[SML] Stairs from audience to stage

[Bill Conner]

Thank you.

The problems associated  with a thrust or arena stage with stairs a part of
the stage makes my head spin trying to reconcile it with accessibility -
for performers or audience.  The few I've been involved with, the stairs
were not permanent, and then it's simply up to the users, not the building
designers, to not discriminate on the basis of disabilities.

On Fri, Jan 19, 2024 at 11:31 AM Dave Vick via Stagecraft <
stagecraft at theatrical.net> wrote:

> My old place, the Wharton Center at MSU, did not have fixed stairs to
> the stage in the Great Hall. But we did (or still do? I assume so)
> have purpose-built stair units we could put into place from the pit up
> to the stage if the production dictated thus - commencement
> ceremonies, FFA conventions, &c.  There are, however, ramps built from
> the house floor on either side of the stage up to Stage Level,
> permitting wheelchair access and shows frequently used these ramps to
> bring patrons up onstage.
>
> On the few touring shows that wanted stairway access to the stage from
> the house (I'm lookin' at you, Lion King & A Chorus Line), they would
> usually bring their own staircases in and we'd remove seats and adapt
> row access as neded - a nifty trick when you have continental seating,
> I'm here to tell ya.
>
> On the other stage in the building (the 600-seat Pasant Theatre - a
> thrust stage with a footprint mirroring Shakespeare's Globe), the
> aisle stairs in the house led all the way down to the gutters around
> the thrust and access was easy-peasy.
>
> -DV
> (yeah, him)
>
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-- 
Bill Conner Fellow of the ASTC
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