Montour American. (Danville, Pa.) 1866-1920, 1908-04-02
NEW THEATER PLANS
Playhouse to Be Maintained For
Advancement of Art. :
LUXURIOUS IN ITS FITTINGS.

Splendid Structure to Be Erected In
New York Will Seat 2,31a-Fine
Quarters For Star Performers-lm-
nense Stage and Bar Open All Year
Round.
Complete plans for the New theater,
which is to be maintained for the ad-
vancement of art and not for CONNER
cial gain" on the block in Central
Park West between Sixty-second and
Sixtythird streets, New York, were re-
Gently given out by the architects OF
the remarkable structure. The exca-
waiting work has been done, and the
foundations of the theater have been
laid up to the level of the street. Work
on the building will be pushed from
now on, and it is expected that the
New theater will be ready for the sea
son of 1900.
Its founders hope that 1t will stand
in the same relation to dramatic and
musical art as do the principal thea
ters of Europe. 1t is planned not only
to foster and stimulate art by the pro-
duction of plays and light operas that
are worth while, but also to maintain
school of musical and dramatic art.
The well to do men who stand be-
hind the project have arranged that all
profits above n very small interest on
the money invested shall be devoted
to the development of such a school,
the accumulation of an endowment
fund and other like purposes. Briefly.
1t is planned to make the New theater
the nearest thing to national theater
that can be obtained in the United
States.
The architects therefore have tried
to plan fitting home for the develop
ment of such an idea. The stage and
auditorium will occupy but a moder-
ate portion of its plan. Ample pro-
vision is made for foyer, grand stair
case. retiring and cloak rooms, smok-
ing room, entrances, roof garden, buf-
fet, quarters for confectioner and for
ist and similar accommodations.
The building will occupy a site 'front.'
ing 200 feet on Central Park West. 1t
will run back on Sixty-second street
225 feet and 200 feet on Sixty-third
street. The exterior is to be of In
diana limestone. The architecture will
follow the Italian renaissance. The
main building will have a high base
containing all the entrances and 4
two story colonnade The foyer, ex-
tending through the height of two sto,
ries, will be accentuated by large
arches extending the full height of the
columns.
1t may be noted in passing that the
buffet will extend all along the front
and that it will be open all the year
round, as will the roof garden, restau,
rant and art instruction schools.
There will be twenty-five entrances
the biggest at the two corners, and
the others will be strung along Sixty.
second and Sixty-third streets. At the
corners will be two monumental dou.
BILE staircases, one leading to the boxes,
the other to the galleries.
The house will seat 2,31S people, COG
in the orchestra pit, 500 in the boxes
and 1,41S in the two galleries. The
boxes are arranged in two tiers of
twenty-four each, most of which have
been subscribed for. Nine stairways
will lead from the boxes through the
foyer. In the rear of the boxes will be
a private hall, so that box occupants
of one floor may visit other boxes or
the same floor.
The auditorium will be elliptical In
form, the long axis of the ellipse be
ing parallel with the stage, so that the
farthest box in the center of the house
will be no farther from the stage thar
the last orchestra seat In the usua
small theater.
No orchestra seat will be under {
gallery. The architects have tried t
make it possible for every person oc
cupying a seat to hear and see every
thing. The acoustics will be as nearly
perfect as possible.
The stage is to be 100 feet WIDE GS
feet deep and 112 feet in the clear
The depth below the stage will bt
thirty-two feet. The proscenium arcf
is to be forty-five feet wide and forty
feet high. Few theaters have a stage
so large.
Accommodations for the stars vii
be luxurious. Rooms for twenty-threC
men and fifteen women have been pro
vided for. All the dressing rooms face
on the street. -Four or five of the thir
teen elevators will be used TO take th(
chorus girls and supers to and from
the stage.
The stage will be big enough foI
grand opera. The Metropolitan stag,
10,