Dear Renno,
Work backwards.
But first – hire a good theatre consultant (not one that also does houses of worship and home theatres, but one that has experience in educational theatre facilities). While this advice may seem "overkill" for a black box theatre, a theatre is a theatre is a theatre. There is little difference in operations functionality and pre-planning about how you will want it to function will determine how you will want it designed. Which is why I say “work backwards”.
Your budget will depend on the primary functional use of your black box theatre. Regardless of whether you have a theatre consultant working with you, ask yourself these questions:
Will the theatre be primarily used by students who come and go each year?
Will the theatre be rented to outside users? (Once you have a state-of-the-art functioning black box, others will start to want to use it and the district may want to start renting it out.)
Who will staff outside events - professional staff or students?
Or will outside users be expected to be able to run the equipment themselves?
Will outside users be permitted to use the theatre's equipment unsupervised?
Who will restore the equipment each time in preparation for the next user (school or outside)?
Will there be formal vocational training for students using the equipment?
How many students a year will want to learn to be technicians?
Will the theatre be staffed by professional technicians?
Will the technicians run the theatre, and/or work with the students?
The answers to all of these questions will determine what equipment you will need. These same questions can be applied to a lot of situations in a high school theatre in order to help make design decisions. Check out my book "High School Theatre Lighting for Architects; Designing Backwards".
"The design has to be appropriate in the first place before the keys are handed over, because the type of equipment installed directly affects building functionality, student learning and faculty retention (hence: Designing Backwards). I've seen too many theatre designs go to complete waste and not used to their full potential because the design was not suitable to the users abilities or budget. For instance, one school I managed had a (mega overkill, ultra expensive) state-of-the-art light board installed with a complete system of programmable LED lights in their 100-seat theatre. I suspect the architect was concerned about energy and environmental design, and rightly so, but the system was so complicated that no one had used the theatre's lighting system for the first year and a half of the school's operation. For a start no one knew how to turn off the stage lights (all of the lights had been left programmed to come on when the board was turned on and they didn't know how to create a blackout) let alone operate the lights individually. So my techs and I re-hung and focused the lights and programmed the whole system for them in a simpler format. That system will never be used to its full potential in such a preliminary learning environment and cost the school district hundreds of thousands of dollars. This is a classic example of where simpler technology (a "two scene preset" manual board with conventional manually focused instruments) trumps state-of-the-art technology when it comes to building performance affecting academic performance, as well as staff ability and retention of knowledge. Or - if you want the state-of-the-art equipment, hire someone who knows how to run it and can mentor the students throughout the year.
A word about form and function. I know the artistic side of an architect wants everything to look "warm" or "attractive" or "inviting" or "pretty" or "dazzling" and so on. As a Lighting Designer, I completely get that. But don't let form rule at the expense of function in a high school theatre facility. Remember, techies wear black and skulk around in the dark backstage. If they haven't been seen or noticed then they have done their job. Techies have that same mentality about their theatre building too. It's ok to make the lobby and house attractive for the audience, but not at the expense of taking away from the thing the audience came to look at – the show.
"Some functionalities to take into consideration before(!) construction begins include:
- Traffic patterns, doors, locks, room configurations
- Efficacy and practicality of the equipment - is the equipment obsolete, overkill or just right?
- Placement of equipment
- Optimal amount and quality of equipment needed in order to efficiently run a production
- The layout of the backstage area for optimal functionality
- Optimized communication system to fulfill the needs for the operation of a production
- The function of auto lighting and sound controls
- Headset positions
- Scene shop location
- Storage needs for sets, props, costumes and people
- Counterweight system or winch system, or a combination
- Drapes, their purposes and placement
- What equipment should go in the booth, what should go backstage
- Placement of air-conditioning units so that drapes don't ripple during shows
- An office space for the theatre management and staff - a window please!
Have fun! How lucky to be designing a theatre from the deck up!
