THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, October 3, 1996 TAG: 9610030062
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY TERESA ANNAS, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: 198 lines
THE ANXIOUS WOMAN walked past Donna Drew Sawyer's office several times, her slight form framed by the giant glass panes and grand double staircase behind her.
``Is this where I pick up my tickets for the dedication?'' asked Minnie Seaton of Portsmouth.
She and her husband, the Rev. James A. Seaton, planned to attend the ribbon-cutting and premiere performances on Saturday for the L. Douglas Wilder Performing Arts Center, she told Sawyer, the center's new executive director.
``Number one, I like to support the college,'' Seaton said. ``Also, the performing arts are something great everybody should be proud of. It's helpful, because it enlightens and it educates.''
Minnie Seaton hit just the right note: Education is the focus with the region's newest performing arts venue - a glamorous, 1,900-seat theater featuring crystal chandeliers, green velour seats, polished brass and marble floors.
The imposing brick-and-limestone structure signals nothing short of a new emphasis on the arts at Norfolk State, said Harrison B. Wilson, the university's president.
Since the late 1980s, Wilson preached the need for a performing arts center that would serve as a training ground for students in addition to being a community resource.
``We've had a very fine music department at our university for years. We have all this talent coming in, and our faculty's just outstanding,'' said Wilson, referring to such esteemed music professors as Adolphus Hailstork and Gerry Errante, who are internationally known composers.
Wilson envisioned bringing in well-known musicians, dancers and thespians who could perform at the center, then give master classes to students. He pictured income from facility rentals going into the various academic arts departments, and those departments growing larger as interest built.
``Every time I talked about it, people thought I was crazy,'' Wilson recalled last week.
Wilson's dream has become reality. The $9 million theater - $10 million, counting site work - opens Saturday with a black tie-optional gala affair.
At 4:15 p.m., L. Douglas Wilder - the former governor for whom the theater is named - will snip the ribbon leading to the elegant entrance lobby. Then, celebrators in tuxes and gowns will flow into the venue's fresh, airy spaces.
Certainly, the first thing many will notice is that the 56,250-square-foot facility truly sparkles with the profusion of crystal chandeliers. The mother of them all dominates the audience chamber ceiling, and is 8 feet in diameter.
Everywhere you look, there are chandeliers - nine on the first floor, five on the second, with another huge one hovering above the grand staircase landing. Even the 48 wall sconces are made from crystals.
Inside the theater, guests will run their hands over forest green velour seats in an audience chamber that offers superb acoustics and sightlines for all ticket-holders, according to Henry Shriver of Shriver and Holland Associates, the Norfolk architectural firm that designed the center.
People will wander through the orchestra, dress circle and balcony areas and the 16 box seats, and notice how the brass railings and green detailing throughout allude to Norfolk State's colors - green and gold.
Then, everyone will quiet down to hear the hall's acoustics put to the test. The grand opening performance opens with the Virginia Symphony, led by guest conductor Thomas Wilkins, a Norfolk native and resident conductor of The Florida Orchestra in St. Petersburg.
Then, The Harlem Spiritual Ensemble will perform traditional Negro spirituals with the authenticity that distinguishes this internationally known group.
The program, put together by the dean of the school of arts and letters, Thelma Thompson, is a conscious mix of ``the classical and the classical,'' Sawyer said.
Spirituals, she explained, are ``true American classical music. So this is a really nice blending of the cultures. It's a rare opportunity for Norfolk.''
Since Sawyer started her new job on Sept. 1, she has been developing marketing and fund-raising agendas, hiring staff and honing a vision: ``The vision is - this is a resource for the community. We are not just programming for the educational aspects on campus, but for the education, entertainment and edification of the community at large,'' she said.
By that, she means ``all of Hampton Roads.''
Sawyer was director of marketing and communications for The Chrysler Museum of Art from 1992 until recently. A New York native, she holds a master of business administration from Texas Southern University in Houston. She has been a radio and television writer-producer, and was media relations manager for the Children's Television Workshop, producers of ``Sesame Street,'' from 1989 to 1992.
Sawyer knows about interfacing with the community, just as the Wilder center itself faces the heavily-trafficked Brambleton Avenue entrance to the campus, and is just a few blocks from I-264.
It's looking out at the world, rather than inward, she stressed, while catching some fresh air on an outside balcony at the staircase landing level.
Only a handful of events have been scheduled so far for this season. That's because Sawyer has only begun marketing the venue to groups that might rent it for programs and performances. The rates will be competitive with comparable area theaters, she said. ``Pretty much, as the new kid on the block, we'll be willing to go that extra mile.''
Among the groups that already have booked the venue is Virginia Ballet Theater, which is staging a performance there on Oct. 12.
On campus, students will be getting some real world instruction on a high level, she noted.
The theater features state-of-the-art sound and lighting equipment, and has a ``fly'' system that equals anything you'd find on Broadway, she said.
Clarence Murray, head of Norfolk State's theater department, helped plan the backstage amenities.
His student thespians will continue to perform primarily in the more intimate Little Theater at G.W.C. Brown Hall on campus. However, the troupe will present the musical ``Bubbling Brown Sugar'' at the Wilder Center in March, in anticipation of large crowds.
``Ooooh, my God, this is a tremendous facility,'' said Murray, who stopped by Sawyer's office earlier this week. ``Our students will be learning what is required in technical theater for ballet, for symphony, and for the live theater. It gives everybody on campus who's interested a shot at working with this equipment.''
``This is an opportunity,'' he enthused, ``to prepare students for the 21st century.''
``I see it as a new day, and a bright day for the arts,'' said Thelma Thompson, whose school of the arts and letters wavers between 900 and 1,000 students.
Besides teaching students how to work behind the scenes, the theater will be a training ground for ``our future audiences. We're working right now with our students on the basics - when is it appropriate to applaud, how do you listen to an orchestra. Some of these things have to be taught.''
``I really think the theater itself is part of the performance. The setting is almost as important as the performance, and I believe we're batting a thousand on the setting,'' Sawyer said.
All that crystal makes a difference, said architect Shriver. ``When you talk to theater people, you realize it's somewhat of a magical world. You step out of your everyday life, and you go to a performance, and you don't know what it's going to be.
``But, the setting for the performance has to have a certain amount of magic to it. And when you break for intermission, you want to retain some of that atmosphere.''
The chandeliers were crafted from Italian crystals at Jefferson Lighting Co. in Lynchburg. Shriver visited the factory, and recalled with amusement that the crafspeople brought their instruments to work, and played bluegrass on breaks.
So, the crystals, in a sense, already are broken in to the sound of music.
Much effort went into the acoustics. Shriver described how the side walls of the audience chamber have a hard finish designed to keep the sound reflection sharp, not muddy. The shape and proportion of the hall also was important, he said. ``They were developed technically based on reverberation time and sound absorption issues.''
The ceiling was designed to eliminate overhead aircraft noise, he said. The theater is equipped with amplifiers and microphones. ``But we really were desirous of having the acoustics as close as we could, without depending on sound enhancement.''
Sawyer recalled giving a tour of the theater, and hearing a lone chirping cricket. ``And you could hear that cricket as though he were miked.'' MEMO: A LOOK AT LOCAL THEATERS
With the addition of Norfolk State University's L. Douglas Wilder
Performing Arts Center, here's a look at area theaters and their seating
capacities:
Hofheimer Theater, Virginia Wesleyan College - 124 seats.
Chandler Recital Hall, Old Dominion University - 203 seats.
Virginia Beach Center for the Arts' Price Auditorium - 268 seats.
University Theater, Old Dominion University - 288 seats.
Little Theater, G.W.C. Brown Hall, Norfolk State - 522 seats.
Wells Theater, Norfolk - 677 seats.
Virginia Beach Pavilion Theater - 1,000 seats.
Harrison Opera House, Norfolk - 1,650 seats.
Ogden Hall, Hampton University - 1,837 seats.
L. Douglas Wilder Performing Arts Center - 1,900 seats.
Willett Hall, Portsmouth - 2,000 seats.
Chrysler Hall, Norfolk - 2,500 seats.
William and Mary Hall - 11,500 seats.
Scope, Norfolk - 13,800 seats.
Hampton Coliseum - 13,800 seats.
Sources: Bell Atlantic Yellow Pages and university and theater staffs
- Teresa Annas ILLUSTRATION: Color photos by VICKI CRONIS, The Virginian-Pilot
Seated in the L. Douglas Wilder Performing Arts Center are (from
left) executive director Donna Drew Sawyer, NSU President Harrison
B. Wilson and Dr. Thelma Thompson, dean of the School of Arts and
Letters. The center will officially open Saturday with a ribbon
cutting and entertainment.
Alluding to NSU's colors - green and gold - the elegant lobby
features a carpeted staircase accented by brass railings.
Graphic
WANT TO GO?
What: Dedication and Grand Opening, featuring Virginia Symphony
with guest conductor Thomas Wilkins and The Harlem Spiritual
Ensemble.
Where: L. Douglas Wilder Performing Arts Center on the campus of
Norfolk State University, Park Avenue at Presidential Parkway.
When: Ribbon-cutting at 4:15 p.m. Saturday; concert at 5 p.m.,
followed by reception.
How much: $25, general admission; $50, premiere seating with
valet parking included.
Call: To order, call 671-8100. Or, call or stop by NSU's ticket
office, 683-8617.
Parking: Several campus lots within short walking distance of the
Wilder center provide ample free parking for patrons. In addition,
there are handicapped spaces at the venue. Valet parking will be
available for most events for a nominal fee - $5 on Saturday. Campus
passes will not be required for patrons attending events at Wilder
Center. by CNB