An area of each of the side walls of the old cinema screen-which was simply painted on the wall of the building-was cut away to create wing space and provide access to very crude dressing rooms and the scene dock, based in old army huts outside.
32.
Mark Edelman, the Theater League's executive director, said Monday in a phone interview that his group had decided to withdraw from the Alex because the limited depth of its stage and wing space _ the areas to the sides of the stage _ made producing large-scale shows there difficult.
33.
And with a perpetual shortage of theaters with an orchestra pit, a stage wide and deep enough to accommodate an energetic choreographer and a sizable cast, fly space and wing space to allow scenery to be stored and moved around, and enough seats to pay for it all, they are looking to off-Broadway in ways they never have before.
34.
Although the advantages of performing in the cavernous 18th-century hall rather than in the nearby opera house were not self-evident, Preston dealt skillfully with the absence of wing spaces by having the cast appear and disappear through trap doors, while he found novel ways of occupying the vast stage, not least in one scene by filling it with large icon-like paintings of Lulu.
35.
Set pieces that have been left on the stage from the close of the show the night before _ like the runway for the Moulin Rouge strip club in Bangkok, where the story moves in Act II _ are moved into the wings and, in most cases, flown, which means they are strung up on chain hoists to keep the limited wing space as clear as possible.
