New Theatre, Oregon Shakespeare Festival
Ashland, Ore.
Thomas Hacker Architects

New theater balances a dramatic site with thespians' needs

© Pete Eckert

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The Oregon Shakespeare Festival charged the architect with designing a preeminent venue for its most intimate and experimental productions. The New Theatre incorporates flexible sound and lighting systems, Ethernet and other communication systems, as well as fully movable, modular seating. It can support avenue style, arena, and three-quarter thrust seating configurations.

The narrow site, located on a hillside, posed several design challenges. Additionally, community members wanted to retain a neighboring building, Carpenter Hall, a neoclassic structure built in the 1920's. For its part, the Festival desired a theater that was adventurous in its design, contrasting sharply with the other theaters. In response to these challenges, the architect sought to create a harmonic dialog between the New Theatre and Carpenter Hall, while giving the new building a bold, modern look. The site's steep terrain and close proximity to Carpenter Hall prompted the architect to locate the New Theatre back from the main plaza and organize the program elements within it vertically.

In the New Theatre's public spaces, the architect emphasized daylight and natural materials. Lobbies provide festival-goers with views of other of the theaters, as well as an active streetscape and courtyard, and the hilly landscape of southern Oregon. Movable lattice screens in the main lobby provide varying degrees of protection from the strong western sun. Below this lobby and the stage are support spaces for performers and technicians. These include fully accessible dressing rooms, a green room, a warm-up room, wardrobe and hair dressing rooms, offices, and a trap room. Additional support spaces, located above the stage, include a fly loft, technical gallery, cat walks, and control booths. The daily program of rotating repertory requires an average of 90 minutes for the Festival's technicians to change scenery and seating for the matinee and evening performances. Access by elevator, storage space for the repertory scenery, and seating is located two levels below the stage.

Formal name of Project:
New Theatre, Oregon Shakespeare Festival

Location:
Ashland, Ore.

Gross square footage:
34,000 sq. ft.

Total construction cost:
$10 Million

Owner:
Oregon Shakespeare Festival
15 S. Pioneer Street
Ashland, Oregon 97520
Phone: 541.482.2111
Paul Nicholson, Executive Director, Ext. 222
Richard Hay, Principal Scenic & Theatre Designer, Ext. 232
www.osfashland.org

Architect:
Thomas Hacker Architects
733 SW Oak Street, Suite 100
Portland, Oregon 97205
Phone: 503.227.1254 Fax: 503.227.7818
www.thomashacker.com