Art Chowder September | October, Issue 23 | Page 38

The Gonzaga Symphony under the direction
of Kevin Hekmatpanah for a performance
of Ottorino Respighi’s Pines of Rome at the
Woldson Center on April 29, 2019
photo: Courtesy of Gonzaga University
T
he stage itself is 52 feet wide and adjustable to open
a 32-musician orchestra pit or more audience seating,
and is deep enough to accommodate a full symphony
orchestra with chorus, an opera, or a ballet. The theater’s
84-foot fly tower creates the highest architectural outjut
of the Woldson Center. The fly, or theatrical rigging
system, uses ropes or cables, pulleys, and counterweights
to raise and lower curtains, lights, scenery, the orchestra
shell, or potentially allow performers to fly through the
air. Fly systems can be operated manually or motorized;
the Coughlin Theater system mingles traditional and
advanced technology. Gonzaga theater students can
now learn advanced practical stagecraft, hands on. The
sheer height required for this system to keep unused
components out of audience view, necessitated excavating
in order to keep the roofline of the Woldson Center from
overpowering the rest of campus. This effectively placed
the theater and backstage hall underground while also
creating an illusion that the first tier of box seats are on
the second floor; in fact, they are at ground level.
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ART CHOWDER MAGAZINE
The Fly System looking upward from the main stage
photo: Courtesy of Gonzaga University