A Little Here, A Little There=A Big

Looking out the front doors of the theater lobby these days reveals the first stages of landscaping with earth flattened and shredded hay covering grass seed. Soon green will replace the dull yellow of the hay.

Stepping inside the theater proper, we find the men pouring over plans, maybe the seating arrangement design (n.b., guess). That would be momentous. Another notable advance is the paneling on the front of the orchestra pit wall. Attractive, isn't it. But the real excitement is in climbing the spiral steps to the catwalk where we can see ABOVE the clouds. Neat view. Also note that you can vacuum the walkways while you're up there. The outlet to plug in the vac is right there a little above the walkway. See it? Do vac before the performance, please. It would be a distraction during the play, don't you think?

Trench Your Way To Better Lighting!

This week has seen a long anticipated development--more campus lights. The parking lot has been illuminated by a single light in the center. The arrival of a backhoe on the edge of the lot announced the digging a trench needed for the electrical line. Judging from the light bases in place now at the end of the week, we should be able to hold night classes on the sidewalk next semester. New lights have been installed along the theater drive, too.

An additional development waiting its turn is the removal of the old transformer from the south side of the parking lot. We now see its protecting posts without a thing to protect, as the old occupant is carried away up the drive. Another trace of what had been.

Oops!

This will be a picture-liberated posting. Oops! on yesterday's flipping of the two posts. If you haven't read the two on the placing of the sound panels--the "clouds"-- yet, read the second one first. A parting note for the day: the men often listen to music as they work. The other day after blogger took the first of the series of photos of the "cloud raising," she heard, as she was leaving the theater, the "Sounds of Silence," and she smiled.

Some Clouds...cont.

So here are the clouds, each weighing about 80 lbs., one of the workmen estimated (the one who carried them). Only two men are working on this project, so it's slow going and strenuous. The technology employed is the tried and true pulley, as you can see. By the bye, do you like the color?

The orchestra pit takes on an almost finished appearance today. Maybe tomorrow will render a coat of paint.

Some Clouds, No Rain In Forecaste

Some Clouds continues below.

Excitement Contained

The front of the theater now reveals the finished doors and windows. Interesting reflection of the expressway and Ft. Wright water tower give one a sort of "GPS" for the site.

Milling about inside the theater one sees slow but sure progress. Sooo much electrical work goes into the construction of a theater, blogger has discovered. Conclusion: the lighting is as much a production as the action on stage. What good would the latter be without the former? Other aspects of theater construction are moving forward too: more and more railing appears. The side wall where the large opening was is all but finished in the photo. And truly exciting: the yet boxed "clouds" (sound panels) sit on the stage, just delivered this morning. As one workman put it, "It's clouding up." Literal yet figurative. One faculty member's thought: "Now the lightning." Let's make that "lighting," and we're just about ready!

Too Busy For A Title!

As you approach the theater on your side, you can see that the big opening is now not only closed but bricked up. Moving around to the back of the building and standing upright, you see what is the only opening from that side of the theater complex. If you recall the back doors of the cafeteria and the steps they led to, you can visualize going down the steps, and going through a door on the landing (there are two). You are now facing from the inside the door in the photo. Now you can go up the new steps to a hallway that has a door to the lobby. Looking across the lobby you see that the door frames for the outside doors are in place. The photo that shows the frame is taken from near the lobby wall, not from where you are standing. But if you look to your right, behold, the plywood tunnel that has been used from the beginning of the theater construction and was mandated by the fire department, is now history, and you are seeing the doors from Heritage Hall. (Follow?)
Be sure to look below for more Exciting Photos!

Too Busy...cont.

The man on stilts has certainly been busy as we can see in the two photos of ceiling grids, one in the lobby, and one on the back steps leading to the ground floor. In the former we get a look at all that happens up "inside the ceiling" with vents, pipes, etc.. In the latter photo a ceiling light fixture is visible.

In the theater proper the floor is readied for some cleaning and the new railings for raised areas are sporting their good looks.

Here A Task, There A Task, Everywhere...

Finishing touches and major steps toward the finished line are appearing on all sides. Sanding the floor to ready it for the cork tile in the strength training room in the annex is matched by the use of the electric trowel on the last-laid section of the theater floor. The area will be measured for the seats placement next. Meanwhile, the “large opening” is becoming smaller and smaller: first the base blocks, then the building upward, leaving a much darker interior to the theater. The lobby will have light, we know, since the light fixtures are being installed there.
Continue below!

Here A Task, There A Task, Everywhere…2

Moving outside and over on the east side, we find the downspouts complete. Let it rain! Jumping over the building to the west side (oh, for a pair of wings), we see that the lobby front is undergoing its transformation. All plastic sheeting gone to make way for the framework for the glass front. No glass at first, of course. We’ll next see plywood instead. Up on the housetop, or rather approaching it, we find a new wall ladder. No wings necessary to get to the theater roof (although that might seem appropriate for a Peter Pan production).