BB Theatre Reveal
Date: 1/16/2017
Student Researchers: Kyle Hoehnen & Andrea Kelchlin
Faculty Advisor: Ranko Ruzic
BB Theatre Reveal flips the notion of “behind the scenes” on its head. Unlike traditional black box theaters, BB Theatre Reveal is designed to engage the public in all the inner workings of a space that is normally relegated behind dark walls.
Everything revolves around the multi-story fly tower at the center of the building. Divided in two by a glass floor, the stacked fly tower services both the upper-level black box and workshop space, as well as the lower-level public forum.
The open floor cafe, retractable exterior walls, and open connection to the public forum on the ground level creates an eddy on the 16th Street Mall. As the public is pulled into the space, the building expands upwards to the mechanisms of the black box trap and then downwards to the public forum stage.
As the public climbs the grand stairs to the black box, they encounter the costumes and props on full display. Before finding their seats in the elevated performance space, the public must cross the threshold of the glass fly tower and stage.
Throughout the building, the multitude of layers of the theatre are revealed.