FRONT AND CENTER, BACKSTAGE AND UNDERGROUND : Public spaces to private places, the facility meets all the requirements of a first-rate production

As Charles Lawrence, lead architect on the project, sees it, much of the show at the Orange County Performing Arts Center will be taking place offstage, in “the whole pageantry of patrons coming to a performance.”

“They’re all dressed up, they look good, they feel good, and they see each other--and we want that to be perceived through the opening of the portal,” he says.

From outside at night, when the lobby lights are on, the center’s huge glass wall will provide people-watchers with an unimpeded view of audiences milling about before and after a performance and during intermission. For Lawrence, the center’s seven-story arch serves to frame this impromptu performance.

“All these things are part of theater,” Lawrence says, “not just what you get when you sit in your seat and absorb a performance but everything that goes on.”

Once inside the center lobby, people- watchers will be served by a design that emphasizes vertical space, allowing numerous, often-unexpected vistas between floors. “No matter which level you’re on, you’re not . . . sandwiched (in a) space that’s just you and the floor,” Lawrence says.

The center’s grand staircase, which connects all levels of the building, should be a focal point for promenading patrons. The facing walls of the stair are covered entirely in beveled mirrors, creating the semblance of a kaleidoscope at their intersection. “You get a whole rundown of mirrored images, which is going to be very exciting,” Lawrence says.

“It’s very people-oriented,” project manager Ron Rice says of the center. “It’s interesting when you can design a building as magnificent as this is and still it doesn’t take everybody’s attention. People will be able to very much enjoy watching the other people.”

The Performing Arts Center may prove confusing to some first-time visitors.

First, there is the matter of the building’s five levels, referred to, in ascending order, as the street, plaza, second, third and fourth levels. Of course, that means what is called the second level is actually the third, what is called the third level is actually the fourth, and the fourth is the fifth.

There is, however, method behind the seeming inconsistency. Orchestra-level seating inside the main theater is accessible from the street and plaza level lobbies. Seating levels 2, 3 and 4 will be entered from the lobbies on the corresponding levels--2, 3 and 4.

Audiences will enter the center on the street and plaza levels.

Once inside, they will be faced with a maze of ramps and stairs and a grand total of 34 separate entrances into the theater. However, a corps of ushers (65 is the planned number) will be on hand to point the county’s arts audiences in the right direction. (See the cutaway drawing of the center on Pages 28-29.)

Late Comers Center patrons who arrive after the theater doors close and the show begins will have to content themselves with watching the proceedings on television. Color monitors outside theater entrances will give late comers a look at the performance until a suitable break in the action, when they can be admitted.

“Once the show starts, you will not be allowed into the hall. Management will not allow a show or a production to be interrupted,” Rice emphasizes. “So we’ll have nice 25-inch monitors for you to watch what you’re missing.”

Cloakrooms Thanks to a bit of redesigning, center audiences will have a place to hang their hats and coats.

“There was a void space between the inside house wall, along the outer perimeter, and the outside house wall,” Rice says. “It was a large void area that would have been lost forever, so we improved it . . . so we could have a cloakroom.”

There, center patrons can check their hats, coats and other personal belongings during a performance. The cloak- room is on the plaza level.

Colors and Surfaces

As patrons settle into their seats on opening night at the Orange County Performing Arts Center, they will be seeing red--deep ruby red--on the walls, ceiling, seat upholstery and carpeting.

“It’s the red of the theater,” architect Lawrence says. While the center’s main theater is raising eyebrows with its asymmetrical seating plan and ambitious acoustics, the color scheme is a throwback to the grand theaters of Europe. “I think everyone responds to it positively,” Lawrence says. “I know that actors looking out into a red theater like the feel of it.”

While final decisions on color were not made until after Thomas Kendrick was named executive director in May, 1985, center designers had already designated a limited palette from which to choose. As plans for the interior began, Lawrence says, “we thought that the house itself, in its interior colors, needed to be a deep color.” A light color “would reflect stage lighting and be a distraction,” the architect adds. So the choice of color “was a given from a practical standpoint.”

Also from a practical standpoint, carpeting in the theater had to be limited to the aisles in order to reduce the sound absorbed. The floor beneath the seats is a hard, resonant surface, black in color. “Under theater lighting conditions it just recedes,” Lawrence says.

By contrast, the colors of the public lobbies are taken from a lighter palette. The designers wanted to convey the mood of the surrounding landscape, which is visible through the containing windows. Says Lawrence: “There was a feeling that we and the board had: Here we are in Southern California, it’s a nice bright environment, and the tones of the material and the colors we use should be light.”

The carpeting in the lobbies is described by project manager Rice as mauve gray--a light, neutral tone with flecks of maroon and powder blue--matching the theater’s dark-red carpeting and the blue of the vestibules’ carpet, walls and ceilings.

Lawrence says that the double-doored vestibules between the lobbies and theater not only keep extraneous sound and light out of the theater but serve an aesthetic function as well. “We were deliberately trying to get the contrast between the warm red of the house and the neutral tones of the lobby,” the architect explains. “You come through the neutral tones of the lobby, through the pale blue of the transition area to the rich reds of the house.”

Of the main wall surfaces in the lobby areas, the wall that wraps the theater has a rich walnut finish, and most of the outer wall is painted a grayish mauve, similar to the color of the carpeting.

The final wall surface is glass--the 75-foot-high glass wall behind the center’s landmark arch. As Lawrence puts it, the glass enclosing the public lobby serves almost as a “live mural,” featuring “controlled and ever-changing views of Costa Mesa.”

There is also a variety of trims in the lobby: The beveled mirrors that line the grand staircase; polished granite around the elevator vestibules; a wall of flame-finished granite that extends through the glass into the second level from outside the house; the bronze used in raised lettering around the glass donor-recognition units and in the door pulls; terrazzo flooring that spills into the lobbies from outside, and the cherry-wood sculpting that surrounds theater entrances, matching the backs and armrests of the theater seating. The lobby ceilings are a simple off-white, with recessed lighting.

Bar Facilities Although the building has no restaurant to call its own, liquid refreshments will be flowing at five bars inside the Performing Arts Center.

There are four public bars on different levels, offering wine, mixed drinks, soft drinks and juices. The bars, located in the lobbies on the building’s first four levels, are painted a powder-blue that matches the lobby vestibules.

The fifth bar is part of what is now called the clubroom (it will be named later), a special lounge where the center’s big-time donors can congregate. Admission to the clubroom: donations of $50,000 or more made before Jan. 1, 1986, or donations of $100,000 or more made after that date.

This lounge, which is on the second level, features upholstered walls and built-in couches with coffee tables and occasional chairs.

“It will be a very elegant space, in keeping with the rest of the facility,” says Rice. The club room was designed by Armin Trattman, the architect who drew the plans for the exclusive Center Club in the adjacent Center Tower.

Balconies For those who want to step outside during intermission to enjoy the fresh air or the view, each of the upper-level center lobbies has an outdoor terrace that juts out from the building’s glass wall.

The terraces may also be popular with those in need of a quick cigarette, since smoking is verboten inside the center.

There will be no seating on the terraces, or on the center plaza--at least for the time being. “We decided not to put in any external seating immediately, because it’s always an educated guess as to what your (pedestrian) traffic flow’s going to be,” Rice says. “We’ll have the landscape architects keep an eye on the traffic patterns that develop and then place exterior seating sometime prior to second season.”

The same cautious approach is being taken in interior design. “Invariably, you’ll put a tree right where people want to be,” Rice says. “So, we decided to watch the traffic patterns before we do the interior landscaping.”

There will, however, be interior seating. Leather benches with wooden bases will be placed throughout the lobbies.

Donor Recognition At the Performing Arts Center, the writing on the wall is a who’s who of local arts patrons.

Built entirely with private funds, the $70.7-million center will follow tradition and permanently recognize hundreds of donors by listing their names in the public lobbies.

Those in the center’s “Circle of Eminence”--the $1-million-plus donors--have a special place of honor above the three rear orchestra-level doors, where their names will be spelled out in raised bronze lettering. Other donors will have their names sandblasted into glass and displayed in wall units and free-standing kiosks.

The rectangular wall units displayed opposite the elevators on each level of the building will be trimmed in bronze and lit from the edges. In the three-sided kiosks, sleeves of frosted glass will be placed behind the transparent glass sheets and lit from behind and above.

Donors of $10,000 or more are recognized in the center’s lobbies (under a variety of titles indicating the levels of contribution). “Center Associates,” donors of $1,000 to $9,999, will be acknowledged on the center’s outdoor plaza. According to Rice, the recognition units are designed so the names of future donors can be added.

The lobbies are not the only places where donors have their names listed for posterity. Patrons have also been able to sponsor seats in the center’s main theater for donations ranging from $2,500 (for premium box seats) to $500 (for seats in the third tier). For their pledges, sponsors get their names etched onto small bronze plates permanently set into the seat armrests.

Backstage When Mikhail Baryshnikov, artistic director of the American Ballet Theatre, announced that his company would be coming to the Orange County Performing Arts Center, he saved his highest praise for the facility’s backstage dressing and rehearsal rooms.

“The comfort of the backstage is incredible, absolutely incredible,” the renowned dancer told a gathering of reporters and center officials. “Three ballet studios . . . and (the) dressing rooms--it’s a paradise.”

According to Rice, Baryshnikov’s response was not unique. “Performers who are used to other facilities are saying: ‘My God, this is like the front of the house. It’s not gray and dark with bare light bulbs and all of that.’ ”

The dressing areas are bedecked in a variety of cheerful colors, including dusty rose, burgundy and multiple shades of purple. The carpeting is plush and plentiful, everything is well lit and even the restrooms and shower stalls boast a compelling array of colors in their tiling and painted surfaces.

“They (the center designers) didn’t just work on the aesthetic beauty of the front of the house, where the public spaces are,” Rice says. “The same feel, the same concern, was brought to back-of-house so that the people who work there and the performers would have a pleasant space to be in.”

As evidence, Rice points out that all backstage corridors are carpeted, which he says is rare. “We wanted it carpeted to keep the noise level down and (to) have a warmer ambiance in the back of the house. But you have a problem with show boxes. The boxes that all the gear comes in from traveling shows can (each) weigh 600 pounds with one-inch steel wheels,” which cut tracks in all the carpeting.

“So the manufacturer took that 600-pound box with steel wheels as the criterion of what he had to perform to,” Rice continues, “and came up with an incredibly tough piece of goods.”

The center’s backstage facilities include five dressing rooms for stars--and an adjoining lounge--all just a short walk from the stage. Downstairs, on street level, are five featured-player dressing rooms and two large dressing areas--one for musicians and one for the chorus--complete with lockers and restroom and shower facilities. The musicians’ area also includes special lockers for instruments and a conductor’s dressing room; the chorus rooms include individual makeup mirrors.

Also downstairs is a large communal lounge, where performers can greet friends and relatives, wait for their cues by watching on-stage happenings on television monitors or relax after a performance. A wardrobe room, storage areas and production offices are on street level as well.

The center has four rehearsal rooms. The 3,500-square-foot main room, which doubles as a theater that can seat up to 350 people (the so-called “Black Box” theater), is designed primarily for rehearsal of symphony and musical performances. On the perimeter of the room are revolving panels that feature a hard, reflective surface on one side and a softer, absorptive surface on the other. With these panels, the conductor “can actually tune the room,” according to Rice, by altering its acoustic properties. With the reflective sides facing into the room, a reverberant sound is achieved, while the sound is deadened when the softer sides of the panels are employed.

The three remaining rehearsal rooms are smaller (1,300 to 1,350 square feet each), more traditional spaces designed primarily for dance practice, with rails and mirrored walls.

Down Under: The Administrative Offices In August, the facility’s administrative team moved from a third-floor suite with a view of the nearly completed building into its own space, deep inside the center itself.

The street level holds the administrative offices of the executive director and general manager and contains enclosed offices and an area of partitioned work spaces for other center officials and employees. The area includes a conference room, waiting area and staff lounge, and the home of the marketing and subscription units.

According to Rice, who becomes director of administration with the opening of the center, the region was nearly wasted. “This was going to be unused space. They finally realized . . . that they couldn’t let it go. There’s something like 16,000 square feet down there.”

“Down there” is beneath the theater’s orchestra-level seating, with a ceiling that slopes toward the stage. Architects were able to design a suite of offices with 10,200 square feet of usable office space and another 1,300 square feet of archival storage space.

Following are other facets of the center that may be of interest to those attending an event there.

Programs Los Angeles-based Performing Arts Network, program publisher for the Los Angeles Music Center and Costa Mesa’s South Coast Repertory Theatre, is extending its services to include the Orange County Performing Arts Center.

The magazine-style monthly, which includes general feature articles on the performing arts in addition to specific program information, will be provided at no charge to center audiences.

Performing Arts Network has a monthly circulation of 880,000. In addition to publishing programs for theaters in Orange County and Los Angeles, the company serves performing arts organizations in San Francisco, San Diego, Houston, Dallas and San Antonio.

The Women’s Rooms

Providing an adequate number of restrooms for women at the center was something of an obsession with the designers--thanks largely to the efforts of journalist Ann Holmes.

After Houston’s Jesse H. Jones Hall opened in 1966, Holmes, the Houston Chronicle’s fine-arts editor, wrote several crusading articles calling for more restrooms for women. In fact, some of Houston’s society ladies finally got into the act when 129 people--”some very prominent,” Holmes wrote--signed a petition. The result was five new restrooms.

The episode taught Charles Lawrence, chief designer for the Houston hall and lead architect for the Orange County center, a dramatic lesson about what he calls “the demands of intermission.”

As a result, the center has more than double the number of facilities for women suggested in guidelines of the Uniform Plumbing Code, according to Perry Babcock, project architect.

There will be 62 stalls for women and 34 stalls and urinals for men--based on the Center’s projected 3,000-person capacity, Babcock says. “We believe we’re in better shape than we might be if we had gone by the code,” he says. “Anyone who’s ever been to a theater--or for that matter, a restaurant--knows there’s never a line outside the men’s.”

Ushers

Christine Hans is looking for 300 to 350 people to manage the aisles and entrances of the Orange County Performing Arts Center.

Hans, the center’s patron manager, is in charge of hiring ushers for the complex. The pay is low--$10 a night--but Hans reported in early August that interest in the openings is high. At that time she had hired half the needed work force and planned to have a full complement of ushers in place by opening night.

That doesn’t mean that Hans will be through hiring. “It will be an ongoing process,” she says, because of the anticipated high turnover.

“I’m looking for people who can commit to one night a week,” Hans says. Between 62 and 65 ushers will be on hand at any given performance. Minimum age for the position is 18, and Hans says that although many of the applicants are students, she has also hired “quite a few” senior citizens.

“These are people who are dedicated to the arts and want to help in any way they can,” Hans says. She conducts interviews Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.; prospective ushers should telephone Hans at the center, (714) 556-2121.

Parking (and Matinees)

The 1,250-space parking structure serving employees at the Center Tower office building by day will serve audiences at the Orange County Performing Arts Center by night (and on weekends).

The multilevel structure, with entrances on Sunflower Avenue, Park Center Drive and Avenue of the Arts, will stay open late on performance nights. Parking will cost $3. Additional parking will be available at the same price in a structure directly across Park Center Drive from the Center Tower facility.

Passenger drop-off areas for buses and automobiles are provided along the circular drive off Town Center Drive directly in front of the center. Valet parking, to be offered on opening night, will not become a regular fixture.

Center Tower and the adjacent parking structure are owned by the development firm of C. J. Segerstrom & Sons, donors of the site on which the center and adjacent South Coast Repertory Theatre are built. Because the parking structure is used by office workers on weekdays, center project manager Ron Rice says, parking for weekday matinee performances cannot be accommodated. No weekday matinees have been scheduled for the upcoming inaugural season at the center, although a number of Saturday and Sunday matinee performances are slated.

Do’s and Don’ts

Management at the Orange County Performing Arts Center has spelled out a few rules and regulations for theatergoers:

Smoking is not allowed anywhere in the center.

Tape recorders and cameras will not be permitted in the theater.

Although there is no minimum age for admission to the center, parents of infants who disturb a performance will be asked to take the infant out of the theater.

There was no written dress code as of this writing, but center officials say that bare feet will not be allowed. Dress regulations may be in place by opening night.