Welcome to BigScreenBiz.com

I saw the Blue Man group in Boston. The theatre was completely raw with all pipes, wires, ducts, fans, etc. etc. exposed and painted black so that you did not notice it. Of course they then Matrixized it. I'm wondering if you were trying to do a basic theatre as cheaply as possible would this work? Would you have to add a lot of sound deadening? Could you put up trusses/fire sprinks/elec/sound/ lights and spray it all black? It seems you could save a lot on ceilings and finish if you approached it with a "factory look"?

---

Michael Hurley
Impresario

Personally I like the look of Deconstructionism. But for that finished look, a drop ceiling isn't that expensive. Why do you think they are all pervasive? If the fire codes insist that you have the steel coated with fire retardant, then you would want a ceiling.

As far as sound goes, you might be able to get away with just deadening the walls.

At the Greenwood Plaza they placed fiberglass insulation on top of the drop ceiling with a loose layer of drywall on top of that for further sound deadening.

the Blue Man group theatre was a very finished concept and you never found yourself asking "why didn't they paint this place something cheery!" I like it from the idea of doing it for less. I certainly know that you can't cindeblock or sheet rock it and throw a truss ceiling on it, I'm a little more showmanshipped than that. I wonder on putting together the deconstruct look with a low budget: how can you reconcile them? I h-a-t-e drop ceilings! Though I do l-o-v-e tearing them down! I once tore down an entire buildings drop ceilings at Newark Apt. because they installed the ceiling thinking they did not have to install some piping or something. Wrong: take the whole thang to the dump!

It would be nice to find that the deconstruct looked good and was a cheaper way to get a theatre up.

---

Michael Hurley
Impresario