The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1903-09-29
new GREEK THEATER.
California University's Great
Open Air Playhouse.
NOTHING LIKE IT IN AMERICA.

semieireular building, Donated by
w. II. Hearst, Is said TO Have Few
Counterparts and None worthy of
comparison-stage Is a Hundred
and Twenty-Five Feet Long.
A dramatic festival at the University
Of California, plans for which have
been in process Of development for sew
eral months, was inaugurated the other
day by the dedicatory exercises Of the
great open air theater presented to
the university by William Randolph
Hearst, says a San L .ancisco dispatch
to the New York Herald
The festival is unique not only in the
annals Of Berkeley, but in college life
throughout America, for It marks the
completion Of a structure that is with
out parallel in the United States, and
it is not an exaggeradon to add that 1t
cannot be duplicated by the archi-
tecturaI marvels Of the old world
The realization of the enterprise that
was celebrated in the presence OF a
throng of men and women Of collie
giate and social distinction renders it
possible that the eliminating event Of
the college life Of the future genera
lions may be viewed from tier upon
tier Of a structure that is an almost
perfect reproduction Of the classic Di-
onysian theater at Epidaurus, in
Greece, and that has not its counter.
part in the modern world.
The nearest approach to the outdoor
theater Of which not only Berkeley,
but America, can be proud Of is to be
found at Nismes, in the south of
France, and at Oxford, England. The
first has become scarcely more than a
ruin, and the second is 50 vastly infe-
rior IN point Of size and magniicence
Of execution as to almost preclude ra-
tional comparison.
The completed structure is made up
Of two distinct parts. the stage COR
responding to the classic logeion and
the auditorium being a reproduction Of
the Greek theater. The former is To-
feet long by a depth of twenty eight
feet and surrounded by a solid con
crete wall forty-two feet in height
This is enriched by a complete classic
order Of Greek doric columns with
stybolate and entablature pierced by
five entrances and its ends forming two
massive pylons. The theater proper
is semicircular in form and 254 feet in
diameter and is divided into two con
centric tiers of seats.
The first series Of these is built
around level circle fifty feet in diam
eter and five and a half feet below the
level of the stage, corresponding ae-
cordlngly to the portion Of the an
cient Greek structure devoted TO the
choruses and orchestra Without this
circle the seats slope up gradually I'M
til the stage level is reached at a cir
Gle corresponding in diameter to the
terminal pylons Of the stage walls.
This line Is marked architecturally
by an aisle anciently called the diazo-
ia, extending around the semicircle of
seats between the orchestra and the
topmost circle.
Beyond the diazona the seats rise abb
ruptly to the outer wall, making an
angle of thirty degrees. The details
OF the stage have been worked out IN
cement By hand
The completion of this structure is
regarded as an event of so much i'm
portance in college life and as mark
ing the realization Of an enterprise Of
such magnitude that it has been felt
by students and faculty alike that it
could only be fittingly ommemorated
by an entertainment unusual in con-
ception and as perfect as student tai
ent could make possible in execution.
The dedication was followed by the
presentation of Aristophanes' Birds"