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The Kenworthy Performing Arts Centre

Lauren Rudeck & Nathan Copley

IntroductionThe Kenworthy Performing Arts Centre is located in downtown Moscow at 508 S. Main and was built in 1926. It is a multi-use theater for movies, plays, lectures, and concerts. The theater seats 340 including balcony seating. It is a masonry building; it’s walls are 1 foot thick brick with one inch thick plaster in the interior, and terracotta tiles on the front façade. The Kenworthy was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2001.

About the PerformanceEvent: Wild Women Traders Fashion Show & “Calendar Girls” MovieDate: April 23, 2004Time: Opened the doors at 6pm, Show started at 7:30About the performance: The Wild Women Traders had their annual private showing of a movie and a fashion show. During the fashion show, they play music and model some of the latest clothing from Wild Women Traders, then they show the movie. The movie was “Calendar Girls.” Also during the event they have dessert tables and a wine bar.

Observations of acoustic features:There are no reflective panels, shells, or dampening curtains. There are theater curtains and a waterfall curtain behind the movie screen (back of stage). There are 3 main speakers in the front of the theater, one above the screen and the other two on each side of the screen. There are also six small speakers that run along the wall for surround sound.

Speaker layout and distribution: How is the transition from the lobby to the auditorium handled?All that separates the lobby and the auditorium is a 8-inch concrete wall, which is covered with 1” thick lathe and plaster walls that are painted. There are two sets of doors, with two doors for each entry. They are 2’6” each and are about 2-inches thick. You can hear the movie and loud audience noise in the lobby; you can also hear loudnoises from the lobby in the theater. This could be a problem, but as the projectionist, I like to be able to hear the movie or performance going on incase something goes wrong. The lobby has very direct sound; if there are more than five or so people in the lobby, the sound can get very loud.

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The Projection Booth

There are eight small openings (6”x6”) and two mid-size openings (1’x1’) and one large opening (1’6” x 1’6”). The larger openings are used to view the movie when you start the projector, the smaller ones are too small and unnecessary. The openings let the sound from the projector enter the theater.

During the Performance:The audience was excited for both the fashion show and the movie. During the fashion show, people were cheering, laughing, and clapping, plus there was music. Using the acoustics meter, we tested the audience noise at the loudest 86 dB, the lowest 72 dB. At points during the movie, they were laughing so loud that you could not hear what was being said in the movie. During the film, you can hear the projector, but when there is such a large crowd, you don’t notice it. Using the acoustic meter, the movie was 46 dB when everyone was quiet, when everyone was cheering, it was 84 dB. In the projector booth during the movie it went between 76 – 82 dB.

Decibel levels from the acoustics meter during the performance:

Blue = during fashion show

Red = during the movie

70

7086 (clapping)

68

72

67

64

67

46

4647

4676

To

82

76 – 84(laughing and clapping)

During the fashion show decibel levels were around 70 with music and people talking. When people were quite during the move, decibel levels were around 46.

First Floor

Second Floor

E3.2 Absorbency Calculations_____________________________________________Room: Theater in Kenworthy Volume: 154,820 ft^3__________________Surface Material Area (ft^2) Absorption Absorbency (S)_____Walls Paint finish on 1” 5,810 0.05 290.5

Thick lathe & plaster__________________________________________________Ceilings Same as above 5,160 0.05 258_____________Floor Painted Concrete 5,160 0.02 103.2____________Seats & Occupied 3,192 0.96 3064.32Audience Unoccupied 3,192 0.88 2808.96_______________

Total = 6,524.98

Reverberation Time:Space: Large theaterRecommended TR = 1.1 – 1.5Volume: 154,820 ft3

Absorbency: 6,525 (S)

TR = [(.049)(volume)] / (absorbency)

TR = [(.0490)(154,820)/(6,525)

= 1.19 seconds

Are the room acoustics appropriate?Yes and no. The reverberation time is in the right range for a theater (movie, plays, and lectures), but the projector can be heard from the lower level part of the theater, especially during reel changes. This can be distracting during a small crowd. Overall we were surprised how well the Kenworthy performed acoustically. Towards the front of the balcony, the decibels tested around the same level as in the main theater. Towards the very back of the balcony, by the projector booth, the sound is dampened.

How can the acoustics and noise control be improved?

First, close off some of the small openings into the projection booth, but keep the three large holes for viewing. The small openings could be filled in and the three large openings could be covered with single-pane glass. This will help contain the sound from the projector. The Kenworthy plans to fill in the small openings and to cover the three large openings with plexi-glass, it is just a matter of funding.

Second, acoustics for theater plays and lectures is acceptable right now, but could be improved. To improve the live performances, reflective panels could be added to the ceiling. This however, might affect the movie acoustics. Theater productions cause the theater to loose money, so it would be best to not add panels if the theater continues to run as a movie house. The Kenworthy plans to enhance the movie acoustics by adding speakers to the back wall of the balcony.

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Projector wall calculations

Now:

0(STC)40(STC)6 sq ft-8(6”x6”)WDW-2 (12”x12”) WDW-1(18”x18”) WDW

56(STC)56(STC)30’x8’ = 240sq ft

12” brk wall w/1”lathe & plaster

ActualRecommended STC

AreaBarrier

-TL = 56 dB

-% = 2.25

-Transmission Loss due to openings = 36 dB

-Walls TL = 20dB

(Note: openings in a wall is effectively a second material of TL = 0. Any wall with 1% open area has a Max TL=20dB(MEEB, p1568))

Wall has become useless as a Barrier!

Projector wall Redesign

30(STC)unknown4-1/4 sq ft-2 (12”x12”) & 1(18”x18”) w/operable wood sash ¼” Glass and Gasket

56(STC)56(STC)30’x8’ = 240sq ft

12” brk wall w/1” lathe & plaster

ActualRecommended STC

AreaBarrier

-The small windows have been filled and the 3 remaining have been sealed.

Transmission Loss of Wall = 49 dB BETTER!

By supplying convex reflective panels to diffuse, performances will have better distributed sound throughout space. But will this worsen the movie acoustics?

Section of current acoustics versus reflective panelsThe current acoustics have the speakers angled at the audience. The sound isn’t as clear in the back, especially for theatrical performances.

ConclusionSince the KenworthyPerforming Arts Centre is multi-use, it is hard to redesign without degrading the acoustics for another section. The live theater acoustics could be improved, but this would deaden the sound for movies. Since movies pull in more money, it would not be beneficial to change the acoustics. The current reverberation time is right in the middle for what the theater needs, so as is the theater performs pretty well.