Berto_Tony_201307_PhD .pdf - University of Guelph

227
lights and sound equipment. It bills itself as a “Multi-Purpose Room” measuring 50’ long
by 30’ wide with a 22’ ceiling (Simmons).
As discussed in Chapter Three, the black box theatre design was intended to be
devoid of the various meanings that arise from more formalised theatre designs. Yet, as Ric
Knowles discusses, such designs still code various meanings of their own. The Black Box
theatre's set-up, during Grignard's production, had no formalised stage area. Portable seats
had been placed in rows on the floor, with two sets of risers lined with chairs at the back, to
give some height for viewing. Seating was open, not assigned. In the front, the rows merely
stopped, and the flat black floor allowed no demarcation between playing and viewing area.
The Kelowna vicinity has three other theatre spaces, all of which feature traditional
proscenium arch designs, with elevated performance areas. Grignard's production, as the
first play in The Black Box, would have introduced Kelowna theatre-goers to a new
configuration of space.
The theatre's separate entrance, at the back of the Kelowna Community Theatre
complex, would have initially indicated to audiences that they were not going to be having
a similar theatrical experience to those they may have enjoyed in the main theatre. Entering
and meeting Grignard's mother at a card table, taking in cash in an unadorned foyer would
have been in sharp contrast to the comforts associated with the foyers of most subsidized
theatres. Such comforts and conveniences work to both frame such an event as being high
culture, and also to reify ideas that the experience is a crafted product being purchased. The
Orchard Drive's black box experience would likely not evoke or reinforce such
associations. Admission was cash-only; the bar in at the back of the theatre allowed the
audience to return to their seats with their drinks rather than sip them in the designated bar