Final Jabulani Update with Photos Courtesy of Denis Hutchinson, Theatre Consultant

Jabulani, the new theatre complex opened in Soweto Johannesburg, South Africa on Friday May 25 2012. The TimesLive called it “…an assortment of colorful boxes.”, and continues its story to explain the box shape aids in the acoustics. Here is their link:

http://www.timeslive.co.za/entertainment/2012/05/22/feather-in-cap-for-soweto

DWR Distribution posted the best article from a theatre technician's view point. Load of pictures, lots of excitement, great technical information! Here is the link!http://www.dwrdistribution.co.za/news2.asp?filename=1382012201949.txt

The BBC provides this short video report featuring the first show in the space rehearsing. (You have to wade past advertisement to get to the video unfortunately.) http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-18134910

AlJazeeraEnglish provides this very nice video of the theatre without advertisements. It features the theatre as well as tries to summarize the historic riotous events that shaped Soweto. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xylwRUO0B6g

And finally, http://www.joburg.org.za/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=8099&catid=88&Itemid=266#ixzz1wXsrpHkq is a link to the www. Arfritects.com article boasting of their great award for the theatre design, the “…social / environmental impact development prize, which recognises and measures the positive impact of any development on its surroundings and region.”

At the end of the above report, there are links to 5 more stories about the theatre.

I’ll close now with some final images provided by Denis Hutchinson.

The proscenium stage now has its floor, fly system, and seating in place. Photo by Denis Hutchinson.

Stage employees begin the hanging and focusing of the lighting instruments. Photo by Denis Hutchinson.

This view of the proscenium stage shows the stage left corner and part of the seating including side balcony. The red acoustic tiles help provide even more red color complimenting the upholstery on the audience seating. An employee is getting the final construction dust off the floor. Photo by Denis Hutchinson.

Here is an image of the “front” of the theatre featuring the separately coloured and shaped boxes for each theatre. A groundskeeper tends to the new landscaping which will add some beautiful relief to the building site.  Photo by Denis Hutchinson.

Pictured here is a walkway to the theatre, bordered by brand new trees and covered by awnings reminiscent of the Sidney Opera House. Photo by Denis Hutchinson.

Soweto Theatre Jabulani Update

Thanks to Denis Hutchinson, Theatre Consultant on the project, I have three new photos of the theatre complex to share!

The land in front of the complex will get a beautiful paving design.

See all those dangling wires? It looks like the proscenium theatre is getting its fly system in order.

This theatre looks like it has its sound absorption materials in place.

Construction Site - Jabulani Performing Arts Complex in Soweto

Construction Zone:  Jabulani – Soweto’s New Theatre Complex

These aluminum studs are cut-offs from the construction of walls within the theatre complex. The complex is due to open soon.

Since these images are of the theatre venues, offices and shops still under construction, it makes sense to apply a little imagination to see the full impact of the spaces. The photos were taken with only existing light,and  are somewhat artistic in and of themselves.


Here’s a link http://www.inkanyeli.co.za/index.html to the website where you can see the artist’s original image of what the complex will look like. The order of the colours has changed, but the cubic collection is prominent and exciting to see on the landscape.

Looking from the West at the side of the Theatre. You can see each theatre space seems to have its own cube.

     Theatre consultant Denis Hutchinson invited me to take a look at the new theatre being constructed in the Jabulani area of Soweto, Johannesburg. As Theatre Consultant, he worked with the architects to get the most valuable theatre environment for the community, audience, actor and technicians. The new theatre has three performing arts venues seating 420, 180 and 90 people respectively.

     The theatre is a forward-looking reaction to the 2010 Soccer World Cup, promoting a lasting legacy for South Africans. One goal is to evolve Soweto from a bedroom community into a normalized city on its own merits. Executive Mayor, Amos Masondo said that the theatre would not just provide jobs during the construction phase but also provide on-going employment for cast and crew members such as actors, musicians, dancers, directors and singers. It is designated as a World Class Theatre Venue.

 

The Jabulani Theatre under construction in July, 2010. This is a view looking nearly East. This side is going to have the large words “Jabulani Theatre” on it.



This view from the audience seating level on the main floor is an interesting composition of curved and diagonal lines. You can see the proscenium arch walkway above on the right.



The complex features a 420-seater main proscenium venue fully fitted with wings, orchestra pit, fly tower and buttress.

The proscenium opening shows the curved pit fitted in steel, and the scaffolding in place to work the rigging points for the fly system.



This tall view of the proscenium theatre from the backstage door looking stage right shows the temporary plywood surface covering the steel girders in place for the soon - to - arrive stage floor.



What is really interesting is the view from the very top of the proscenium arch. This is going to be a hallway. This view of the consultant discussing the location of the ceiling is from on top of the proscenium arch looking toward the audience seating.



This view of the proscenium venue is from the back of the balcony. Soon there will be carpeting, seats, and aisle lights.



This view from the audience seating level on the main floor is an interesting composition of curved and diagonal lines. You can see the proscenium arch walkway above on the right.



The complex also includes two smaller "black box" venues of 180 and 90 seats, respectively.

This is what the black box looked like a few days ago. Work lights and ceiling are in. Image is supplied by Denis Hutchinson, the Theatre Consultant.



This is the smaller of the two black box theatres. The catwalk system and surrounding balcony are similar in both theatres.

The footprints are a reminder for me to add that other amenities, such as bathrooms, offices, food preparation areas, library and workrooms are also being built. We traveled across some very dusty and very new surfaces to find the costume shop, wardrobe, make-up rooms, offices and loading doors to the scene shop and storage areas.



This work-dusty stairwell will lead from the second floor proscenium arch area down to the hallways leading to the main foyer.



The plasterers are masters at throwing “mud” on vertical surfaces. The curved walls of the foyer blend into the hallways upstairs.



As with all construction sites, entrepreneurs find a shady spot to set up food service.



Through the construction scaffolding of the theatre complex you can see the famous Jabulani Amphitheatre where in 1985 Zindzi Mandela read her father’s letter to President P. W. Botha regarding the ”… preconditions for his release and the ultimate negotiations with the ANC.”  (Kgolane,  Alfred Rudolph. Celebrating and Commemorating Twenty-Years of the Harare Declaration. Web accessed 10/9/2011. http://www.sahistory.org.za/articles/harare-declaration ).

And so you see that even with the creation of a new entertainment complex progress in South Africa mingles with history as well as makes history in its own right.

Jesus Christ Superstar in Johannesburg, South Africa

In this rehearsal photo of Jesus Christ Superstar (Sets by Keith Anderson, Lighting by Denis Hutchinson, Photos by Heidi Hoffer) you can see the actor on the acrylic cross in the ascension scene. The cross unit was brought up from the Artscape Theatre in Cape Town.  It was run by hydraulics and they brought in a master engineer stagehand to initiate the setup and supervise its use in the rehearsals. At one moment in the show it was a flat cross shaped platform about 2 meters up in the air on top of which Caesar sings.

Lighting Designer Denis Hutchinson, who took me on the University of Johannesburg tour with his theatre consulting group, brought me onboard for observing his work on Jesus Christ Superstar. Denis, or Hutch as he likes to be called sometimes, had seen JCS through several incarnations and an Asian tour. His Grand MA programmer is none other than Glenn Duncan, the programmer for Winnie the Opera at the State Theatre.


Jesus Christ Superstar Lighting Designer Denis Hutchinson and Grand MA Programmer Glenn Duncan are illuminated by the bright lights of the ascension scene.


Part of the alure of this design is that it is primarily a moving light rig. There are very few conventional instruments in the plan. I was curious how Denis would get the dramatic moments to be different from the rock and roll moments. His biggest challenge was to create a lighting design that the original lighting designer did not disagree with yet was on a small enough rig for touring and fitting into arenas and smaller venues. Denis' design in this Montecasino Johannesburg incarnation is largely his own, with the cues and the looks the way HE wanted them. I believe the introduction of moving lights to this vintage musical does change and make the look more fluid and crisp.

In this rehearsal photo of Jesus Christ Superstar (Sets by Keith Anderson, Lighting by Denis Hutchinson, Photos by Heidi Hoffer) you can see the highly balanced geometry of the moving lights as their beams are revealed by the haze in the air.

Glenn likes to organize a palette of movers (moving lights - in this case ALL Vari-*Lites) in such a way that he can call up a variety of groups and operate them in absolutely any manner a designer could wish for. Glenn stated that he wished this palette could be arranged alphabetically after the icons are made. I believe that would make his fingers flash even faster. He and Denis managed to move the whole design off a Hog II onto the Grand MA. Denis was able to call for individual instruments or specific systems and Glenn would have them up and moving before Denis had finished his sentence. Amazing.

In this rehearsal photo of Jesus Christ Superstar (Sets by Keith Anderson, Lighting by Denis Hutchinson, Photos by Heidi Hoffer) you can see that in addition to the moving lights, specific characters were picked out of the crowd my two followspots, in this case, two human operators up from Cape Town were running the followspots: two new Juliet folowspots that were so bright and beautiful  Denis considered taking them down a peg with gel.

The set was painted completely photo grey. The set had absolutely no colour in it, and the environment's colour came only from the lighting. Quite a bold choice and very excellent decision because the cripsness and clarity of each environment was paramount.

In this rehearsal photo of Jesus Christ Superstar (Sets by Keith Anderson, Lighting by Denis Hutchinson, Photos by Heidi Hoffer) you can see the back wall of the set - the stonework - is completely grey. It's colours come from the lighting. This is the scene where Caesar is trying to talk to J.C.

In this rehearsal photo of Jesus Christ Superstar (Sets by Keith Anderson, Lighting by Denis Hutchinson, Photos by Heidi Hoffer) you can see the hazers are working well to create long beams of light over the audience's heads in this ascencion scene.

The MontecasinoTeatro is the theatre that was built specifically to house The Lion King. It has limited wing space and is very cramped backstage. A black theatre drape upstage hid the dressing rooms and also hid the Carbon Dioxide fog machine with its huge tank. The design team were especially happy with the low lying fog they could get with the machine. In addition to that, they had hazers in the air to facilitate the look of the ascension. The beams of light reached out into the audience.

University of Johannesburg's Fantastic Theatre Part 4

Stage Lighting Positions and Work Areas
Theatre technicians get to work in the most interesting nooks and crannies of theatres. This theatre is no exception, however, the physical space requried for a technician to perform his or her work has been considered, and working in this theatre would be a pleasure.

The lighting trees have rear wheels with a cantilevered  post for weights and coiled cables.

Lighting ladders are widely used for high sidelighting positions. A close up view of this image will show you that safety cables are being used to insure the security of the instruments on the ladder.

The lighting pipes have been flown in for a close trim to the set. The setting is for the TV show PROESSTRAAT.

In this image you can see the three basic Front of House (FOH) lighting positions. The curved balcony lighting pipe is somewhat difficult to reach due to the glass railing. Not recommended.

This is a view from the corner of the last FOH position. Notice the ceiling just above the instruments and the acoustical squares across the way on the opposite wall of the theatre.



This apron cove lighting position is reached from the ladder up to the fly gallery. There is a small platform for the technician to stand on while working on the lighting instruments.

Continuing up the ladder to the fly gallery you come to the first level above the stage. Across the way you can see the dimmers and above the dimmers on the left you can see the slatted exhaust panel. Above that you can see the ceiling of the grid with its underhung sheaves.



Here is a close-up of the sheaves taken from the 3rd level or loading platform. The sheaves have easy and safe catwalk access for maintenance and repair.

In the trap room we found the lighting and sound desks. Normally these controls would be located in the booth, but for the TV show, the director wanted control from under the stage. The trap room includes underneath the orchestra pit. There's enough height down here to include a future lift system for the apron.



The University of Johannesburg runs it's theatre lighting system from a GrandMA lighting console.



University of Johannesburg's Fantastic Theatre Part 3

Backstage Areas
 Continuing with our exploration of the University of Johannesburg Theatre's facilities, we visit the backstage areas.

Off of the Greenroom is the entrance to the scenery storage hall. The laundry room is just to the right from the middle of this hall. This storage hall features natural light coming from the recessed skylights up left.

This is a better view of the skylight. The height of this storage hall can accomodate opera-sized scenery storage.

The loading door into the storage hall may look small, but it is larger than the opening of a truck, and that's all that matters.

Denis Hutchinson (Theatre Consultant, Lighting and Scene Designer) points out some of the details required in a single-purchase fly system.



This is a close-up of the type of rope-lock typically installed in theatres. This theatre uses real hemp rope. The humidity factor is not so large here to consider using a synthetic rope.



This is a close-up of the weights in a fly arbor. The weights are safely locked into position using the thumbscrew sets. The weights are also cast with the initials of the University of Johannesburg Arts Center on them. (UJAC). Notice how they dovetail into each other on each of the stacks.

Backstage is the usual accumulation of theater materials, including this bright yellow spiral staircase. Beyond the yellow staircase are the ropes of the fly system.

The ladder to the fly gallery's loading rail has a stop at the first and second floors. This stop shows how well-lit with blue running lights the technician access areas are.

The middle level catwalk of the fly gallery shows both the working (white)  and the runing lights (blue) being used. The loading rail is one more flight up.

The previous post covers the public, administrative and performer areas. The next post will cover the lighting areas. The UJ Theatre architectural tour was very thorough.

University of Johannesburg's Fantastic Theatre Part 1

The 436 seat proscenium theatre at the University of Johannesburg's Kingsway Campus theatre also features a recent lighting console upgrade to a GrandMA Ultra-Light. More and more theatres and lighting designers in South Africa are specifying this GrandMA console for their venues.

     South African Theatre constulant, Scenic and Lighting Designer Denis Hutchinson made it possible for me to tour the University of Johannesburg Theatre with his architects and clients for a future project of his. We were looking at architectural elements specific to a venue complex the new project might use.
     As I am involved in my own discussions with architects for the new performing arts center at Oklahoma State University, I found this hands-on examination very successful and very useful.
          The UJ Theatre boasts a full balcony rail for a low FOH position, and two higher FOH positions as well. There is a full height platform at the last position with a removable railing specifically designed to accomodate  the long snout of two followspots.

In this photo you can see one of the followspots pointed down at the stage. The lighting pipe has been removed so as to not interfere with the arc of the followspot nor the light beam. It is a clear straight shot to the stage. The flat balcony floor on which its rests has good head clearance, and room for technicians to safely move around one another.

     The two FOH positions are very electrician - friendly. ( I pretended to adjust the focus and shutters on one conventional to see how easy that would be from the catwalk position) The instruments are on pipes right at your feet or your waist, and there is another lighting pipe available right at your head height.
     The UJ Theatre also has a pipe over the apron for sound equipment, and another pipe over the apron for lighting equipment. Both of these are on winches. The remainder of the fly system is a traditional single-purchase fly system.

Here's the tour group full of clients, architects, consultant and the UJ technician.

  More information about this theatre will be in an upcoming blogpost.