architecture copyright lighting sound america … · their mentors david mamet and william h. macy,...

60 • February 2013 • Lighting&Sound America

ARCHITECTURE Copyright Lighting&Sound America July 2010 http://www.lightingandsoundamerica.com/LSA.html

hen the home base of atheatre company undergoes

a renovation, the results are usuallydramatically obvious—the auditoriummight be visibly refurbished, theexterior thoroughly reworked, newperformance spaces might be added.In the case of Atlantic TheatreCompany’s Linda Gross Theatre,none of this is true. Jeffory Lawson,the company’s managing director,told Playbill.com that, when friendssurvey the interior of the Gross, theysay, “What did you do? It looks thesame.” There is a good reason forthis: The company spent $8.3 millionto make it so.

Founded in 1985 by a group ofNew York University graduates andtheir mentors David Mamet andWilliam H. Macy, Atlantic TheatreCompany has grown to become oneof Off Broadway’s premier productioncompanies. Along the way, Atlantichas presented works by authorsranging from Woody Allen to GeorgeF. Walker, a distinguished list that alsoincludes Craig Lucas, John Guare,Tina Howe, Keith Reddin, EthanCoen, and, of course, David Mamet.The company has been instrumentalin promoting the fortunes in the US ofConor McPherson, Jez Butterworth,and Martin McDonagh. The latter’sblack comedies The Beauty Queen ofLeenane and The Lieutenant ofInishmore are among the Atlantic

www.lightingandsoundamerica.com • February 2013 • 61

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Atlantic Theatre’s Restoration

DramaA theatre is taken apart and reassembled

in the name of renovationBy: David Barbour

productions that have transferred toBroadway; the company alsopresented the New York premiere ofthe musical Spring Awakening beforeits smash Broadway run. In addition,it has presented revivals of vintageworks such as Hobson’s Choice, TheBald Soprano, Once in a Lifetime,Three Sisters, and Dangerous Corner.Atlantic also runs an influential actingschool, which is affiliated with NYU.

For nearly 23 years, AtlanticTheatre has been located in a circa-1850 parish house on a pleasant,leafy street in New York’s Chelseadistrict. Leased from the adjacent St.Peter’s Church, the building hadmany advantages: It was located inan attractive and desirable neigh-borhood only minutes from Midtown;it featured a good-sized auditorium;and its historic charm made it seemthe very essence of a classic OffBroadway theatre. (The building hadbeen in use as a theatre for manyyears; previous tenants included theApple Corps Theatre, performanceartist Meredith Monk, and the avant-garde company Mabou Mines.)

The building’s many defectsincluded a cramped lobby, a dearth ofancillary spaces, a shortage ofbackstage space, not terriblycomfortable seating—and, worst ofall, restrooms located backstage. Thisnightmarish arrangement placed theactors and audience members inuncomfortable proximity and meantthat restrooms were inaccessibleonce the performance began. Therewere other problems, too: MaryMcCann, a member of the company,told Playbill.com, “You could hearpeople talking during intermissionabout the show. It was right there,because the greenroom for the actorswas attached to the restroom. Youhad to run upstairs to get away fromthe talk.”

Clearly, something needed to bedone, and, just as clearly, nobodywas in favor of seeking out anothervenue. “We needed to make the P

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Thin strips of blond wood, here seen on the wall containing the box office and the audi-torium’s two entryways, help give the lobby a contemporary feel.

The building’s exposed foundation contrasts with the façade of the concession stand,which features the same blond wood strips seen on the box office.

theatre more user-friendly,” saysLawson, who adds that, as thebuilding’s exterior was landmarked,changes could not be made to it.Inside, however, was a differentmatter. “There were manydeficiencies,” says Douglas Stebbins,of Fisher Dachs Associates, thetheatre consultant on the project. “Theproblem wasn’t the auditorium; it wasthe rest of the building. There was nolobby space. There was no shop andpoor access to the stage; they had to

build sets in the theatre.” The buildingwas also non-ADA-compliant. Havingsecured a second stage and adminis-trative offices in a nearby location in2006, Atlantic’s staff and managementturned their attention to bringing theLinda Gross Theatre up to date. Asmentioned above, despite its much-improved functioning, many of thechanges are invisible; in a way, thetheatre hasn’t been renovated somuch as it has gotten a first-classface-lift.

ReconstructionWorking with Coburn Architecture, theproject architects; Denham Wolf RealEstate Services, which oversawconstruction; and Fisher Dachs,Atlantic implemented a plan thatbasically involved taking the buildingapart and putting it back together.Fisher Dachs consulted on the devel-opment of a program, walking thetheatre’s staff through various studiesfocusing on issues such as seating,sightlines, and costs. The processP

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The number of seats has been increased from 160 to 199; the supplier was Irwin Seating, of Grand Rapids, Michigan.


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The back wall of the theatre was moved 9', which also required the removal of a supplementary building that stood in the way.


included intensive consultation withmany of the designers who haveworked there—among them the setdesigners Santo Loquasto, RiccardoHernandez, and Walt Spangler—aswell as stage managers and othertechnical staff. “Neil Pepe [thetheatre’s artistic director] and anintern polled all the designers,” saysStebbins, who notes that all sorts ofissues were on the table: Should apermanent stage be installed? Shouldthere be traps? Should there be apermanent lighting grid?

One major imperative was to getmore space; the original building hadno functional basement and thebackstage area was cramped.Therefore, the decision was taken togut the interior, underpin the building,and dig 14' into the ground, an effortthat took seven months. In addition,the back wall of the theatre was takenout and moved back 9'. “The workwas slow and delicate,” McCann toldPlaybill.com, “since the workers hadto protect and secure the building’sunderpinnings. For a year, it looked

like nothing was happening.” Insidethe building, as the photos on page47 show, plenty was happening. Also,the movement of the building’s backwall required the removal of the smallstructure behind the theatre—Stebbins calls it “the infill building”—that stood in the way.

New spacesIn this way, the Linda Gross Theatrewas enlarged without altering itsessential structure. Entering thetheatre, one is immediately aware ofthe expanded lobby space, now ontwo levels. The renovated ground-floor lobby is much more spaciousand airy, with an enlarged box office.Gone is the overhanging structurethat was the lighting booth. The wallthat contains the box office and theauditorium’s two entryways iscovered with thin strips of blondwood, giving the room a morecontemporary feel. Opposite the boxoffice is a unique twist on the donorwall concept, a light box featuring thenames of everyone who has donated

$5,000 or more for the theatre’srenovation; it extends all the waydown into the new basement area.The addition of wheelchair ramps andan elevator, which goes from thebasement up into the auditorium,allow for disabled access.

Altogether, the theatre has gained5,100 sq. ft. of basement space,which is reached via a black steelstaircase. “It’s very tough and indus-trial-looking, and it’s set in right upagainst a section of old foundation,an old foundation wall, so it’s a reallybeautiful contrast of the old and thenew,” said Jon Denham, of DenhamWolfe, in an interview with TheCommercial Observer. Forming acontrast with the rock walls of thebuilding’s exposed foundation is thefaçade of the concession stand,which features the same blond woodstrips seen on the box office. The fullyequipped concession stand is a vastimprovement of the tiny, ad hoc setupit has replaced; the new restroomsare light years better than their prede-cessors. Also located downstairs areP

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Because the building had no functional basement, the decision was taken to create one by gutting the interior, underpinning the build-ing, and digging 14' into the ground.


a costume shop (complete withwashers and dryers), a prop-buildingshop, an IT room, and offices fortechnical staff.

The invisible renovationInside the auditorium, “The key wasto retain the beauty of the space,”Lawson says. Even though to thecasual eye it might appear as ifnothing has been altered, manychanges have been implemented. Thenumber of seats has been increasedfrom 160 to 199; the new, and muchmore comfortable, burgundy seatingwas supplied by Irwin Seating. Therake of the audience has beenadjusted for improved sightlines, andthe spacing makes for an altogetherbetter viewing experience. New

custom seating lights provideadditional aid for patrons. Thewindows, which were previouslycovered with drapes, now havebrown fitted frames that unobtrusivelyfit in with the overall look of the room.(“They went through three or fourmockups of window coverings,” saysStebbins.) HVAC ducts have beenremoved from their previous overheadposition and repositioned in ducts offthe stage, thus eliminating anunsightly distraction. The expandedspace is now 6,300 sq. ft.

The stage area has beenexpanded, thanks to the relocatedupstage wall, which also requiredextending the auditorium’s peakedroof. Dressing rooms retain their tradi-tional location above the stage; they

consist of one rather large area thatcan be reconfigured using a curtain.The dressing room area has beenrepainted and has acquired newlighting. The removal of thebackstage restrooms means that, forthe first time, additional wing space isavailable. (The new stage area is 30'wide and 40' deep, or about the sizeof the stage in a small Broadwayhouse.) A new doorway, locatedupstage, allows for the easy instal-lation of scenery; previously, sceneryhad to be handed through a smallside window. A stage trap has beenadded, allowing for the possibility ofentrances from below the stage, anda door placed high on the upstagewall allows for staircases entrances, ifneeded. An upstage crossover hasbeen included, along with a newgreenroom and an additional office.

Interestingly, the decision wastaken not to add a permanent stage.The designers who consulted on theproject by and large said theypreferred the flexibility afforded by theneed to build a set from the groundup. A set of steel, installed by PookDiemont & Ohl in 1991, remains inplace, allowing for the installation ofadjustable lighting rigs.

The auditorium ceiling wasrepainted and new lighting positionswere added, with input from many ofthe company’s lighting designers.“The previous jerry-rigged positionshave been replaced by box booms,with additional outlets on the sidewalls,” says Joe Mobilia, associateprincipal at Fisher Dachs. “There isalso a sort-of balcony rail positionunder the booth.” The dimmer roomfor the lighting equipment has beeninstalled in a second-floor gallery;previously, it was located just aboutthe stage manager’s booth, whichmade the latter uncomfortably hot.“They kept blowing circuits,” Mobiliasays. “They had three portable air-conditioning units in there during thesummer.” The new booth, which isaccessed by ship’s ladder, is more

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spacious and offers a good view ofthe stage.

The house lighting package,consisting of ETC gear supplied byBarbizon, includes two ETC SensorSR48 dimmer racks (192 dimmerstotal, one ETC SmartSwitch RelayPanel with twenty-four 120V circuitsand twenty-four 208V circuits.)Faceplates with Socapex power andEthernet receptacles, located in therafters of the ceiling, are designedfor maximum flexibility of fixturelocations, as the company often

reconfigures its lighting grid. Thereare two ETC one-port DMX nodes,four ETC two-port DMX nodes, aswell as ETC Paradigm house lightcontrols and Lex Products companyswitches. The company alreadyowned an ETC Ion console.

The Atlantic Theatre reopened inOctober with a ceremony that,among other things, featured Macyand his wife, Felicity Huffman,another founding member,strumming ukuleles and singing eachtitle of the 130 plays previously

produced by the company. So far,the transition to life in the renovatedspace has proven remarkablyseamless. “We never expected wewould be here this long,” Pepe toldthe Associated Press. “When werealized we were going to be herethis long, we wanted to make thisbeautiful space even better, and wewanted to make it more hospitableto the artists, the patrons, theaudiences, and the community.”

The effort of digging a basement for the theatre took seven months, but it resulted in 5,100 sq. ft. of basement space that now housesrestrooms, a concession stand, a costume shop, a prop building shop, an IT room, and offices for technical staff.

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architecture copyright lighting sound america … · their mentors david mamet and william h. macy,...

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