Skip to main content
Add as a preferred source on Google

Seats Highlight of Theatre Renovation

  • 03/01/15
Theatre Seats

Wenger seating brings great comfort and an improved viewing experience to patrons and scholars at the Folger Shakespeare Library and Theatre.

“It was very important to us that our new chairs reflected the room’s inherent aesthetics and acknowledged its history,” explains Beth Emelson, assistant artistic producer with the Folger Shakespeare Library and Folger Theatre in Washington, DC.

Opened in 1932, the Folger is a world-renowned research center on Shakespeare that offers plays, concerts and educational activities for school groups, scholars and tourists alike.

After 20 years of heavy use, the previous seats were starting to fail. The upholstery was tearing; loose springs and nuts rattled noisily. New seats were the centerpieces of general renovations that carefully respected and preserved the Folger’s historic status.

The facility’s design is based on Elizabethan inn yard theatres, with a main seating area flanked by two side galleries and a balcony above. Fixed seats were installed on the main floor, with portable chairs used in the galleries and balcony.

All the Wenger seating is earning rave reviews from Folger staff and audiences alike. “Audiences have reacted very positively to the new chairs — people are really enjoying them,” says Tim Guillot, audience services coordinator.

The side galleries have two rows of chairs; during the planning process the Folger staff tried Portable Audience Chairs of different heights in order to create optimal sight lines over the balcony railings.

For the first row, 32-inch chairs were selected; second-row chairs are two inches higher. “People in the second row don’t realize their chairs are taller, enabling them to see more easily,” says Emelson.

Aesthetically, the Portable Audience Chairs mimic the fixed seats’ wood tone in the arms and seat bottoms, along with the upholstery. Emelson believes the two chair models look like they belong together.

Overall, she praises her terrific experience working with Wenger each step of the way. “Everyone on their team was responsive and understanding of our tight timeline,” Emelson concludes. “We trusted Wenger and they delivered!”

www.wengercorp.com

This article originally appeared in the issue of .

Featured

  • Purdue Fort Wayne Opens New Student Housing Complex

    Purdue University Fort Wayne (PFW) in Fort Wayne, Ind., recently held a ribbon-cutting ceremony for a new, 600-bed student housing complex on campus, according to a news release.

  • Q&A: How to Prevent Kitchen Grease Fires in Commercial Kitchens

    School cafeterias and university dining halls serve thousands of meals daily, relying on high-heat equipment like fryers, grills, and ovens. While these operations keep students fed, they also generate significant grease-laden vapors. Without proper controls, this grease becomes a silent fire threat. As a certified exhaust cleaning specialist and business coach who has helped hundreds of institutional facilities achieve NFPA 96 compliance, I emphasize that proactive grease management isn’t optional; it’s a core fire/life safety practice.

  • UT-San Antonio Begins Residence Hall Renovations

    The University of Texas at San Antonio recently began a $6-million renovation project to one of its residence halls, according to a news release. Originally completed in 1986, Chisolm Hall measures in at 120,860 square feet and is the oldest and largest residence hall on campus.

  • University of Kentucky Reopens Scovell Hall

    The University of Kentucky recently reopened Scovell Hall, part of the Martin-Gatton College of Agriculture, Food and Environment (CAFE), following comprehensive renovations to the 120-year-old facility in Lexington, Ky., according to a news release.