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Acoustics
Acoustics
The proposed renovations include:
Remove the ineffective ‘clouds’ system
Install a perimeter wall-covering specifically designed for improved vocal acoustics
Add retractable side wall curtains, which can be deployed or retracted depending on the needs of the performance
A new proscenium surrounding the stage to help better reflect sound into the audience
The auditorium’s design does not lend itself to effective acoustics. An acoustical study commissioned for the space confirmed the deficiencies in the room’s design, the cloud design and configuration, and found acoustic ‘dead spots’ in the room. For instance, it was discovered the auditorium is auditorily unviable at about 15 feet from the lip of the stage, which means that a person speaking at normal volume and normal diction is unintelligible in the eighth row from where a performer normally stands onstage.
Though microphones and speakers are widely accepted as methods of acoustic augmentation for larger performance spaces of 2,000 to 3,000 seats, the Scarsdale High School Auditorium holds only a maximum of 800 people at a time. Industry standard calls for the human voice to be clearly audible in such a space, without augmentation.
House Area
House Area
The proposed renovations include:
Ceiling refurbishment and repair
Replacement of the audience seating
Repour and rake the concrete house floor; replace aged carpeting
Install new stairs and ramps to service the stage. These will be symmetrical and part of the permanent architecture of the stage.
The original plaster ceiling of the auditorium is disintegrating. As a result, the plaster material regularly falls on the seats, floor and audience. The audience seating, installed in the early 1980s, is broken, torn, and in a state of disrepair due to decades of everyday wear and tear. It is frayed and torn in many places, and the pile of the carpet is no longer discernible to the naked eye.
The current stage access points are not functional for many of the programs held in the auditorium, and limit the practical access to the space for those with mobility issues. The existence of only a single ramp is counter to our equity and inclusion objectives of creating a space that is safe and accessible to all. Those with mobility challenges often find their issues publicly highlighted by this situation.
Backstage
Backstage
The proposed renovations include:
The wall dividing the costume storage hallway and the dressing room will be removed, thereby expanding the usable space for dressing.
Another wall will be erected in the middle of that space, thereby dividing the single dressing room into two separate and equally-sized spaces, usable by and accessible to any gender.
The backstage area currently has just a single dressing room serving only one gender of a student performer at a time, while others are relegated to using the hallway outside as an alternative space to dress. There are two adequately sized unisex bathrooms accessible from inside the dressing room, as well as two separate entrances to the space through a hallway which is currently used as costume storage. However, they are only accessible through the single gender-designated space.
Performance Area
Performance Area
The proposed renovations include:
Replace the surface of the stage behind the proscenium arch
Sand, buff and refinish the area in front of the proscenium and behind the orchestra pit
The auditorium is used for every kind of performance from spoken-word presentations to large group orchestra and band concerts to the intimate dance performances and the yearly full-scale large cast musical. The floor onstage, directly behind the orchestra pit in front of the proscenium arch, was refinished fifteen years ago, yet the majority of the floor, behind the proscenium arch, has not been replaced since the renovation of the space in the 1980s. Due to its daily use and the intensity of day-to-day wear and tear during the school year, the stage floor behind the proscenium has begun to splinter and erode. Refinishing it is no longer an option because of how often this has already occurred. Further work would only cause the surface to degrade faster rather than smoothing out its rough edges. Although that section of the floor has been maintained over the years, the surface material is now at the end of its useful life and needs to be completely replaced.
Rigging
Rigging
The proposed renovations include:
The number of available safe lighting positions will be augmented in order to provide safe learning opportunities for students.
Improvements will also provide productions the freedom to use different areas in the auditorium from which to project light. This augmentation would also provide a more colorful and three-dimensional experience of performance for the audience.
The front-of-house bar will be removed and power will be provided to the catwalk.
The catwalk will be redesigned to raise its support structure to above average head height, thereby making this footbridge safe and accessible to students and adults. This work will also provide for greater flexibility of lighting positions, which both improves performance aesthetics and provides learning opportunities for students to work directly with the lights and rigging.
The tormentor bars will be redesigned to place an access ladder to and from the catwalk, with a platform for technicians to safely stand upon while servicing and focusing the lighting instruments.
Both the catwalk and tormentor bars will be renovated so as not to change the aesthetic footprint of the space.
The theatrical rigging system above the stage was brought up to code as of January 2022. The safety implications of these upgrades are significant. However, the catwalk is unsafe and impractical for student use. This footbridge spans the width of the auditorium, and features I-beam support struts at approximately waist level every few feet. The only way to traverse the catwalk is by climbing beneath each strut. In addition, the tormentor bars, which hang on the auditorium walls near the stage, are inaccessible to both students and adults. This means the lighting instruments which currently hang there cannot be serviced, focused or used effectively.
Lighting
Lighting
The proposed renovations include:
Relocation of fixtures to the most ideal positions in the auditorium
Restructuring the catwalk lighting
Replacement lighting was previously approved in Phases 1 and 2a of Auditorium renovations. This scope of work was limited to replacement only.
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