The case for a black stage floor and surround

[Smatticus]

We are about to embark on the process of convincing our school officials that our auditorium stage floor should be painted black, as well as the walls surrounding the apron of the stage. I have attached a photo illustrating the proposed blackness for the stage. As you can see in the photo the stage floor is a glossy sealed wood floor and the surround is currently painted white. I have started this thread to gather the opinions of others involved in our field as to why the stage floor and surround should be painted black. By gathering the opinions of others I hope to reinforce our argument. My primary argument is that the current state of the auditorium is very distracting from the performances that we put on there, primarily because of the severity of the light bouncing off the floor and off the walls surrounding the stage apron. I would appreciate any opinions or corroborations on this feeling you might be able to offer. If you have any photos illustrating these ideas in your space please post them! I know there are other posts on what types of paints to use and how to apply them but any comments pertinent to painting a stage floor for the first time would also be appreciated (suggested preparation techniques, etc). Thank you!

[bobgaggle]

I'm with you all the way. In my school, the walls surrounding the procenium are already painted dark blue (school color) but the front of the apron was stark white for some reason. My director got it painted the same blue and the whole stage picture changed dramatically. Just by painting that small strip of wall, the whole space looked so much better.

But as for painting the walls black, I'm not so sure admin will go for it. From the looks of it, you have a multi-purpose space rather than an actual theatre so it might be better to convince admin to paint it a school color, preferably the darker of the two, and assuming you have good color choices (you don't have colors of yellow and pink right?)

One thing I'm no expert on is finishes. I'm not sure, but if you want that stage to be black, wouldn't you have to strip the wood of the sealant, sand the whole thing, and then paint it? Not really something you can get your Drama II class to do as an in class project...

[icewolf08]

I think the only thing that you really want to paint is the stage itself. The walls and the front of the stage and the ceiling don't need to change. Look at most theatres, the walls are whatever color they are, and it is generally not black. If you have issues with light on the walls they you should play with your shutter cuts as this can be avoided.

In terms of the floor, you will never convince the school that it should be done. It is an auditorium before it is a theatre, and it has to look nice. I would suggest taking the route of maybe seeing if they will allow you to lay masonite over the stage floor which you then can paint however you like. To this end, you can argue that it will protect the nice finish of the floor.

[DaveySimps]

I agree with Icewolf for the most part. Concentrate your efforts on just the stage floor. Although the masonite solution would work well, and may very well be the only solution administration allows, I think it is still worth trying to push the issue a bit. If they do not allow you to paint the floor, then you have a reliable back up plan.

~Dave

[bobgaggle]

depending on how dumb they are about theatrical things, you can argue that a glossy finish can throw light in random ways, creating weird shadows on the principal's face when he gives speeches. see how vain he is...

is this a middle school? cause I swear my middle school auditorium looked just like that...

[midgetgreen11]

We tried to get the principal to paint the backstage walls black... he laughed at our Drama coach's face.

[Smatticus]

Originally Posted by bobgaggle

I'm with you all the way. In my school, the walls surrounding the procenium are already painted dark blue (school color) but the front of the apron was stark white for some reason. My director got it painted the same blue and the whole stage picture changed dramatically. Just by painting that small strip of wall, the whole space looked so much better.

I think there will be an equally dramatic shift in our space if we paint the walls surrounding the proscenium. The structure of the auditorium house around the apron is ideal for painting it a different color than the actual house walls. There is a very defined line where the walls jut inward and then back outward. This isn't very clear in the photo but if you look at the extreme left and right of the photo you see that the walls jut inward. There is also an old Front of House beam that creates a very defined break in the ceiling between the apron and the rest of the house. I will take and post a couple more photos later tonight.

Originally Posted by bobgaggle

But as for painting the walls black, I'm not so sure admin will go for it. From the looks of it, you have a multi-purpose space rather than an actual theatre so it might be better to convince admin to paint it a school color, preferably the darker of the two, and assuming you have good color choices (you don't have colors of yellow and pink right?)

We do have a multi-purpose space, it is a high school auditorium. It is primarily used for an annual musical, an annual play (starting this year), and two annual dance recitals. It is also used for band/orchestra/choral concerts, meetings, awards ceremonies, and as a rehearsal space for field band. Our school colors are purple and white so if we were not going to go with black we would have to go with a fairly dark purple. You can't see in the photo I posted but the grand curtain and grand teaser are actually purple, the rest of the stage curtains are black.

Originally Posted by icewolf08

I think the only thing that you really want to paint is the stage itself. The walls and the front of the stage and the ceiling don't need to change. Look at most theatres, the walls are whatever color they are, and it is generally not black. If you have issues with light on the walls they you should play with your shutter cuts as this can be avoided.

I disagree, if we are going to paint the stage floor we absolutely need to continue it down the stairs on each side of the apron, and if we don't continue it across the front edge of the stage it would look very strange. The primary reason we want to paint the apron surround is that we rely very heavily on the apron for all of the productions we do. Without the apron the stage depth is typically not adequate, especially if we need to use any of the upstage space for a lit backdrop. Because we rely on the apron so much (and because we have no electrical positions over or on either side of the apron) we typically set up free standing booms on either side of the apron so that we may employ side lighting or mimic the pipe ends on the rest of the stage electrics. There is no way to shutter these instruments to keep them off the walls at either side of the apron. As far as the Front of House instruments go I am sure that we will have less spill on the walls and ceiling once the stage floor isn't reflecting the light all over the place.

Originally Posted by icewolf08

In terms of the floor, you will never convince the school that it should be done. It is an auditorium before it is a theatre, and it has to look nice. I would suggest taking the route of maybe seeing if they will allow you to lay masonite over the stage floor which you then can paint however you like. To this end, you can argue that it will protect the nice finish of the floor.

At this point we already have a school employee in charge of school facilities relatively on board with the idea of painting the floor. This is not a new floor and it is not in great shape. The floor is actually partially sanded right now because the school was planning to re-seal it. We are simply proposing that we not go the route of re-sealing it but rather just finish sanding it down and paint it. Even if the space is an auditorium before it is a theater we aren't proposing something that is going to make it look bad for concerts or awards ceremonies, we are proposing something that will draw the eye better to what is happening on stage. Again I will post a few more photos to illustrate the things I've mentioned here.

[curtg]

I think your approach to this problem in commendable. Good luck! You have also gotten some good alternatives. This is a silly battle that takes place all over the place. The money people want shiny and bright and everything preserved forever. Theatre people want a working space.

Who else uses the space, and would they benefit from darker paint? Try to find a it will benefit all user argument.

[bobgaggle]

At least your Grand is a nice dark color...my school has a bright fugly orange Grand (Again, school color) chosen by, guess who, our principal. Luckily my director found some clause that said something about curtains being replaced after 7 years or something because of fire code, don't ask me about it, she just mentioned it, so when they get new ones, she's getting a navy one.

[gafftaper]

Originally Posted by Smatticus

The primary reason we want to paint the apron surround is that we rely very heavily on the apron for all of the productions we do. Without the apron the stage depth is typically not adequate, especially if we need to use any of the upstage space for a lit backdrop. Because we rely on the apron so much (and because we have no electrical positions over or on either side of the apron) we typically set up free standing booms on either side of the apron so that we may employ side lighting or mimic the pipe ends on the rest of the stage electrics. There is no way to shutter these instruments to keep them off the walls at either side of the apron. As far as the Front of House instruments go I am sure that we will have less spill on the walls and ceiling once the stage floor isn't reflecting the light all over the place.

Why is there no way to shutter? Are you not using ellipsoidals? Is the beam angle correct for the position? Do you have top hats for them? If they aren't ellipsoidals do you have barn doors? Lots of things you can do to fix that problem.

My bet is the majority of spill on your walls and ceiling is from incorrect instruments, incorrect instrument placement, shutter cuts, and or lack of top hats/barn doors. Remember that light is going to reflect in a straight line (just like a pool ball bouncing off the side bumper of a pool table). If the light is hitting the stage at a downward angle of 50 degrees it's going to keep going in a straight line and reflect back up at a 50 degree angle lighting up backstage somewhere. So unless you have down light directly over the apron, you aren't going to be lighting up the front of the proscenium with reflection.

Tell us more about the types of lights you are using perhaps we can help you with your spill problem by improving your technique.

Painting the front of the proscenium or the rest of the theater black is a pretty extreme thing to do and not something I would advise. I would go with the dark purple instead. Very few large theaters are black. Most are dark but few are black. Many places paint their stage black but do a dark stain on the front edge to keep it fancy but not bright and shiny. I would do a dark stain on the steps as well. Walls and ceiling backstage should be all black to help make things disappear.