Dark, Dark Is The Stage Of Life

Well, not really; at least we hope not. But you can see what painting the floor as well as the walls of the stage does to the light--it swallows it! No, the curtains are not drawn in the photo; there are no curtains as yet. The photo was taken from the sound room, by the way. You can see the interior of the sound room here, too. Before we go out into the sun light, let's take a look at the final paint job (nice and shiny in its final finish) on the floor of the raised area. The dark taupe will be under the seats, you will recall. By the bye, perhaps you've noticed how dark the photos of the inside of the theater have seemed lately. That's because there is so much less light being used as the men wrap up jobs requiring less light. It's hoped that you can still see what's going on.

Now out into the balmy air and up the hill to the tennis courts. We can see the men working to apply the blue to the outer rim of the west end of the courts, while the east end is sporting its new two-tone. "Pock. Pock." Can you hear it?

Indoor, Outdoor

What a pleasant surprise to find the carpet laid in the theater lobby! It looks sharp, don't you think? The floor of the stage is laid, too, and waits for its coat of black paint. In the 3rd. photo you see the man adjusting something for the sander which is the last instrument to touch the floor before the paint brush (or spray). Beyond the sander man, you can see a man working in the prop/storage room.
Moving down the side passage way to the stairs to the ground floor, you observe the recently placed railing and turn-style (sort of) and the banisters. No mob rushing up and down these steps! Did you notice that blue and gold are evident everywhere now in the theater?

Let's go outside through the new lobby doors and up the hill to see what the latest is on the tennis courts. Since the weather has warmed the surface enough, it can be painted. The men are applying the undercoat, first of two, to the surface. The man with the wheelbarrow pours the primer onto the surface and the man with the squeegee spreads it. One can almost hear the "pock" of ball hitting racket now.

Every Little Bit Counts

So you thought the field completely finished with bulldozers! This one is preparing for the laying of a walkway to the future bleachers. In the distant right you see the pipes that will be laid to drain the field in preparation for the artificial turf.

Moving indoors to the theater, we find men here and there doing all kinds of finishing jobs. While one man applies adhesive to a closet floor, another paints the ceiling of the other closet off the lobby. Advancing into the theater proper, you see a man cleaning the raised seating area for the painting of the under-the-seats floor. This floor area must be sealed first, as you see a masked man doing a little later to the riser. Coming a little later still you see a man rolling the dark gray paint to the lower seating area, and still later you observe the whole theater floor that isn't aisle painted. Carpeting for the aisles comes next week. (Look at the posting below for the rest of the photos.)

What's happening on the stage? Over the last several days two men have been working at the floor, the same two men you observed in Tuesday's posting. You can follow a bit of the procedure in two photos--black plastic, ties, plywood, paper(?), then the actual floor boards. No wonder the floor workers wanted to hire the blogger (she demured); the more hands, the faster the job. Leaving the men to finish on their own, and moving out into the side hall, you see that banisters have appeared on the staircase to the ground floor. Yes, we're down to counting the days!

Every Little Bit cont.

Advancing From Odds To...

Moving from the lobby (notice the ceiling is complete) and stepping into a lobby cupboard next to the concession stand, you can look up to see the emergency escape for the sound room. Recall that there is access to the sound room from the cat walk. In case of an emergency, however, who would want to mount ten feet of spiral stairs, run across the catwalk and scurry down another 20 something spiral steps? So the wall ladder from the sound room to the lobby cupboard seems a satisfactory solution. Go now into the theater proper and up the left ramp to the stage. Stop a moment and notice a man cleaning out the groove in the concrete floor (blue railing in the way). He prepping the floor for the polymer finish that will be under the seats (carpet in the isles). Walking further up the ramp all the way to the stage and you see the outside back door open, and the new roll-up door to the shop/stage-prop room half open. It looks like it could be the equivalent of about three garage doors, and metal. Nearby you see two men shifting the stage floor boards to a dolly. Next to the long boards are the wooden ties that will be placed first and perpendicular to the floor boards. The men point out that the black plastic tarp you see in the corner of the stage will go down first, then the ties, then the boards. This will take several days since it's all manually done. We'll be back.

Quiet In The House, Please.

Things are getting quieter and quieter in the theater these days as more and more acoustical panels rise to the occasion (of the completion of the theater--not far off!). Out in the lobby, a man works on the wooden roll front of a concession stand. Outside the theater, you can see that the curtain wall above the doors has not been painted yet--it's still pink, while the ground has been seeded and hayed.
Over in the mechanical equipment room of the main building, you will find the stuff of air conditioning. Recall that the gym, auditorium and cafeteria complex are being air-conditioned as part of the whole operation. This project is badly needed as anyone knows who has been in these areas in warm weather (it doesn't have to be very warm either). NDA will really be a cool place when all is completed!