The opening of The PershingSquare Signature Center on42nd Street last January was amajor event for many reasons.

It represented a big step forward forone of New York’s best-regardedtheatre companies, giving it a muchbigger canvas on which to do itswork. It added three new playhousesto the burgeoning Off-Broadwaycommunity that has grown up aroundthe Broadway district, and it was oneof the last pieces of the transfor-mation of West 42nd Street from anunattractive urban outpost to apopular residential and entertainment

hub. And the theatre’s plentiful publicspace—an enormous, light-filledlobby complete with bar andbookstore—has given the area agraceful new social amenity.

It is also the culmination of a ten-year saga, which sent the companyon a search all over Manhattan for anew home base, a search that endedalmost where it began.

Founded in 1991, SignatureTheatre made its mark by presentingentire seasons devoted to a singleplaywright. (The company played asignificant role in rescuing bothEdward Albee and Horton Foote from

their career doldrums; other writersbenefitted as well.) In its earliestyears, Signature was itinerant, movingfrom one rented space to another. By1997, it was ensconced in a home ofits own, the Peter Norton Space, on42nd Street, between 11th and 12thAvenues. An attractive venue withgood sightlines and a decent-sizedlobby, its only major drawback wasits far-west location, off the beatenpath for many theatregoers.

In 2004, it was announced thatSignature would occupy part of thecultural center adjacent to theFreedom Tower, then the name for the

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Signature Theatre’s search for a new home ends where it began, with a stunning new venue

By: David Barbour

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skyscraper to be built on the site ofthe former World Trade Center. (Thecultural center was, at the time, a keyaspect of the proposed building, alongwith a 9/11 memorial.) The proposalinvolved two theatres, seating 199 and499 respectively; two studios forrehearsals and performances; and abookstore, café, and lobby. Signaturewould exist side by side with thedance presenter Joyce Theatre, adrawing center, and other culturalorganizations; these spaces wouldalso be made available to other insti-tutions, such as the Orpheus ChamberOrchestra and Tribeca Film Festival.

The plan was the subject of muchdiscussion. The New York Timeseditorialized that the presence of acultural facility on this site would“amplify and illuminate the meaning of9/11,” while The New York Observerresponded, “There is no logicalconnection between a performancespace and a memorial, no matter howreputable and highly respected thearts entities involved.” In any case, thecity of New York withdrew its supportin 2007, because the $700 million costwas too high. Plan B involved movingSignature to Miles and ShirleyFiterman Hall, part of Borough ofManhattan Community College,another downtown institution that washeavily damaged on 9/11. Again, theproject was rejected, thanks to the$360-million price tag.

Other possibilities were consideredand discarded. In 2008, projectleaders announced that the newhome base for Signature would be inMiMA, a new 68-story residentialtower designed by the firmArquitectonica and built by TheRelated Companies at 42nd Streetand Tenth Avenue, just across thestreet and one block east of the PeterNorton Space. The new theatre, withGehry Partners still on board as thearchitectural firm, occupies 70,000sq. ft. of contiguous space, providingroom for three theatres plus rehearsalspaces, administrative offices, andthe previously mentioned café,

bookstore, and lobby. H3 HardyCollaboration Architecture was thearchitect of record on the project.

The new plan proved to be felic-itous for many reasons. At the WorldTrade Center, the Signature wouldhave had to contend with a verticallayout, with theatres and other spacesstacked on top of one another; theone-floor plan at MiMA makes gettingaround much easier for both staff andpatrons. It’s also debatable whetheraudiences would be attracted toLower Manhattan, which remainsrelatively unpopulated in the evening.Also, the character of 42nd Street haschanged markedly since 1997; MiMAis only one of several new residentialtowers, bringing tens of thousands ofresidents to the area. New hotelshave opened up, along with manyrestaurants. The new space alsoaccommodates the Signature’sincreasingly ambitious mission, whichinvolves three separate programs.Residency One presents a season-long series of works by a single writer.Residency Five is a five-year program,offering three full productions of newplays to each member of a selectedgroup of writers. The Legacy Programoffers the company’s veteranplaywrights the opportunity toproduce a new work or revival. In itslast couple of seasons at the Norton,Signature presented a pair of epicproductions—the nine-hour Orphans’Home Cycle, by Horton Foote, and arevival of Angels in America, by TonyKushner—that taxed the theatre’sresources to their limits. Clearly, itneeded more room to create moreambitious productions.

Since its opening, The PershingSquare Signature Center—a $25-million donation gave naming rights toPershing Square CapitalManagement—has been a hive ofactivity, with all three theatres opennearly all the time; as we went topress, productions there included anacclaimed revival of August Wilson’sThe Piano Lesson, a revised version ofDavid Henry Hwang’s Golden Child,

and a rental, a commercial productionof Emotional Creature, a theatre pieceby Eve Ensler. The project had abudget of $66 million, and it wouldappear that the money has been verywell spent. Comparisons withLondon’s Royal National Theatre arenot out of order.

The overall designBecause Frank Gehry didn’t designthe entire building, he was denied theopportunity to create the kind ofstructure, dominated by flamboyantlycurved stainless-steel exteriors, forwhich he is famous. There is a sinu-ous quality to the theatre’s interior,however, that surely reflects the archi-tect’s touch. This is evident even inthe theatre’s marquee, a glass canopythat ends in a scroll suggestive of asheet of writing paper. Entering thestreet-level lobby, one sees the boxoffice where advance ticket sales takeplace. Next to this is the curved, ply-wood-clad Diller–Von Furstenbergstaircase, which leads to the 6,400-sq.-ft. lobby, the theatre’s central huband a meeting place for actors, staffmembers, and patrons.

Open during the day, the lobby hasbecome a place for people in theneighborhood to take a meeting whilehaving a bite or a drink. Musicalperformances are now being heldthere before and after shows. The caféserves sandwiches and small plates,as well as coffee, tea, soft drinks, anda full bar. The bookstore featuresworks by playwrights associated withthe company, as well as biographiesand critical studies.

A trio of interactive touch screensin the lobby allows visitors to accessinformation about Signature’sproduction history and the careers ofthe resident playwrights. Twelveadditional plasma screens acceptfeeds from social media andresponses from the touch screens.The plasma screens also providecontextual materials on the plays inperformance and promotions forupcoming shows.

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Irene Diamond Stage Consultants Auerbach PollockFriedlander (APF) have collaboratedwith James Houghton, Signature’sartistic director, on the development ofa new space since 2004. The APFteam included Steven Friedlander,principal in charge; Don Guyton, proj-ect manager; Daniel Mei, senior audio-video systems designer; and LisaCameron and Niles Ray, technicaldesigners. Over the next few years,APF consulted on modifications to theinitial programming studies, reviewedthe site options, and provided initialconcept plans for the MiMA location.South Norwalk, Connecticut-basedAkustiks served as the acoustical con-sultant on the project.

The largest of the theatres is theIrene Diamond Stage, which ismodeled on the Peter Norton Spacebut is much bigger. (Seating has beenincreased from 160 to 299 seats; the

Diamond’s total area is 4,900 sq. ft.).Like the Norton, it has an end-stageconfiguration and raked seating. Thewalls feature a series of shapedplywood panels that wrap around thewalls in an arrangement designed toevoke the texture of cracked earth;the panels, which are there foracoustic purposes, are painted to beincreasingly dark, fading to black asthey approach the stage. The panelsat the back of the theatre are perfo-rated, and the acoustic materialbehind them helps dampen the reflec-tions in the room. The theatre opensdirectly onto the lobby through asingle large doorway. The rear of theauditorium features traditional lightand sound lock vestibules.

Russell Todd, a managing partnerof Akustiks, notes that each of thetheatre’s ceilings has been treatedacoustically, to isolate it from activityin the building overhead. Seating,

provided by Ducharme, comes in twocolors, black and tan, adding to theroom’s eye-pleasing effect.

The stage is 59' wide by 38' long,making it one of the largest Off-Broadway theatres in New York; it iscreated using 30 Wengerdemountable infill platforms. A fixedpipe grid is placed over the first 20' ofthe downstage area, and a full flytower rests on the remaining 18'upstage. The proscenium adjustsfrom 45' wide and 20' high to 37'wide and 17' high; it can also beremoved altogether. (This is system isby iWeiss Theatrical solutions.)

Other features include 426dimmed/switched lighting circuits, 362of which can be split and operatedseparately via dimmer doubling, for atotal of 766 circuits (ETC Sensordimmers are used in all threetheatres); a 4,000-channel ETC Eoslighting control console; 3,300-sq.-ft.

The Irene Diamond Stage is modeled on the Peter Norton Space, but is much bigger, with 299 seats instead of Norton’s 160.

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pipe grid (also by iWeiss); a MeyerSound loudspeaker system consistingof a house left cluster of one UPQ-2Pand two UPA-1Ps, a house rightcluster of one UPQ-2P and two UPA-1Ps, ten UPM-1P surrounds, and oneHP-700 subwoofer; and an Allen &Heath iLive-T112 digital mixingsystem with iDR-48 MixRack. (QLabsoftware is used in all three theatresto play back sound effects.) LasVegas-based Stage Technologiesworked with iWeiss, its localdistributor, to supply 14 Big TowBT300Lite underhung packagedhoists and an Illusionist console.(Designed for theatres, schools, andmultipurpose venues, the Illusionistfeatures three playbacks, a 17" LCDscreen, and an internal DVD-RW andoptional rack-mounting rails). StageTechnologies and iWeiss alsopartnered to provide the powerdistros, raceways, control points, and E-stops.

Designers have taken advantage

of the Diamond’s size and technicalcapabilities. The opening production,Edward Albee’s The Lady fromDubuque, featured a spectacularJohn Arnone set depicting a vast,sleekly modern residential interiorcomplete with curving staircase.Walt Spangler’s design for KennethLonergan’s Medieval Play—a seriesof pop-up views of countrysides andcastle interiors—made extensive useof automation. Michael Carnahan’sdesign for The Piano Lessonpresents a two-level interior, and thedesign also suggests the adjoiningbuildings and a view of the streetoutside. All of these were designedon a scale commensurate withBroadway production values. PaulZiemer, director of production atSignature, notes that manydesigners associated with thecompany were consulted on thetheatre; their input provided valuableinsights as the creative teamdesigned the theatres.

Alice Griffin Jewel BoxFor intimacy, the second space, theAlice Griffin Jewel Box Theatre, can’tbe beat; it is a grand opera house,with a proscenium stage and balconywith side box seating, reduced to thescale of 199 seats. No seat is morethan 40' from the stage, and thesightlines are especially good.Gehry’s interior design features a fan-tastical array of angled crafted woodpanels that frame the proscenium andwrap around the balcony front, creat-ing a ceiling under the lightingbridges above the audience. The pan-els are stained a deep, chocolatebrown that fades to black as thehouse lights go down; they are alsoacoustically engineered, a result ofthe collaboration between Gehry andAkustiks. The Griffin is the only the-atre of the three to feature a truesound-isolation ceiling, Todd notes.

Todd, who says he and Houghtonevaluated the acoustics at a numberof theatres, also notes that the

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The wood panels in the Griffin frame the proscenium and wrap around the balcony front, creating a ceiling under the lighting bridges.No seat is more than 40' from the stage in the Griffin, an opera house design scaled to intimate proportions.

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Linney—Katori Hall’s Hurt Village,Athol Fugard’s The Train Driver, andEmotional Creature—have made useof different stage setups.

Additional rooms, communications, and connectionsIn addition, the 1,632-sq.-ft.Rehearsal Studio functions as arehearsal hall and movement studio.One of its walls has mirrors that canbe covered, when necessary, withtracking velour drapes made of 21oz.velour masking from iWeiss. Theequal-sized Studio Theatre can beused as a performance venue (withsame velour masking.) It is equippedwith a complete stage lightingsystem, including twenty-eight 2.4kWdimmers and a 100A three-phasecompany switch. Both rooms employQSC HPR122i loudspeakers withHPR M10 mounting kits. iWeiss alsosupplied the 1,450-sq.-ft. pipe grid.

The theatre makes use of a Riedelproduction communication setup,including a digital matrix intercomsystem and wireless intercomchannels. Digital control stationsallow for party-line communicationsas well as point-to-point stationcommunication. Riedel digitalcommunication panels, located withineach stage manager station, allow forstage and house announcements andback-of-house paging to dressingrooms, shops, offices, and lounges.Backstage program monitoring andpaging feeds from each performancespace are selectable within eachdressing room, shop, and office. Thislets production staff and performersmonitor audio within each theatre andprovides flexibility when assigningdressing rooms. The house managerpanels in each theatre’s lobby allowfor audience chimes and communica-tions with stage managers.

Each theatre is equipped with a

fixed-view camera, which feeds videoto latecomers via displays in thelobbies. Video cameras are alsorouted to a QAM modulated digitalvideo system for monitoringbackstage areas. Stage managerstations are also provided with localvideo displays to allow for monitoringof the fixed-view camera feed as wellas infrared cameras. A 12-channellow-voltage cue light system isdeployed within each theatre. A fiber-optic and Cat6 backbone providesinterconnectivity; more than 100device panels and wall plates are fedfrom an extensive analog and digitalwiring infrastructure using bothcopper and fiber-optic cabling.

In its first year, The PershingSquare Signature Center has provedto be a smashing success, so muchso that those involved must surelyfeel that their search for a new venuewas well worthwhile. As it happened,there was no place like home.

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addition of the balcony is helpful, as itbrings a significant portion of theaudience closer to the stage. Seatingis by Ducharme.

The stage is 45' wide by 25' deep,created by twenty-six 4' by 8'demountable platforms from Wenger.iWeiss and Stage Technologiessupplied 18 BT300 Lite hoists, whichare wall-mounted, and an Illusionistconsole, along with the associatedpower distros, raceways, controlpanels, and E-stops. The roomfeatures 350 dimmed/switchedlighting circuits; a 2,048-channel ETCIon lighting control console; a MeyerSound system utilizing two UPA-2Psfor the balcony, two UPA-1Ps for theorchestra, 20 UPM-1Ps for surrounds,and one HP-600 subwoofer; and anAllen & Heath iLive T80 digital mixingsystem with iDR-32 MixRack.

Intimacy is the thing in the Griffin.Its first two productions in thespace—Athol Fugard’s Blood Knotand Will Eno’s Title and Deed—contained many moments whenactors spoke barely above a hush, yetevery word was intelligible.

Romulus Linney Courtyard TheatreAs the complex’s flexible space, theRomulus Linney Courtyard Theatrecan be arranged in a number of con-figurations, including a 42'-wide-by-30'-deep end stage with 199 seats; a30'-wide-by-18'-deep alley stage with244 seats; and a 30'-wide-by-24'-deep thrust stage with 236 seats,supplied by Wenger. (The stages arecreated using one hundred 3'-by-6'demountable platforms from Wenger.)An upper level gallery, with one row of

audience seating, surrounds the room;when the end stage configuration isused, the stepped seating meets thegallery at the back of the seating area,allowing patrons to enter the roomeither through the upper gallery or thefloor level. Acoustical treatments canbe seen on both levels. A 1,900-sq.-ftpipe grid was installed by iWeiss.

Other technical features include340 dimmed/switched lighting circuits;a 1,900-sq.-ft. overhead pipe grid forboth lighting and scenery; a 2,048-channel ETC Ion lighting controlconsole; six Meyer Sound UPJ-1Ploudspeakers; and a 32-channel Allen& Heath iLive T80 digital mixingsystem with iDR-32 MixRack. Theloudspeakers are set up as portablegear, to accommodate changes in theroom’s configuration.

The first three productions in the

The Linney Theatre offers playwrights and directors the freedom to explore the relationship between audiences and performers.

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One of the theatre’s two studio spaces, used for rehearsals, classes, and readings.