CONSTRUCTION NOTES 



407 



Outdoor theatres. It was in the open air theatre that first the Greek 

 dramatists and later the Shakespearian masters gave expression to their 

 great art. Today we are witnessing the third stage in the development of 

 the outdoor theatre, and everywhere, from the well-known Greek theatre of 

 Berkeley, California, to the natural, leafy, pageant theatre of Peterboro, 

 New Hampshire, are to be found these beautiful open air theatres. 



The examples which follow range from the effective naturalistic theatre 

 to the elaborate structures built by a number of cities. No park system 

 need be without a simple outdoor theatre. 



PLATE No. 213. OUTDOOR THEATRE, WILLOWS PARK, SALEM, MASSACHUSETTS 



The stage is a concrete structure two feet above grade and twenty-seven feet deep by forty feet wide, with 

 columns on back and sides, with flower boxes on the floor between them. The stage lighting is so arranged that 

 no shadows can be cast on the stage by the performers. In addition to the overhead and sidelights, opportunities 

 are provided for portable footlights and lights for music racks. The seating area, radiating from the stage in the 

 shape of a horseshoe, accommodates a thousand people in its comfortable, permanent and roomy settees. The 

 auditorium is lighted by neat ornamental poles with colonial lantern tops. The entire area is enclosed by a heavy 

 mixed planting, and approached from the higher land surrounding it by rustic masonry steps, giving the theatre 

 a most attractive setting. There are pavilions at the side which will seat five hundred people and the large hill 

 in the rear, planted with maple and Scotch pines, will seat approximately two thousand people. 



