MISHAP CUTS STAGE SPACE AT AUDITORIUM

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, January 25, 1992                   TAG: 9201250293
SECTION: EXTRA                    PAGE: EXTRA 3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: JEFF DeBELL STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium
MISHAP CUTS STAGE SPACE AT AUDITORIUM
Upcoming events at the Roanoke Civic Center auditorium will have a little less stage space because of a mishap involving the orchestra shell.
Pulleys being used to help lift the shell's rear wall and ceiling off the stage floor for storage came loose after a concert on Jan. 13. The sections settled on the floor, where they remain inoperable because they cannot be moved until repairs are made.
The steel and metal shell - consisting of sides, the rear wall and ceiling - is used to direct sound into the seating area of the auditorium. Its principal user is the Roanoke Symphony Orchestra.
Bob Chapman, civic center manager, said Wednesday it will take at least 45 work days to make repairs. To install a new shell would take an estimated 120 days.
Chapman said the depth of the stage is reduced by about 10 feet by the the shell wall. That will be an inconvenience to productions in the auditorium, but none will have to be canceled.
"Everything we have booked so far can play in the front of the stage," he said.
Events include a tonight's performance of "Oh, Calcutta!" and a concert version of "Porgy & Bess" on Feb. 17. The Roanoke Symphony will use a temporary shell and electronic amplification, if necessary, for its concerts in March and May.
According to Chapman, repairs could cost up to $100,000. To replace the 21-year-old shell, he estimated, would cost between $160,000 and $170,000 plus another $75,000 to dismantle the old shell.
Officials of the Roanoke Symphony, who have long felt the shell to be acoustically unsatisfactory, urged the center to consult acoustics experts when repairing or replacing the shell. Without expert advice, said conductor Victoria Bond and Margarite Fourcroy, executive director, there would be a risk of spending lots of money for a new setup as bad as or worse than the old one. The orchestra's board of directors turned the recommendation into a formal resolution.
Chapman said the broken pulleys will be examined in a laboratory to determine whether their failure was caused by damage from last September's fire in the auditorium. If so, he said, insurance payments should help defray the cost of repairing or replacing the shell.

by Archana Subramaniam by CNB