[SML] Stairs from audience to stage

[Bruce Bennett]

We’ve done a lot of accessibility work in our theatres over the last few years. Ontario provincial accessibility legislation is to come into effect in 2025 and we’ve had funding available.

Work across theatres has included installation of two lifts for control booth access (50% of our booths need to be accessible), and two for stage access - along with a lot of wider doors. 

In all cases we’ve not changed stage fronts, with existing architectural side-stage stairs in concert halls/larger theatres and auditorium floor level stages in smaller theatres. Where we’ve added lifts they’ve been installed to provide wing access from egress corridors at the front of the auditorium.

In two theatres we have “temporary” staircases at extreme edges of the thrust and they rarely ever move.

Bruce

"A society grows great when old people plant trees whose shade they know they shall never sit in." - Greek proverb

> On Jan 14, 2024, at 14:39, Jon Ares via Stagecraft <stagecraft at theatrical.net> wrote:
> 
> In my space (opened in 2006), there are no "permanent" steps... it was
> designed for all people to enter through vestibules off the apron on
> both sides - imagine side stages, but a wall instead. So, if panelists
> or guest speakers, et al were to go up on to the stage, they had to
> walk up (away from the stage), around the seating, and into the
> vestibule. We had a portable, shop-built, as-ugly-as-possible portable
> temp stairs for rehearsals, etc, but every time we'd have VIPs, we'd
> always be asked to bring them back out, because no one wants to go for
> a long walk to get on stage. So.... for a show where the director
> wanted actors to enter/exit through the House, I designed some steps
> at each end of the apron to architecturally look like the theatre...
> set pieces... not permanent.... not to Code.... and of course, you can
> guess, in 2024, they're still there, because it's "imperative" VIPs
> and speakers have quick access from the front row to the stage.
> 
> My district just opened a brand-new PAC at the other big high school
> in my district, and the space was designed with side stages as the
> access to the apron, and I've asked the Technical Coordinator there if
> anyone has asked for/demanded steps up to the stage, but she says no
> one has asked yet, but they've only had a few events (comparatively)
> and one show in December, when the pit was open, so it hasn't been an
> issue yet.
> 
> Maybe the solution is never show an alternative, and no one will
> demand the alternative.  If I could turn back time....   then again,
> I'd have even more people jumping on/off the stage....  :(
> 
> - Jon
> 
>> On Sun, Jan 14, 2024 at 10:07 AM Bill Conner via Stagecraft
>> <stagecraft at theatrical.net> wrote:
>> 
>> I've been working on some code changes and wanted more views on just the desirability of a permanent in the house route from audience to stage.  While my current work concerns an accessible route, I really want to hear about the functional and artistic issues affecting the choice of having a permanent in the house path or route.  My present big picture view is that for theatre - opera, drama, dance - permanent stairs are undesirable for artistic reasons.  For a very multi purpose space, like in high schools, where far and away the overwhelming majority of stages and auditoriums are, the path or route seems inevitably necessary.
>> 
>> Avoiding the complications  accessibility  brings to this for a moment,  correct or expand or just pontificate on the desirability of permanent path or route.
>> 
>> Thank you.
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> 
> 
> 
> --
> Jon Ares
> www.arescreative.com
> 
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