si m ply 100 wide 10 be
practical.
When the Bolton Theatre was being planned all forms of theatre stages
were considered with a good deal of
thoughl given to creating a thrust
stage. The final decision was based
on a desire to accommodate all manner of plays and musicals. The limitations, we found, would have been
more severe with a thrust slage than
with any other. The Bolton stage i
extremely flexible; il has sufficient
depth to provide a good disappearing
point, has height that is adjustable
and we are able to play oUlside the
frame.·

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The East 86th Street cOlI/plex that opelled ill /927.

continued on page 27 ...

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