CHAPTER II.

THE STAGE PLAN

We areaccustomed to regard as the stage of a theatre that part on which the actors appear, immediately behind the footlights, bounded, right and left, by the proscenium arch. As a matter of fact, this is a very small part of the stage. From the construction of many school stages and many of the stages of the little and experimental theatres, I am convinced that this misconception really exists. It is true that many little theatre groups have been obliged to choose between a cramped stage and no stage at all. On the whole, the work they have done, in the light of their limited equipment, is nothing short of amazing.

One well-known little theatre director has declared to me that he values these inadequacies because of the ingenuity required to overcome them. And I imagine that very frequently admiration for this sort of ingenuity passes current for the evaluation on its own merits of work done in these theatres.

No director could be hindered, however, by having excellent facilities at his command. His imagination, instead of visioning means of overcoming too low a roof to his stage or the lack of off-stage space, would be free to interpret the matter of the play itself. It would be a great pity to lose the work of many earnest groups who have been presenting plays in remodelled dwellings, saloons, or stables, with what appear to be hopelessly inadequate stages. But if a building is to be erected for the purpose of housing a theatre, it will mean greater freedom for the artists (in fact or intent) who are to occupy it, if they are given every facility that foresight can provide.

The stage, properly speaking, is about five times as large as the part of it that is visible to the audience when the curtain is raised. The spaces to right and left of the proscenium arch should equal the center space within the proscenium. Then there is the space above the stage, the space under the stage and the space required adjacent to the stage for dressing rooms, shops, etc.

Dimensions for practically all of these spaces can best be derived from the dimensions of the proscenium arch. The width of the opening generally is equal to half the width of the auditorium at its widest part. It may be somewhat less or somewhatgreater, but it is well to establish a minimum of twenty-four feet for the width of the opening. Less than this will not give adequate space without serious crowding for the presentation of scenes with more than a very few people.

Figure 7—Plan of the Thirty-Ninth Street Theatre, New York. An example of good planning for sight-lines, illustrating an auditorium with center aisle.

In height the proscenium should be fittingly proportioned to the width, with a minimum of about twelve feet in mind. A stage too low and too narrow will throw the human figure out of proportion to his surroundings on the stage. Let us assume that we have a stage with a proscenium opening twenty-four feet wide and not less than twelve feet high. The aggregate off-stage space right and left should then equal about twenty-four feet, makingthe total width of the stage-house forty-eight feet. The depth of the stage should be not less than twenty-four feet. The height of the stage, from floor to “rigging loft” should be not less than thirty-six feet. The cellar under the stage should be not less than ten or twelve feet deep. This is merely a rough guide, using the measurements of the proscenium as index.

Claude B. Hagen, construction engineer for the Century Theatre in New York, suggests a “rule of seven” for the derivation of these dimensions, making all of them multiples of seven. The following table gives his measurements for stages of various sizes:

These measurements, while customary, are hardly ideal, and are generalizations from the more or less arbitrary dimensions imposed by high land values. It goes without saying that however small a theatre is, its stage should be as large as the plot on which the building stands will allow.

The off-stage space at the sides is particularly important. Without it, entrances to the scene are cramped, there is no place to pack furniture and scenery for other acts than the one in progress on the stage, and there is no place for the actors to await their entrances. Such space is needed, often, for the suggestion of other rooms than the one before the audience, and an important part of the lighting of the scene is done from the sides.

Next in importance is the space above the stage, the “flies,” in the technical vocabulary of the theatre. In this space, above the line of vision of the spectator, much scenery is hung until needed, lighting units are suspended, and with good overhead space,effects of height can be produced and ampler places revealed than that in which the audience sits.

The cellar under the stage is of especial importance where the off-stage spaces at the sides are cramped. It is used for the storage of scenery and furniture, for stage machinery and for entrances from a lower floor (with the aid of traps), and it often provides passage from one side of the stage to the other during the progress of a scene that occupies the entire depth of the stage. In some theatres, a part of the stage floor may be lowered by an elevator, and properties or furniture disposed of during the changes of scene, thus preventing crowding of the stage-house itself.

Figure 8—Plan of the Beechwood Theatre and Scarborough School. The entire space under the stage is given up to a workshop, and over the vestibule and lobby is a library. Additional dressing-rooms and a property-room are over the stage-level dressing-rooms shown here. The building is practically a complete theatre with two school-room wings. Welles Bosworth, Architect.

Hardwood should never be used for the stage floor. The architect of the excellent Arts and Crafts Theatre in Detroit, in his desire to use only the best of building materials, specified a stage floor of maple. As a consequence, it is almost impossible to support scenery by the use of stage braces, screwed to the floor with a stage screw or “peg.” Soft wood into which the pegs bite easily, is the only sort to use.

It is particularly important in small theatres that the stage walls be as unbroken by entrances as possible. At least twothere must be: a large high door, opening to an alley or street, by which scenery may be brought in and taken out, and a small one, a stage entrance for the people of the theatre. It is well so to contrive the building that this one door gives access to the stage from the dressing-room corridors, shops, cellar, stairs, street and front of the house. With many doors opening on the stage, it is difficult to find space for the stacking of scenery without blocking them. It is often desirable to have one dressing room very near the stage or opening immediately upon it, not for the use of the star, but for the player who may happen to have the quickest change of costume.

Stages intended for the housing of large productions and traveling companies should include also a fly gallery, built out from one of the side walls of the stage at a height of not less than twenty feet from the floor. The ropes by which drop curtains, ceilings, and “frame-pieces” of scenery are raised and lowered are operated from this floor and are tied off to pins fastened in the gallery railing, technically known as the pin-rail. In smaller stages, of no great height, it will save space, construction costs and operating expense to have the pin-rail at the floor level.

Before discussing the equipment of the stage in detail, I wish to digress for a moment and consider the provisions to be made for the work that is done out of sight of the audience,—by the carpenters and property men, the seamstresses, the electricians, and the actors before they are ready to appear before the footlights.

Auditorium of the Munich Art Theatre. The plates on this and the following three pages, and the plans on pages 30 and 31 illustrate the interior and exterior appearance, as well as the structural features, of a modern European theatre which comes close to being a model for architects everywhere. Above is a view of the auditorium as seen from a point near the boxes at the back. The decoration in paneled wood (for acoustic reasons), the absence of proscenium boxes, the uniform slope of the auditorium, and the simple decorative curtain, are characteristic of the best contemporary European practice. (The photographs are reproduced by courtesy of the architect, Prof. Max Littmann.)

Exterior of the Munich Art Theatre.

A cross-section model of the Munich Art Theatre, showing clearly the arrangement of boxes, auditorium, exits, stage, hidden orchestra pit, double proscenium, etc.

A part of the auditorium of the Munich Art Theatre as seen from the stage. This is interesting chiefly as illustrating the arrangement of the boxes at the back, and the unbroken tiers of seats with side exits.

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