I cannot agree with Tom Marone’s suggestion, reinforced by others, that a solution to the need for a Performing Art Center can be resolved by using the existing Mountain View Recreation Center for rehearsals and then putting on the performances at Sundial Recreation Center.
Your readers need to know how a play progresses from an idea to a performance. Having some experience at this (six plays and six musicals) this is how it’s done:
Once the director has chosen his cast and they begin memorizing their lines, he, the producer and the construction crew design sets specific to the theater’s sight lines and stage dimensions. Blue tape on the stage floor outlines future walls, doors and furniture.
Actors learn how and where to move both on and backstage. As time progresses, furniture is brought in, walls are erected and bolted together. Seams are taped and heavy sandbags are used to stabilize walls. Doors and windows must be aligned and function properly.
After this, actors must learn to move in the dark backstage, knowing where things are so as not to trip on sandbags or set bracings. Curtains are adjusted so the audience cannot see backstage.
Next comes “tech week,” when lighting and sound is created and synchronized to the theater and stage. At this point the theater, sets, lighting, sound and actors all come together as a unit and the play is ready for performance.
There is no point when all this could be stopped, torn down and rebuilt at another theater that has different sight lines, acoustics, stage proportions and an unfamiliar backstage area that must be navigated in the dark.
I believe the suggestion of using Sundial for performances was made in good faith, but from a performer’s experience, we would be better off developing Mountain View.
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