Honestly, part of the reason I volunteered to help the Institute of Outdoor Theatre develop a guide for aspiring outdoor performance organizations was filial duty—my Dad works there, and he needed a landscape architect’s contribution. The other was that we use amphitheaters as a ubiquitous public space typology—with the implied ‘if you build it, they will come’ strategy. Whenever I see these spaces, often outside of event times, I can’t help but wonder how to make them more functional and exciting.
My mentors were a sagacious and hilarious group of outdoor theater veterans who taught me that their art is struggling in a competitive entertainment industry. We have seen how Netflix is crippling movie theaters; consider the patron experience for outdoor performance. I live in San Francisco, a cool, largely bug- and rain-free paradise. By contrast, I went to high school in Louisville, Kentucky, where outdoor performances have two excellent seasons: spring and fall. To entice a family out of their cozy AC-refreshed (hopefully bug-free) family room, outdoor performances have to provide a better experience. We too readily assume that the facilities we design will be well used. We need to take into consideration audience comfort and facility flexibility, and work with facility programmers to make successful venues.
Many facilities are hamstrung by the seasons; rain can further reduce the number of performance nights, challenging the bottom line for many organizations. As a landscape architect, I get distressed by one of the potential conclusions—to build typical theaters. Picnicking under the trees at “Midsummer’s Night Dream” or listening to bluegrass out in a field are rich experiences that are diminished indoors. By providing a simple shed, either to protect the stage or cover part of the audience, the facility can dramatically increase play nights. The Globe took this into account for the good seats during Shakespeare’s era, but so have some excellent contemporary theaters, such as the Miller Outdoor Theatre in Houston or Louisville’s Iroquois Amphitheater.
Many historical dramas are one-show venues. Predictably, over time their attendance drops. Some organizations incorporate other shows to provide variety; other groups, notably Shakespearean troupes, have succeeded through providing a range of shows within a genre. From a landscape architecture perspective, we should push for facilities to be multifunctional, especially for venues set in public spaces. The more specialized a facility is, the more challenging it will be to accommodate alternative uses. Determining the array of activities and types of shows a space can support is just as important as the specific production that starts the design conversation.
One approach is to simply provide enabling space. If an event needs risers, then risers can be brought in. Elaborate constructed amphitheaters target a fairly specific use—and are usually only justifiable if there is an active cultural programmer. The upside to this method is the low front-end investment and a blank slate. The downside is that many of the necessary amenities for performance will require temporary installation—increasing event costs and complexity. An especially innovative example of this approach is the Ark Nova inflatable theater designed by Anish Kapoor and Arata Isozaki.
Outdoor performance productions that provide a unique and valuable experience will be successful, and the venue can be a contributing part of that experience. In some locations, such as the Minack Theatre in Cornwall, England, or the Idaho Shakespeare Festival, the setting alone creates a special experience; the former is built atop a granite outcrop over the Atlantic, and the second uses the Boise River Valley as a backdrop. The venue can also add to the experience through a careful separation from reality: Entering the theater can be compared with entering the story, such as at the Lost Colony in North Carolina, where visitors are led through a series of historic landscape features and a native woodland before reaching the staging area. Sight lines, circulation sequence, and materiality can each contribute to the full experience of the event. Using this approach, we create the place to support the experience, show the story of the landscape, and ultimately contribute to the deepening of local community culture. People have been gathering in open spaces to tell stories for as long as we have had language, and people have also been designing outdoor spaces to support stories for almost as long. We can build on those lessons in our careers to address the challenges and opportunities of today.
For a copy of the guide Outdoor Theatre Facilities, visit http://www.outdoor-theatre.org/publications/.
Photograph of Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre courtesy of David Jensen.
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