Those of you who've visited the bailiwick will see some common qualities here. The existing space is a smaller front lobby with a large hall that extends down the length of the building along the south side of the mainstage space. The above scheme cuts the mainstage in two and sacrifices the shop as I had asked. It will require a new door for fire exit in the new north space. This plan also gave a pretty large chunk of backstage area but the architect had to label it "dressing" as I couldn't tell what it was for. Access to it is limited to the first two stages.
Access to the north stage is a little odd, as it requires the audience to enter onto the stage space, something I really hate in performance spaces. Let the stage be it's own space, if we are doing something specifically to pull the audience in or through a performance space, fair enough, but don't force them to wander through every single stage to find their seats. Do we really want the audience wandering through pools of blood at the end of *Titus Andronicus?* No, thank you.
Tragically, the SW corner space is also too small. Even with the rough sketch, I can see that the stage is a) too shallow (16') and more significantly, b) without backstage or dressing rooms. Once we add those, we end up with a sort of mini-studio, with seating for 40-50 and a cozy stage. All very cozy, but not what I want. Of course the SW stage is much bigger but is quite deep.
Lastly, we added a backstage toilet. Absolutely critical in a space with so many venues and one of the more requested amenities over the years at Bailiwick. But this has it's own problems. I am worried about sound bleed but more concerned about access from the SW space, no matter how configured. How can we manage to get a backstage bathroom that's accessible for all three spaces without requiring passage through the common spaces?
Curiously, the bathroom makes me think in a whole new direction. I'm contemplating Disneyworld, where there are connected passages and tunnels that run parallel and under the existing attractions but are never in the public traffic pattern. Obviously, we can't drill down into the ground and build a huge underground complex (or lair). But we *can* hide an access corridor along the center of the building. I sketched out a terrible drawing of a space divided into three roughly equivalent theaters, with the remaining quarter of the building for public space.
A corridor would run down the center of the building, broken up by access corridors for audience traffic. The corridor could connect all the backstage spaces while still offering a nice, air-buffered passage to help prevent sound bleed between spaces.
This is where I confess to being a terrible artist. What's amazing is that Rick (the architect) can take these ideas and turn them into something workable. And that's what he goes off to do. Three spaces, roughly equal in size. We will lose the existing studio (and some of my under budget dreams have just vanished in a puff of smoke), but I hope we'll get a more workable flow. New marching orders:
- Corridor for backstage and tech movement
- No stage under 20' deep
- Don't forget dressing rooms for each space :)
- Keep a bathroom if we can.
Good luck, Rick!
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