The Daily Alaska empire., 1939-12-06
AUDITORIUM OF SCHOOLS
 FOR THEATRE
U. 5. Office of Education Issues Statement
 on Mistakes

States are usually not well planned. A common mistake is to make the auditorium far too large, the pros cenium or stage opening too wide, and the stage itself very shallow.
 Because there is an increasing community demand for the use of school auditoriums for plays, con- certs, forums, and motion pictures, and because a school auditorium costs anywhere from $50,000 to $150- 900 or more, a badly planned audi torium is not only extravagant but defeats the purpose for which it is built. These are the conclusions reached by the U. s. Office of Edu- cation as the result of study of school auditoriums in 21 states.
 The day is past when auditoriums should be constructed merely as as- sembly halls for opening exercises and graduation ceremonies, the sur vey report points out The modern auditorium should be constructed like a theatre. Unfortunately, how ever, auditoriums are rarely planned or equipped with any sound know ledge of their technical requirements
 The first requirement of good school auditorium is that it should not be too large, the U s. Office of Education warns. Auditorlums should not be planned to house the whole capacity of the school if the enrolment is 1000 or more. Most professional theatres in New York have capacity of 1000 seats or slightly less. Very few professional actors can project their trained vol ces or "get across the footlights in a 1900 or 1,500 seat auditorium, 1t is pointed out. Much less can this be done by amateurs. The auditor ium capacity should range from 500 or less to 750 in order to give the intimacy necessary to an effec- tive theatre where amateurs per- form.
 The Stage
 It is in the planning of the stage however, that auditoriums are most adequate. It is stated that the lay out of most stages is determined by guess with the result that most of them are cramped, wrong in their essential proportions, technically inefficient, and obsolete almost as soon as they are built. Once built they are too costly to remodel, al though at the time that plans were drawn they could have been made right at an additional cost that rep resented a small percent of the to- tai cost of the building.
 It is pointed out by the U. s. or flee of Education that stage should never be less than 25 feet in depth, and the width of the proscenium arch 30 to 32 feet. One of the most frequent and most serious faults Tn the planning of an auditorium is the tendency to provide too little or no off-stage spaace, the survey in dicates. The acting area of any stage should never be much more than one-third of it's total area. The safe rule is that the total stage space from side wall to side wall should never be less than twice the width of the proscenium arch. Lack of such offstage space may impair permanently the usefulness of the auditorium for the many occasions for which the school and the com munity may wish to use it.
 None of the 30 auditoriums in- cluded in the U. s. Office of Edu- cation study met the above re- auirements for off-stage space; only two school auditoriums provided stages 25 feet in depth; and in only 13 was the width of the proscenium arch 30 to 32 feet.
 Survey Report
 Alice Barrows, U. s. Office of Edu- cation specialist in schoo-building problems, and Lee Simonson, scenic designer and theatre consultant, New York City, are the authors of the U. s. Office of Education pub lication. "The School Auditorium as a Theatre" which reports not only tthe findings of the school auditor ium survey but also discusses tthe evolution of the auditorium and planning of the school auditorium as a theatre. The report aims to show | why the school auditorium exists, | describes some of the tendencies to- ward a more organized use of the for children during the school day, and for adults during | the evening. It points out ''how of the auditorium may | help or seriously hinder it's effec- tive use" and offers suggestions for more efficient planning of auditor ums for school and community use
 Development of Audit0riums
 The publication describes the de- of school auditoriums | from the time they were assem- ply halls sometimes used by the but essentially school nails, which after opening exercises In the morning. were unused for most of the regular school day" They became festive once a year for graduation exercises or for an special performance. It "sncial and economic ham |