A THEATER IN NEW YORK CITY WITH TWO AUDITORIUMS.
It was with a view to enlarging the stage capacity that the proprietor of Proctor’s Pleasure Palace, in New York City, resorted to the bold expedient which is shown in the [illustration] on page 284, from which it will be seen that a single stage is made to do duty for two separate auditoriums. The way in which this was accomplished will be seen by reference to the sectional [diagram], which is taken longitudinally through the auditorium proper, the stage, and the new auditorium, which is known as the Palm Garden, being so named after the palms and tropical plants and vines with which it is decorated. The part of the diagram which includes the auditorium and the stage shows the construction of a typical summer theater of to-day—the café in the basement and the roof garden being special features in a house of this kind—which introduces no new structural features of much consequence beyond a strengthening of the roof supports. Stripped of its galleries and scenery, a theater consists of two four-walled structures, the auditorium being about square in plan, and the stage floor about the same width as the auditorium, and half the depth. The walls of the stage are carried considerably higher than the roof of the auditorium, in order to accommodate the drop curtains, which are hung by ropes that pass over pulleys attached to what is known as the gridiron, a stout framework located near the roof of the scene loft. When the drop curtains are not in use they are raised clear of the proscenium, as the opening from the stage to the audience is called, and hang in parallel rows as shown in the diagram. Below the stage floor are shown the traps. Here, in the older theaters, were frequently located the dressing-rooms of the performers, though the more modern arrangement is to build them at the sides or the rear of the stage.
In carrying out the idea of a double stage a hall was built immediately behind the theater proper, and a proscenium arch was cut through the rear wall of the stage, the floor of which was carried out into the hall and provided with the regulation footlights. The new proscenium was provided with its own curtain, and all that was then necessary was to paint the backs of the existing wings and drop curtains with scenery, and the doubling of the stage was complete.
The original intention was to have three or four performances of such a character that they would not interfere with each other going on upon the stage at the same time, and during the summer months this was frequently done. Ordinarily, however, the curtain opening to the palm garden is kept lowered, and it is raised only during the intermissions, or when special acrobatic, gymnastic, or animal acts are in progress. A passageway leads from the auditorium to the palm garden, which are both accessible to the audience at all times.
This is the first time that such an experiment as this has been tried, and its results will be watched with considerable interest. The effect as one looks through the stage may be judged from the larger [engraving].
