A.J.'s Top 10 Millennium Stage Shows

[Full Disclosure: I am a current employee of the Kennedy Center. Any opinions expressed in this piece are my own personal views and do not represent that of the Center, its management, or its staff.]

I've had the incredible privilege of getting paid to present and watch amazing performances. The fact that I can also share these exact performances with you is even better! As I look back on my six years at Millennium Stage, I want to highlight some of the shows that I have loved and have meant a lot to me. Artists, if your particular show is not here, please know this list was very hard for me to put together. I've helped present over 1,700 performances here, and I love so many of them.

In no particular order: 

Meena's Dream

This show stood out to me pretty early on in my tenure. Millennium Stage doesn't present theater often. Theatrical works are often longer than an hour, or require more production and setup than we can usually provide. Even though I was unfamiliar with much of the culture in the story, it was still easy to understand. The message is still very relatable, we all have to fight the Worry Machine.

Artist Link: Anu Yadav

Tim Mislock

For some reason, whenever I want to put on some music in the background while I'm working, this is my go-to. It's very calming and has an enjoyable, melancholy vibe. 

This show was also very synergetic in a way that isn't accessed often. Tim Mislock was part of the band in the national tour of Hedwig and the Angry Inch at the time, and performed this in-between his matinee and evening performances in the Eisenhower Theater. This seems like a no-brainer, invite visiting talent to perform for an hour on Millennium Stage, but this was the only occurrence during my tenure (the exception being the annual Alvin Ailey Dance Company's Revelations class). We regularly feature in-house groups, but it would be cool/interesting to see more touring talent.

Artist Link: Tim Mislock

BOOMscat 

BOOMscat! The Peace and Body Roll Duo themselves! One of my absolute favorite groups to work with. Both Asha and Patience are wonderful, genuine people, and have great chemistry and banter together. Their songs are so interesting and catchy. They also have a great band name that is so much fun to announce.

Artist Link: BOOMscat

Merry TubaChristmas

When I first heard of it, it sounded utterly absurd. Tuba...Christmas? Since then, I have fallen in love with TubaChristmas and have added it into my holiday traditions. There are tubas, sousaphones, euphoniums everywhere, filling the stage, overflowing into the tiers, beautifully decorated in their holiday finest. The performance is this deep, resonating surround-sound that fills your entire body. It's quite an experience.

The event was originally conceived by Harvey Phillips in 1974 to shine a light and celebrate this under-appreciated large brass family. After 48 years, it has helped create a players community and given the tuba family a moment to shine in the spotlight.

It's so zany. I love it.

Artist Link: TUBACHRISTMAS

Solomon Howard "The Grinch Song"

Soloman Howard. That's all.

I've been lucky to see him perform on quite a few occasions. 2015's Appomattox, 2016's Ring Cycle, 2017 in a surprise-appearance performance with BANDALOOP and FLEXN during the JFK Centennial Open House Celebration, and 2019 during the REACH Opening Festival. His bass voice is unbelievable, booming, and beautiful. What a presence. And his speaking voice is right there too!

This clip is not a full show, nor is it a show during my tenure. However, once I viewed it, I knew it was instantly one of my favorites.

Artist Link: Soloman Howard

Gamer Symphony Orchestra

This show was a culmination moment. A lot of passionate people worked towards bringing shows to the Center that showcased the intersection between arts and gaming. They have all since departed for other endeavors. Hopefully, this intersection can be approached again in the future. There is really something exciting there.

I say this with full love and appreciation: we have some amazing dorks in our stagehand cadre, and they took full advantage of the moment in terms of the lighting. Imitating Tetris on the light towers was amazing. My own dorky heart was thrilled to the brim that day.

This show was also part of the annual Direct Current festival. The festival highlighted new, exploratory, contemporary arts and artists. The Millennium Stage threw out all the stops in the artists presented. It's an absolute trip of the strange and exciting. Any show that was part of the festival, I highly recommend checking out.

Artist Link: Gamer Symphony Orchestra

Kids Opera Company

This show blew my mind. A 3rd grade class from Stedwick Elementary School wrote, composed, built, rehearsed, and performed their own opera. Their teacher, Mary Ruth McGinn, uses the opera creation as "a vehicle for learning everything that all third graders must learn." Every subject can be worked in. It's phenomenal. I would have loved to have been taught this way in school. 

We had the honor of presenting 2-3 iterations of the kids opera company over my tenure. While we only get to see the final product, it's still an inspiring experience loading in the show and adapting it onto our stage. Students get to shadow our stagehands and learn how professionals create live performances. Everyone is so gung-ho, welcoming, and amazing. It's exciting to have a front row seat in impacting and inspiring the next generation of arts makers and lovers. And it all comes with a meaningful message.

Link: Mary Ruth McGinn TED talk

A Drag Salute to Divas and Devos

What a show. The Kennedy Center has presented musicals that feature the art of drag, like Kinky Boots and La Cage Aux Folles. This was really its first authentic drag show, exclusively focused on the art of drag, so it meant a lot to everyone involved. It featured drag queens and kings from the local DC scene. Hosted and organized by D.C. drag legend Shi-Queeta Lee, Shi-Queeta has been performing in drag since the mid-1980's and was the first drag queen to be invited to perform at the White House. This show also showcases Riley Knoxx, one of the best Beyoncé impersonators around. She has since gone on to have an exciting career, including appearing in Taylor Swift's "You Need to Calm Down" music video.

Millennium Stage is really unique. Because we aren't worried about selling tickets, we can spotlight untraditional performance genres. We can present shows that other venues might turn away because its appeal is unproven, or deemed to be unpopular. Millennium Stage can truly be a celebration of everyone, for everyone. I'm glad the Kennedy Center has this program. It needs this sort of program.

Since this performance, Millennium Stage has presented at least one drag show a year (2020 being the exception).  Drag is becoming more and more mainstream, and its exciting to watch its rise to power. 

Artist Link: Shi-Queeta Lee (and a news article)

Artist Link: Riley Knoxx

Top Notch

Top Notch is our annual b-boy and b-girl battle tournament we present in collaboration with Words Beats and Life Inc. The physical talent and artistry on display is so amazing. The video above is just of the finals, the preliminaries and other levels make it an all-day event.

This annual event makes my list for many personal reasons. When I first started interning at the Kennedy Center, I really hadn't had much exposure to Hip Hop. I grew up in a white suburban bubble, and never tried to look into the art form. I thought Hip Hop was only a dance style, and rapping was its own separate thing. This show and the events we presented alongside it in the WBLFest really opened my eyes to what Hip Hop is. Rapping and dancing are only parts of a larger-encompassing culture. The Kennedy Center Education Department has a great guide to Hip Hop Culture, I recommend you check it out.

Another reason. Top Notch always had a lot of moving parts, so it had lots of stressful moments. One year, I was definitely feeling it. I made one mistake that triggered a major downward emotional spiral in me. Looking back, the mistake wasn't a big deal, it was just the straw that broke the camel's back. The next year, there was a lot of staff turnover. My new supervisor had just started and was learning the ropes. I really needed to step up for this festival. And I did. I walked away feeling like I redeemed myself from the previous year. I felt like I was finally starting to ride the bicycle of my job without the training wheels. It was a great feeling.

Like drag, Hip Hop Culture was initially brought to the Kennedy Center through Millennium Stage. It is truly a success story, having become its own established genre with an exclusive programming director (Shout out to Simone Eccleston!!). I'm so proud of the work that has brought it here, and excited for what the future holds for it.

Artist Link: Words Beats & Life Inc

Sesame Street Singalong

For many years, Millennium Stage held an Honors tribute week ahead of the Kennedy Center Honors performance gala. In 2019, Sesame Street was honored, and so we had a tribute singalong show! It was really sweet, brought back memories of really great songs I had heard and sang in my childhood. The show also had actual appearances from Abby Cadabby and Cookie Monster! I was freaking out. My childhood, alive on my stage. (Well, Abby was after my time, but I was at least aware of her addition. I digress.)

I consider my announcement to this performance the peak of my Kennedy Center career. I got to be rolled out in a trash can and pop out wearing an Oscar the Grouch onesie. The idea was all mine. It was so much fun, honoring Sesame Street in my own way. And who else can say they did something this cool at a National Cultural Center?

In the agreement with Sesame Street, the Kennedy Center was allowed to livestream the show, but had to remove it once the performance was over. Which is all fine, Sesame Street is protecting their intellectual property. However, I later asked and was granted permission to post my announcement of that show, and can luckily share it with you!:

Thanks a million to Sesame Street Workshop and the Kennedy Center for permission to share this portion of the December 7, 2019 Millennium Stage "Honors Week Tribute: Sesame Street Singalong"!

Artist Link: Sesame Street Workshop

Well, that's the 10! Because I couldn't bear to not include these, here are the honorable mentions:

Embrace Humanity

Artist Link: Mana

Artist Link: Amal Kassir

Artist Link: Omar Offendum

(Amazing, heartfelt stories)

Dhaka Brakha

(artist link)

(those hats! Also, awesome unique sound with great harmonies)

Deborah Bond

(artist link)

Sweet Heaven Kings

(artist link)

Tag, Rag, and Bobtail

(company link)

(This one was a show I personally programmed, marrying my previous job at Colonial Williamsburg with my current one at the KC.)

Tamagawa University Dance and Taiko Group

(university link)

We are so lucky to have Millennium Stage at the Kennedy Center. It is taken for granted by its free entry, its regularity, its size. But I truly think it is the heart and soul of what a national cultural center should be – showcasing the creativity, the diversity, the passion, the artistry, the humanity of the world, in a space that doesn’t discriminate race, class, or accessibility. It’s open to all, for all, by all. For anyone who hasn't checked out Millennium Stage, you are truly missing out.

I've really loved this stage. It's opened up my worldview and has showed me so much of the beauty of the human spirit. It's going to be hard to find a job that tops this.

Bonus KC Non-Millennium Stage Videos I've Enjoyed:

Dancers Rappel off Roof of The Kennedy Center - BANDALOOP (BANDALOOP is amazing. This was a segment of their show during the JFK Centennial Open House Celebration)

"The King and I" visits the Kennedy Center! (really good specialized ad specifically made for and by the Kennedy Center. Wish they did more of these!)

Now More Than Ever: A Film by Ezra Hurwitz (beautiful cinematography, beautiful dancing, beautiful dancers, beautiful locations)

Thanks to Diana Ezerins, Garth Ross, Bobby Hunter, Allen Brooks, Margot Pien, and Risikat Okedeyi. These individuals collaborated, influenced, relationship-cultivated, and/or programmed nearly all of the shows on this list. 

The LEGO Millennium Stage

Millennium Stage & the LEGO Millennium Stage!

[Full Disclosure: I am a current employee of the Kennedy Center. Any opinions expressed in this piece are my own personal views and do not represent that of the Center, its management, or its staff.]

Good evening, and welcome to Millennium Stage! Every day, the Millennium Stage celebrates the human spirit by presenting a free performance at 6pm. And now, please give a warm welcome to... the LEGO Millennium Stage!!

Millennium Stage has been my work-home longer than any other job I've had at this point. This year, I have missed playing my part in bringing excitement and life to the Grand Foyer. With all the recent stress, grief, and uncertainty, I wanted to create something of familiarity and comfort for myself. This manifested in designing and building a minifigure-sized LEGO Millennium Stage.

The stage I built is modeled off of the third and current iteration of the Millennium Stage proscenium, designed by Grimm + Parker in 2012. Specifically, the LEGO stage's setup is based off the South Millennium Stage by the Concert Hall, as that stage was the first of the two originally built back in 1997.

Because I wanted to recreate the proscenium arch's signature lean, I built a test model to figure it out.

Proscenium test #1

Another proscenium test

Test performance at the test stage.

The lean was achieved by placing an elevated 2x4 brick with pins underneath one end of the towers, then letting the other end rest on the ground.

Once the test model worked to my liking, it was off to build the real deal!

In progress: Stage level of Millennium Stage built

In progress: curtains hung, work starting on the grid

Banana Guy & BB-8 on the completed stage!

Overhead shot of the stage

Completed Millennium Stage next to the Test Model

And so the stage was complete! I had achieved my goal. But was that the end? My mind kept turning, kept asking additional "What If" questions to further expand the stage:

What if... there was a whole LEGO band performing with LEGO instruments?

What if... my stage reflected the diversity that the human-sized Millennium Stage regularly presented?

What if... I also built the tech booth?

What if... the video screen could actually work?

What if... the towers could light up?

So I did what any curious person who likes figuring things out would do -- I answered the questions. 

Let me reintroduce you to the LEGO Millennium Stage:

LEGO Millennium Stage Version 6.0

Millennium Stage Booth

LEGO Band: I bought the Banana Guy Suit from the Series 16 Collectible Minifigures and fell in love with him. I found out there were more food suits, so I started to collect them. I've named this band "Unbalanced Breakfast." 

Now presenting on the LEGO Millennium Stage: Unbalanced Breakfast!
They will be performing songs from their sophomore album The Second Course.

LEGO Instruments: LEGO has trumpets, saxophones, maracas, guitars, and more already made in premade pieces. I needed a grand piano and a drumkit. The piano design came from Masao Hidaka on YouTube. For the drumkit, the bass drum & toms specifically came from Bricks4All on YouTube. For the other hardware, I took inspiration from other kits I saw and made my own.

LEGO Diversity: Millennium Stage has done a great job at presenting artists of different races, ethnicities, identities, and backgrounds. I thought it would be a disservice for my stage not to reflect that as well. 

I didn't own any Black minifigures before building Millennium Stage. Almost all of my sets from childhood included yellow minifigures. Black and tan/white minifigures were only reserved for sets based on licensed properties or real life individuals. Of the licensed property sets, a majority of the minifigures they have created are based off white people. There is a great disparity in the levels of abundance for Black minifigures compared to the other colors.

LEGO has kept yellow as the default minifigure color. From a Gizmodo article, a LEGO representative stated "the yellow-headed minifigure was a conscious choice. Because of their ethnically neutral skin color, Lego [sic] people can be any people-- in any story, at any time." 

1. I think this is a naïve way of looking at race. The world is full of diversity, and that should be celebrated. Our toys should reflect that for our children. 

2. With LEGO adding diversity to licensed sets, it muddies their original message. They've already partially opened the door, you can't shut it back now. It may be time for a new message.

What bothered me the most when I was searching for Black minifigures was most of the ones I found were frowning or looked stern. Most of the yellow minifigures are smiling. This doesn't feel right.

LEGO Millennium Stage audience!

Changing subjects to talk about different kind of representation: LEGO introduced its first wheelchair for minifigures in 2016. As the Millennium Stage is accessible to all, so is my stage. The wheelchair is here too.

Extra readings on LEGO & Diversity:

LEGO: Why some minifigures are different colours

Petition to Make Lego Minifigures More Diverse

Hollywood's Racism Exposed ... By Lego

Able-ism and Diversity in LEGO

Black-Owned Custom LEGO® Subscription Box Aims to Create Global Citizens and Develop Engineering Skills

Tech Booth: This was fun to create, because of all the little details and props I could add. The booth door can swing open and closed. The drawer under the camera platform is also functional!

 

The Multimedia crew has given some of their gear and carts punny names. In keeping with the tradition, the LEGO Multimedia Rack is named "Shrak." Long live Shrak!

The LEGO booth resting on top of the
human-sized booth, both facing the same orientation.

Drawer opens to reveal camera equipment and more!
(They don't actually keep food or gold in the human-sized one)

Video Screen: Originally, the LEGO video screen was a stationary set decoration. Once I built the stage, it occurred to me I would like to watch actual Millennium Stage performances at my Millennium Stage. So I redesigned the video screen to be removable. In its place, I could set my phone down and play past broadcasts of Millennium Stage off of YouTube.

Taking the screen off of the proscenium

Watching Millennium Stage at Millennium Stage,
on the ground in front of Millennium Stage.
Still is from the March 12, 2020 "National Sawdust:
Sonic and Womxyn Amplify" performance (Link).

Lights: This was one of my earliest What If's and the last one to come together. I used Light My Bricks, an Australian company that makes lighting specifically for LEGOs. They provide supplemental kits for official LEGO models, as well as DIY options.

The stage lights are string LED lights that cast a warm white glow. The towers use multicolor strip lights, which slowly cycle through the rainbow. There are also lights made out of LEGOS, but they are only there to add extra detail to the stage.

Adding the strip lighting to the towers

The lights are powered by two battery packs. These are housed backstage, where I have built a platform to hold them in place. This platform does not exist on the human-sized stage, but creative options for vertical storage like this would be beneficial there.

Picture of the backstage

Special thanks to Millennium Stage electricians Chandler Bryant & Josh Ingle for consultation on this aspect! I miss you guys. I miss the whole crew. We'll be together again one day.

A few more pictures of note before I wrap up:

Rare shot of the stage without the stage or proscenium
during the lighting installation.

The Stage Left wing

View from the Stage Right wing.

The Stage Right wing and upstage crossover

Size comparison of the Millennium Stages

The LEGO booth and the human Millennium Stage

Comparing the proscenium tilts. 
I did passable work for remotely eyeballing the lean's angle.

FAQ:

The computer design of the stage used 867 bricks. The computer design of the booth used 404 bricks. I have added more detail since then to each, so I have absolutely no idea what the current totals are. I'd guess I've added over 200 bricks, perhaps even 300.

The stage was designed over one day in Late May. Pieces were ordered shortly thereafter. The LEGO Group can be slow to order custom brick orders from. The wait was agonizing. I received the LEGOs in early July, and built the stage in a couple hours. I then worked on and off on the What If's until Late November. All together, it took six months.

The audience features Mae Jemison, Mary Jane Watson, a blonde Peter Parker, Qui-Gon Jinn, Birthday Cake Guy from the Minifigure Collectibles Series 18, a skeleton (why not), and Nick Fury accompanied by a lady also sporting an eyepatch. A minifigure of me is hiding in the booth watching the show.

So, that's the stage! This will probably be my latest LEGO project for a while. I have two other projects on my plate, both I have put off for too long...

LEGO Millennium Stage and Me!

Thank you for joining us at the LEGO Millennium Stage on the Millennium Stage! For more information on upcoming Millennium Stage performances, please visit Kennedy-Center.org or on Facebook. Thank you, and we hope you enjoy the rest of your evening at... the Kennedy Center.

Terrace Theater Part II: 1971, the Bicentennial, and Onwards

Terrace Theater, 2016

[Full Disclosure: I am a current employee of the Kennedy Center. Any opinions expressed in this piece are my own personal views and do not represent that of the Center, its management, or its staff.]

In Part I, we explored Edward Durell Stone's original plan for the space he called the Studio Theater, now known as the Terrace Theater. In this part, we will look at what went down in 1971, the Bicentennial, and onwards to bring us to the Terrace Theater we have today.

On September 8, 1971, the Kennedy Center finally opened its doors, but the Studio Theater was closed tight. What happened?

In 1965, the Kennedy Center was estimating to go slightly over budget. To cut costs, it was decided the Studio Theater would be cut from the opening day lineup, to be finished at a later time. This would save the Center around $1.03 million dollars ($8.26 million in today's money). Due to unforeseen circumstances, the Center would later find itself going much farther over budget. The Studio would remain out of the plans.

In the iconic takedown review of the Kennedy Center by New York Times architectural critic Ada Louise Huxtable, she noted the theater's omission with a brief compliment: "It is particularly hard to know that the one creative design for a new kind of experimental theater remains an unfinished shell within the building, lacking funds."

Parts of the theater had been constructed before work was halted on the project. The stationary seating section and the back portion of the stage were in place. In the center of the space was a circular, empty hole where the turntable mechanism would one day go. Bare catwalks had been hung. Steel, concrete, and cinder blocks lay exposed. The space sat waiting.

Unfinished Studio Theater/Terrace Theater, late 1970's
Photo by Richard Braaten, Courtesy of the Kennedy Center.

This sealed-off theater became the home of a feral cat named Mosby. Mosby had somehow gotten into the Kennedy Center while it was under construction. He lived in the theater, with various staff members chipping in to feed him. He watched performances in the Eisenhower Theater, stole food from the restaurants, and went on wild adventures. His presence was last felt around January 1977. No one knows what became of him. If you want to learn more about Mosby, you can read his biography, Mosby, the Kennedy Center Cat.

Talks about finishing the Studio Theater began in earnest in 1974. The idea was to get the theater open by the American Bicentennial. The Center was looking for a $2.5 million donation ($13 million in today's money). Harold Burson, the Founding Chairman for the Kennedy Center Corporate Fund Board, was tasked with finding a donor. Burson later recalled:

"At that time, we were just really seeing all of the Japanese brands coming in great perfusion to the United States. And it occurred to me that Japan really would benefit greatly if they made a highly visible gift to the American people for the Bicentennial. My proposal was that the Japanese government contribute this."

On August 6, 1975, the Japanese Government and Kennedy Center jointly announced Japan would be donating the money to finish the Studio Theater. Construction was predicted to take 60 weeks. "We expect to complete the theater in line with the original plans," said Roger L. Stevens, Chairman of the Kennedy Center. On June 30, 1976, at a ceremony in the White House Rose Garden, the Prime Minister of Japan Takeo Miki presented the funds to Stevens and President Gerald Ford. The total amount of the donation had grown to $3 million: $2 million was contributed by the Japanese government, and $1 million came from private Japanese sources.

The Bicentennial came -- and went. The theater did not open. Nor did any work begin.

There was a debate over what the Studio Theater's design should be, what the space would be used for. In the end, "[Kennedy Center officials] have opted for a more conventional space," summarized Gordon Davidson of the Center Theatre Group. It was decided the space would be used as a combination recital hall and theater. The turntable was written out of the plan. To emphasize its movement away from experimental works, the Studio Theater was renamed to the Terrace Theater. Terrace also signified where the theater was located in the building, on the Terrace level. Construction would not start until February 1978, over 2 1/2 years after Japan's donation announcement.

Edward Durell Stone was not chosen as the architect for the project. He had retired in 1974, and would later pass away in August 1978. Regardless, Stone and the Kennedy Center had not ended on the most amicable of terms. Stone and the General Services Administration severely underestimated the cost and amount of steel needed to build the Center, which led to the project going greatly over budget. The Center withheld Stone's fee until it was decided if he could be held liable for this error. So Stone filed a claim on the Center, and then the Center counterclaimed him. The Justice Department (representing the Center) would later work out a settlement with Stone. Even if he hadn't retired, it would have been unlikely the Kennedy Center would have worked with Stone again.

Philip Johnson & John Burgee of Johnson/Burgee Architects were chosen as the new architects for the theater. Johnson & Burgee designed mainly postmodern buildings together, including the Lipstick Building and 550 Madison Avenue (formerly the AT&T Building) in New York, PPG Place in Pittsburgh, and the Tycon Center in Vienna, Virginia. Cyril M. Harris, whose acoustical design of the Kennedy Center's three original houses were lauded, was rehired for the Terrace Theater project.

Tycon Center at 8000 Towers Crescent Drive, Vienna, VA
Also known as "The Shopping Bag"

Much of what had already been built for Stone's Studio Theater was incorporated into Johnson/Burgee's Terrace Theater. Construction was difficult, as the space was surrounded by an active building and was elevated off the ground. "The whole inside of the area had to be taken down in one elevator, and materials brought up in the same elevator," said Stevens. The pit left for the turntable was covered over with stationary seating and a stage. The theater did have an orchestra lift, which could be raised to house-level for extra seating, or stage-level to create a "modified thrust" stage (It was advertised as such, but in all honesty it was a proscenium stage with a slightly large apron).

"Modified Thrust," 2016

The theater also had a portable wooden acoustical shell that could be used for chamber works.

The Terrace Theater officially opened on January 28, 1979 with an invite-only gala. It was dedicated with members of the Grand Kabuki Troupe of Japan performing a congratulatory dance of "Kokera-Otoshi" and Renjishi (Double Lion Dance). Dedicatory remarks were provided by Roger Stevens, Ambassador of Japan Fumihiko Togo, Nobuhiko Ushiba, and First Lady Rosalynn Carter.

The theater was a feast for the eyes and ears. "The seats are mauve and comfortable. The rose walls are lined with plaster half columns, painted matte silver--somewhat Art Deco, but pleasantly unobstrusive, almost neutral," Washington Post architectural critic Wolf Von Eckardt wrote upon the theater's opening. The acoustics were praised by Peter Hume in the Post:

"There is general agreement that the sound is perfectly clear throughout the hall, that it is natural in its projection of whatever music is in process. There seems to be no difference in sound at any point in the hall."

The only acoustical critique was the sound was a little dry due to the carpeting under the seating. The carpeting had been an intentional compromise of the design so the space could present well acoustically for theatrical works.

View of the Terrace Theater from the stage, 2016

The Terrace Theater settled on being the Center's home for chamber music (such as Fortas Chamber Music Concerts & The Conservatory Project), as well as smaller theatrical/dance works that could use a more intimate setting. Decades would pass...

Terrace Theater Lobby, 2016
Purple carpeted floors and walls.

In 2016, the Terrace Theater was scheduled to undergo a renovation. The Kennedy Center had been methodically going theater to theater to make each one compliant with the Americans with Disability Act (ADA). The Terrace Theater was last on the list. It closed June 25, 2016. Due to the amount and size of structural changes required to make the space ADA compliant, the house and lobby were completely gutted and redone. The architectural firm chosen for the new design was Quinn Evans Architects, who had previously renovated the Concert Hall, Opera House, and Eisenhower Theater. The renovation cost $21.8 million (Which would have been $4.8 million in 1975).

In honor of the Terrace Theater's grand
re-opening and its Japanese ties, the Center
 exhibited Fantasy in Japan Blue by
Reiko Sudo in the Hall of States

The new Terrace's grand re-opening happened on October 6, 2017, with a collaboration between Kennedy Center Artistic Directors Jason Moran & Q-Tip. Along with the Terrace's opening, the performance also marked the start of the inaugural season of Hip Hop Culture programming at the Kennedy Center.

Terrace Theater, 2017

The major idea behind the renovation was to keep what made the 1979 Terrace great, and improve upon it for greater accessibility and adaptability. Balconies and two cross-aisles were added to the house. An elevator was added in the lobby to reach the lower level of seats. The proscenium arch was engineered so its legs could move side to side, expanding or shrinking the playable space onstage. Great care was taken to maintain the space's acoustics. Instead of carpeting throughout, curtains were hung behind the theater's paneling, and could be drawn to absorb more sound if a performance required it. "The space seems more warm and vivid, with a clarity -- and good sightlines -- from every corner of the room," wrote Washington Post classical music critic Anne Midgette.

Terrace Theater Lobby, 2017
These chandeliers were designed & built by
the Center's in-house Production team!

And that brings us to the present day. From its days on the drawing board, its role as a penthouse apartment for a cat, and to an intimate theater rejuvenated, the Terrace Theater has seen many iterations. While it never had a turntable as originally envisioned, it is still a versatile performance venue at the Kennedy Center.



POSTSCRIPT: LEGACY

I wanted to highlight some of the design features that had/have remained in the Terrace Theater iterations.

The Studio Theater's catwalks continue to hang above the Terrace Theater ceiling, out of sight. They are almost entirely unwalkable, as HVAC is installed over much of them. During the 2016-17 renovation, two of these catwalks were removed, but the rest still hang up there to this day. (Note: the catwalk you can see hanging in the theater today is not a Studio Theater catwalk. It was added for the 2017 Terrace.)

The 1979 Terrace Theater had these odd side hallways. They were always strange to me because they did not structurally match each other and were such a strong pink color. These hallways descended, then leveled out, before descending again. Pairing this with the Studio Theater's plans, these hallways were also present there. The sections where the hallways leveled out were originally supposed to have doorways into the theater. The doors were written out the 1979 Terrace. The hallways themselves were entirely demolished during the 2016-17 renovation.

Looking up the House Left stairs & ramp, 2016

Looking down the House Right stairwell, 2016
My camera made the walls look peach-colored,
but they were much more pink in person.
I called them the Pepto-Bismo Hallways.

Beyond the proscenium, much of the back-of-house remains either intact or received a light refresh during the 2016-17 renovation. The most public-facing of these is the stage itself. Most of the wood onstage was left in place from the 1979 Terrace, only stained a new color to blend in better with the 2017 Terrace. The orchestra pit and lift mechanism are still the same as before the renovation.

My favorite legacy area is the void where the Studio Theater's turntable was supposed to go. Underneath the stationary seats, the space still exists! Space is always of the essence, so the void has been annexed for other uses. One area is used for the orchestra pit. Another part is a musician locker area underneath the stage, which includes permanent trapdoor points. A third area under the seating is file storage! So while you are jamming away to an amazing show in the Terrace, the files are jamming along with you.

Seating above, filing below!

POSTSCRIPT: THOUGHTS

One space, inhabited by three unique theaters. I like each one for very different reasons.

Edward Durell Stone's Studio Theater was a technological marvel. It's a shame it never existed. I wrote exclusively about this theater in Part I, so I feel I covered what I wanted to say about it there.

Johnson/Burgee's 1979 Terrace Theater was such a time warp to the 70's-80's. Nothing felt like it had ever changed in there. You were transported into a hip arcade or music video. It was so funky. The color scheme was abhorrent and the wall decor was bizarre -- but I also loved it because of all of that. I am glad I was able to experience this theater in all its glory. There will never be another quite like it.

Entry Lobby for Terrace Theater, 2016
I dare you to put purple wall carpet in your McMansion.

It's been interesting to see how the 1979 Terrace's architecture fared throughout the decades. Here's a review from around its opening:

"One of the most beautiful theater-concert halls in the country" - Paul Hume, 1979

And now compare that to a contemporary review:

"A boxy, unexceptional space, made distinctive only by an oddball paint job of nursery pink and glam-rock silver." - Joe Banno, 2017

The space did not age well, even with the acclaimed Johnson/Burgee team working on it. I am interested in seeing how the newest Terrace will fare in the coming decades. Speaking of it...

Quinn Evans Architects' 2017 Terrace Theater is definitely the prettiest of the three by modern tastes. In my opinion, it is the Kennedy Center's most successful remodel to date. Many of the previous space transformations have sacrificed dated yet unique visual identity for something that is contemporary yet banal. The 2017 Terrace is able to balance being soothing to the modern eye, yet having an exciting, unique visual personality.

When I first walked into the new Terrace, I was surprised how open it felt. The 1979 Terrace was a box. The new balconies are much to thank for breaking open the space. The undulating waves on the walls and ceiling seem to express the sound waves emanating from the stage. The waves continue out into the lobby, where nearly every wall has a curve.

Terrace Theater in rehearsal, 2017

The color scheme pays homage to the 1979 Terrace's colors, but introduces deep reds & tans into the mix, providing a broader palate.

The Chihuly chandelier is lovely. I am a very big fan of the Kennedy Center's grand tradition of gorgeous, monumental lighting fixtures. Dale Chihuly is one of the greats along with Lobmeyr & Orrefors. It's great to have him here. Unlike the other chandeliers at the Kennedy Center, you can easily look at this one from below or at eye level.

Chihuly Chandelier in the Terrace Theater, 2017
View from eye level

Chihuly Chandelier, 2017
View from below

What I really wish is there was more Chihuly, especially in the theater itself. I'll just focus on winning the lottery so I can make it happen.




SOURCES
"Proposal For Completion of Studio Theatre on Roof Terrace of Kennedy Center" 2/18/1975
Kennedy Center Statement by Roger L. Stevens, 8/6/1975 Re: Japan Gift
"Edward Durell Stone" by Hicks Stone
Architecture: A Look At the Kennedy Center
Mosby, the Kennedy Center Cat
"Miracle on the Potomac" by Ralph E. Becker
Inflation Calculator
The Daily Diary of President Gerald R. Ford - June 30, 1976
Remarks Upon Accepting Japan's Bicentennial Gift to the United States.
"Theater on the Terrace, With a Japanese Touch" by Don Shirley, 1/12/1979, Washington Post
"History of the Terrace Theater" Video, Oct 2007 - Ben Rosenfeld
Terrace Theater Opening Program, January 28, 1979
"The View From The Terrace: An Elegant Penthouse for Performance Built to Sound as Good as It Looks" by Wolf Von Eckardt, 1/28/1979, Washington Post
"Muted Sounds at The Terrace Theater" by Paul Hume, 2/6/1979, Washington Post
"The Nation's Stage: The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts" by Michael Dolan
June 25, 2016 Terrace Theater House Report
Interview with Vaughan Bowen
Jason Moran and Q-Tip usher in the Kennedy Center’s hip-hop era.
Review: ‘Jason Moran & Q-Tip’ at the Kennedy Center’s Terrace Theater
The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts’ Terrace Theater Reopens Following Modernization
QEA Project at Kennedy Center Featured by the Washington Post
Quinn Evans Architects: Terrace Theater
Surround sound made visible: the new Terrace Theater
Interview with Jeff Hill
Up On The Roof, An Old Venue Gets New Look, Sound

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Projects like this require a lot of bits and pieces from multiple sources to create one complete story. I'd like to thank the following individuals for helping me out over this two-part series:
Annelisa Crabtree
Edwin Fontanez
Emily Sexton
Jessica Zaluzec
Vaughan Bowen & Richard Podulka
Kristin Fosdick & Ben Rosenfeld
Guy Heard & Jeff Hill
Lauren Holland, Iain Higgins, Brittany Laeger, & Maria Rodriguez

Terrace Theater Part I: The Original Design

The Terrace Theater, November 2017

[Full Disclosure: I am a current employee of the Kennedy Center. Any opinions expressed in this piece are my own personal views and do not represent that of the Center, its management, or its staff.]

The Terrace Theater, a venue of supreme acoustics, intimate stagings, and interesting architecture.

Throughout my time scouring through blueprints, I have wondered what the Kennedy Center's Terrace Theater was supposed to have originally looked like. The Terrace Theater we knew prior to its 2016-17 renovation was a later build to the Kennedy Center, not designed by the original building's architect, Edward Durell Stone. What did Stone have in mind for this space? I finally found the answer when I acquired his 1967 book, Recent and Future Architecture. His plan for the space blew my mind away, and I wanted to share it with everyone else.



Edward Durell Stone's theater on the Terrace Level was called both the Film Theater and Studio Theater. [Since almost all of my sources called it the Studio Theater, I will also be referring to it as such]. In this venue, you could watch 35mm or 70mm films, or you could view a live performing art form. But I would argue the true star was the theater itself.

In this theater, the back portion of seats were composed of typical auditorium seating, nothing special. However, the front half of the seating section and the front half of the stage were on a turntable. This way, you could rotate the stage and half the audience to face whatever direction you wanted them to. You could leave the audience in a traditional proscenium setup; or revolve the turntable so you could have a traverse stage; or the audience could be on two adjoining sides, moving the stage into a corner of the house. You could have 360 stage positions to choose from!

Now, the seating rake was pretty steep in this theater. How would audience members at the top of the back seating section get a good view of the stage when the turntable was not in a proscenium setup? Well -- the turntable was all on a lift. It could be raised and lowered as needed. Everyone would be able to see the whole stage.

But wait, there's more! The front of the stage would have the capability of lowering down into an orchestra pit. A lift, within a turntable, all on another lift.

That's not all. Just for kicks and extra flexibility, the proscenium arch of the theater was also movable. It could move up and down-stage.

Edward Durell Stone's Studio Theater was absolutely bonkers in the best of ways. A director had many options to choose from to create the ideal setting for their work. It was a space for the experimental, but it could also play nice with the traditional performing art forms. This was the space for everything that could not work in the larger, more-stationary houses downstairs. With around 500 seats, everyone was close to the action, so it could produce more intimate experiences. As Stone stated in his 1967 book, "Thus, under one roof, provision is made for every facet of the performing arts [at the Kennedy Center]."

From concept art, the decor of the theater was pretty barren. The walls were dark wood paneled with no further adornment. Above a zig-zag ceiling were catwalks able to light the stage wherever it was moved to.



This was the first theater I had heard of that had a transformable design, so I began searching for other examples. I found quite a few experimental theaters of note*, but I wanted to highlight two examples that were the most relevant:

There was Walter Gropius' never-built Total Theater design of 1926. Walter Gropius founded the Bauhaus School, which shaped the twentieth century architectural Modernism trend. With the Total Theater, Gropius wanted audiences not just to be passive spectators, but feel actively part of the show experience. This theater rejected the idea of a proscenium theater setup, and instead tried everything else. The Total Theater would have a large, wide stage opening. Action could happen in one section, while moving curtains could hide set changes in another. A circular front seating section could be lowered down and replaced with a stage area. This section also had turntable capabilities. If you wanted a theater-in-the-round setup, the next section of seats was also on a turntable, and could rotate the smaller turntable closer to the center of the space. The turntables would be capable of rotating independently of each other. Surrounding the seating was a walkway that could double as a performance space during the show. The walls were composed of 12 screens, which could play films surrounding the audience from every angle.

Stone's Studio Theater most likely took inspiration from Gropius' Total Theater idea. Gropius & Stone were both contemporaries of each other. They also knew each other, both having exchanged correspondences. With Stone being well-read in architecture, it would not be a far stretch to imagine he based the Studio Theater off the Total Theater.


I also discovered the Gillian Lynne Theatre in London. Originally named the New London Theatre, this 1973 venue was designed by Paul Tvrtkovic and Sean Kenny. It is a similar design to the Studio Theater, and was based on Gropius' Total Theater. This theatre features a revolving front audience section and stage. The theatre's rake is not as steep as the Studio's, so no lift is required. However, there are screw jacks underneath the movable audience section to make its rake steeper when the stage is set in a traverse setup. This theatre can do everything Stone's Studio was supposed to do, and more! The walls can rotate and shift to change the shape of the theater. The ceiling panels work similarly to Venetian blinds and can be angled to face a certain direction.

Unfortunately, there does not seem to be any videos online of the Gillian Lynne Theatre transforming. Most productions that have used the space have only used it in a proscenium setup. The main exception is probably the theatre's most famous production -- the original run of Cats (1981-2002). Cats incorporated the turntable into their show. Before the show, audience members sat in a traverse stage setup. As the overture played, the seating rotated 180 degrees to reveal the set. Ads for the show noted that "Latecomers not admitted while auditorium is in motion."


*Other Experimental Theaters of Note:
Revolving Theatre Český Krumlov
National Theatre's Olivier Theatre (Video)
Walt Disney World's Carousel of Progress attraction (Full show HERE)
Tokyo Disneyland's defunct Meet The World attraction (There are videos online, but not very good quality. Also in Japanese so I don't know what's going on)
Rotating Theater to make a Separate Mini-Auditorium (More information HERE)



So, Edward Durell Stone's Studio Theater was set to open along with the three Kennedy Center venues below on the main level. But this theater would never see an audience. Check out Part II to learn what happened, and how the Studio Theater became the Terrace Theater...



POSTSCRIPT
Like any building, details change throughout the design process. Most of the plans I found had the lobby layout I used above. Yet on one plan, the Studio Theater had a stair entrance similar to the theater entrances found in the Grand Foyer. This was to be the only original theater not attached to the Grand Foyer -- I have a feeling Stone wanted to make the lobby space mimic the Grand Foyer on a smaller level. It even has floor-to-ceiling windows facing the Potomac River. I don't know why it was scrapped, but the design Stone ultimately went with seems to be more space-conscious.

SOURCES
Edward Durell Stone "Recent & Future Architecture"
The theatre projects of Walter Gropius. Wendell Cole
The Edward Durell Stone Papers
Arthur Lloyd Archive: The Gillian Lynne Theatre
Theatrecrafts.com: Cats
Kennedy Center Conceptual Map - Kennedy Center Archives