Most architects design first with their client in mind. For many other project types, we also consider the end users of the building. But who are the \u201cend users\u201d in a performance venue? Certainly, the audience, for whom comfort and experience \u2013 and toilet count \u2013 are given much consideration. The performers also take front and center in a venue\u2019s design, literally and figuratively. The venue\u2019s administrative staff tends to be well accommodated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But there is one additional group of end users that is often overlooked yet they are as critical to a performance\u2019s success as any actor appearing on stage or any friendly usher helping the audience to their seats. They are the technical crew, and they are expected to execute their jobs flawlessly for each performance without the audience even knowing they are there. If one spends a few minutes with a crew member, one will discover they know the venue better than any performer or administrative staff. Touring crew members have exceptional comparative insight from venues across the country that could help architects better design their next venue \u2013 if only we would listen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One touring veteran was kind enough to share his insights from more than 15 years of experience on the road. Andy Cappelli has worked on shows ranging from opera to puppetry and one-nighters to long-term residences. His travels have even brought him through Dallas on several occasions. When I asked him what he thought of the venues here in our great city, he had some opinions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cListen, I love Dallas. I love everything about Dallas,\u201d Cappelli said. \u201cExcept for the [Fair Park] Music Hall. The Music Hall is one rough room. When I started it was \u2018the one\u2019. It wasn\u2019t the \u2018old\u2019 one. It was \u2018the one\u2019 before the Winspear [Opera House] and all these other beautiful venues that we now play in Dallas. You know, the Winspear is a dream. It\u2019s one of my favorite venues in the country.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Then the conversation turned to the intersection of Cappelli\u2019s work and architecture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe room has to do everything well. It must be incredibly difficult to design because even if your client tells you what they want, they\u2019re wrong. They don\u2019t know what they want. It might be a quarter of what they want. And it\u2019s probably not what the people working in the room need anyway.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Cappelli recalled his experience at the Fisher Center for the Performing Arts at Bard College in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI had the great joy of working in a building that Mr. Frank Gehry-designed,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s a beautiful building. When you pull up, the wow factor, the curb appeal is off the charts. But we were in that room the first year it opened. I have never spread so much roof tar in my life, because the roof leaked. It didn\u2019t just look like a colander–it acted like a colander. One of the biggest things we deal with is aesthetics versus function.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n How do we balance aesthetics and function? Capelli offered some advice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt\u2019s got to be flexible. As soon as you build a box, we\u2019re going to start pushing it,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019re not going to stand in the middle. We\u2019re going to run to the corner and ask for more space, so the more we can afford to be flexible and make more neutral spaces, I think that\u2019s the way to go.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Recalling a specific experience at the Curve Theatre in Leister, UK, Cappelli said, \u201cWe showed up to that theatre, we walked in the door, and the local crew said, \u2018Great, put everything against these metal grates.\u2019 And I was like, \u2018Why? What is this wall made of? Why does the wall look like a fence?\u2019 The guy said at the end of the show all the walls fly out so the audience can see what [the crew] just did. That\u2019s a cool idea, but I\u2019ve got 10 dancers changing immediately after the show. So, no. He insisted, \u2018Oh, no, we do it for every show.’ And I was like, \u2018Well, I guess you\u2019re about to change your story. You do it for every show except this one because we\u2019re not flying the walls out while my ladies are naked. That\u2019s not that kind of show, guys. That\u2019s a different show.\u2019 \u201c<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n While Cappelli\u2019s experience at The Curve is one example of architecture and production colliding, the general lesson is that architects need to listen to the experiences of all end users, including the crew, to better inform their designs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n His advice to architects is \u201cGo watch load-ins and load-outs. Everybody wants to watch the show because that\u2019s the show, but it is useless to understand the theatre technician. The show is the easiest part of our job on purpose. It is meant to be simple and repeatable. The part where we work, where we come alive, where we stretch and strain and grow, is putting the show in [the theatre] and taking it back out again. If you\u2019ve never loaded out chain motors from [a theatre in] Alabama at 3:00 in the morning, it\u2019s hard to understand.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n From adequate elevators to natural light in their offices and workspaces, crew members deserve the same consideration as performers and administrators. As Cappelli points out specifically, \u201cHaving one toilet at stage level for 85 crew members isn\u2019t adequate.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Is it just me, or does everything in theatre design come down to toilet count?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Most architects design first with their client in mind. For many other project types, we also consider the end users of the building. But who are the \u201cend users\u201d in a performance venue? Certainly, the audience, for whom comfort and experience \u2013 and toilet count \u2013 are given much consideration. The performers also take front […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":1351,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":true,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1349","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-people"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n