Understanding the role of direction in thrust and in-the-round theater spaces.

Abstract

Successful room acoustic designs for spoken-word drama theater provide both speech clarity and effective localization to all the listening patrons. While clarity relies primarily on the timing, level, and frequency of early reflections between the actor[s] and patrons, effective localization (especially with multiple actors speaking) adds direction and spatial considerations to the pursuit of room acoustic success. In thrust and in-the-round theaters, speech clarity and localization are further challenged by many production-specific variables, including the direction an actor faces when delivering the text. In these spaces, actors frequently deliver lines while facing away from large portions of the audience. Through the lessons of two recent substantial theater renovations, one thrust stage and one in-the-round, this paper will illustrate (some of) the challenges to improving speech clarity and effective localization in dramatic theater spaces with highly non-specific source-receiver conditions, and it will propose an approach for achieving clarity and localization, even amid changing and non-specific actor-listener configurations.