It’s a dilemma that theatres and concert halls face: when, despite everything, live and indoor performances return, how can we create a social distance between audience members?
Taking advantage of a solution, the Michigan Opera House revolutionized its seats on the first floor of the Detroit Opera House by installing a 5,300-square-foot terrace over the 1,200-seat rows.
Interestingly, the bridge acts as a reversible floor. On the one hand, it is upholstered with carpet, on the other with black fiberglass.
Dan Brinker, technical director of MOT and Opera, explains.
“When we want the sound to be dimmed, we use the side of the carpet,” he said. “When we set up a band or a kiosk, we use fiberglass.”
The platform, manufactured through StageRight Corp. in Clare, will be familiar to those who attended MOT’s annual fundraising gala, “Bravo! Bravo!”, when erected to create a giant terrain on which visitors can walk.
Previously, the opera company had just leased the bridge, which is assembled as a scaffolding, from Levitation Staging to Grand Rapids. But with the performance-cutting pandemic, the levitation owners, Brinker says, liquidate.
The MOT acted temporarily and purchased 9,100 square feet of terrace for just under $200,000. “The matter was presented to the board’s finance committee,” he said, “and one of our board members just showed up to help us with the purchase.
What about the extra 4000 feet? The terrace above the seats is 18 inches higher than the opera level. Additional images, Brinker says, will allow the floor to extend to the level itself if necessary.
If you think it all sounds great, right. The complete formula would have filled 3 semitrailers. When not used at any given time in the future, it will be stored in an external warehouse.
And how does the bridge, which took about a day to settle, above 1200 seats in the orchestra work?
“There’s a design underneath that uses a very similar leg formula to the way we build scaffolding,” Brinker said. “You have the stair pieces and the ties.” Eight rows of decks, each 8 feet in diameter, then sit on the most sensitive of this device.
And he’s strong. “We can quite occupy the bridge at popular occupancy rates,” he said.
Indoor “events” are currently limited to 10 people. But at some point, Brinker added, “these restrictions will relax, first to 50 people, then to 250, then to a portion of capacity,” which would equate to six hundred customers.
The bridge allows maximum flexibility. Seat equipment can be separated or tables can be set up to allow small teams to meet.
Thus, each time the screen returns, the Opera Bridge will wait to receive all arrivals.
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Twitter: @mhodgesartguy