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[an error occurred while processing this directive] (none) The New Theatre OSF Executive Director Paul N icholson By Vickie Aldous Ashland Daily Tidings After more than a decade as an idea, a proposed new theater for the Oregon Shakespeare Festival could become a reality. Festival officials hope to win approval from the City of Ashland to build a new theater on a city-owned parking lot uphill from the Black Swan. The new theater will replace the cramped Black Swan, which although loved for its sense of intimacy, is a renovated car showroom with many limitations as a venue. The cost of the project is expected to be about $10 million, which will be raised largely through a fundraising campaign. Paul Nicholson, executive director of the Festival, said the theater will retain the intimacy of the Black Swan, but will provide excellent facilities for world-class productions of plays, as do the existing Elizabe-than and Angus Bowmer Theatres. "The Oregon Shakespeare Festival has three different theaters, offering three very different experiences," Nicholson said. "We didn't want another Bowmer. Ultimately, all of this is to serve the art. We have made tremendous strides over recent years. The Black Swan no longer serves as well. We want a theater that can take us confidently into the 21st Century." Festival officials hope to break ground for construction this fall, continue work through 2001, and finish the theater in time for it to be used at the opening of the 2002 season in March. That schedule hinges on winning support from the City of Ashland for use of the Hargadine Street parking lot. Some residents and council members have questioned the amount of growth in Ashland -which saw its highest level of construction in at least a decade and hosted record levels of Festival visitors in 1999 -and hope to impose limitations on the growth of the Festival. Although still controversial in some quarters, the proposal to build on the parking lot came as a compromise after community opposition arose to a preliminary plan announced in February of 1999 to move historic Carpenter Hall, located on the Festival campus and owned by the organization, to make way for the new theater. But after months of community meetings, Festival officials decided to act on a suggestion made by a historic preservationist to build the theater behind Carpenter Hall on the parking lot. In October of 1999, officials announced Carpenter Hall would be saved, and the Festival would build a split-level parking structure on the remaining half of the parking lot to make up for lost spaces. Even more spaces could be added if the Festival teams up with the owner of the adjacent Mark Antony Hotel, now called the Ashland Springs Hotel, to build a large parking structure extending from the Hargadine lot to the area behind the hotel. Thomas Hacker, a Portland architect hired by the Festival to create the theater plans, said the compromise plan is actually better from an aesthetic viewpoint. Rather than prominently fronting Pioneer Street, which bisects the campus, the theater will be tucked away. "I believe the theater being pushed back from the site is in keeping with the spirit of the plays to be performed there," Hacker said. "It's something you have to search for. The decision to make the parking structure allowed us to push the theater back." The new theater will continue the Black Swan tradition of modern, controversial and experimental plays. But unlike the Black Swan, the theater will be comfortable for actors and patrons alike. "In the Black Swan, the seats are hard and narrow, there are inadequate restrooms, the lobby is cramped and the heating, ventilation and air conditioning are very poor," Nicholson noted. Patrons will notice the expanded restroom facilities and wooden shutters, trellises and screens designed to reduce direct sunlight and allow eyes to adjust more gradually to the darkness of the theater and the light outdoors. The mountains and hills surrounding Ashland will be visible through large windows, although the interior stage, of course, will be windowless. Festival staff will enjoy higher stage lighting, larger dressing areas with showers, space for voice warm-up exercises, convenient access to equipment on a catwalk, an expanded area to operate lights, and other improvements. Additionally, actors won't need to run around outside the building as they sometimes must do because of inadequate stage entrances at the Black Swan. Perhaps most importantly, directors will enjoy unsurpassed flexibility because of moveable seating which will accommodate up to 350 patrons. Seating can be moved to two sides of the stage in an avenue configuration, three sides for a three-quarter thrust style, or completely around the stage in an arena format. "The change in seating can take place between matinee and evening performances," Hacker said. "This theater will allow the best directors in the world to come here." The increased capacity also will allow more patrons to enjoy the unique plays to be staged there. "The Black Swan is basically at capacity," Nicholson said. "If there are any empty seats, it's because people haven't shown up." Hacker, whose architectural firm specializes in buildings for the arts and education, said the new theater will expand the Festival's ability to share outstanding plays with the public. "We believe art is the most powerful food for the soul for humans," Hacker said. "We think that this is what this project is about." [an error occurred while processing this directive] (none) [an error occurred while processing this directive] (none) [an error occurred while processing this directive] (none) Ashland Daily Tidings 1661 Siskiyou Blvd. Ashland, OR 97520 Telephone 541-482-3456 © Copyright 2000 Lee Northwest Publishing