The Thrust Stage Theater  

The Definition of the Thrust Stage

     A thrust stage is commonly used in presenting plays and is defined by the fact that the audience is seated around the stage area but still allowing for a backstage area.

The Webb Theater of St. Norbit College

http://www.snc.edu/performingarts/images/webb.jpg

The purpose of the design of the thrust stage was is to make the drama being perfomed more three dimensional. Actors come out almost into the audience and the action takes place between them. Sight lines are normally better with a thrust stage as the theater need not have as many rows stacked behind one another to have the same number of people in the theater.

The design also gives theaters the advantage of being just a few feet away from their audience (again improving sight lines) and also giving the action a more realistic feel. This advantage still allows the same number of seats to be sold as well as still providing a backstage area and a vomitory for entrances and exits, allowing more places for a character to join the action on the stage.

Some of the first theaters were designed in this fashion such as the theater of Epidaurus in Greece which can be traced back to the 4th century BC.

The Theater of Epidaurus is recognized as an acoustic marvel as the individual in the center of the stage of this picture can be heard by audience members in the very top rows.

Thrust stage theatres

North America

• The "Festival Theatre" at the Atlantic Theatre Festival in Wolfville, Nova Scotia
• The Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis
• The John W. Huntington Theatre at Hartford Stage in Hartford, CT
• The Ethel M. Barber Theater at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois
• The Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles, California
• The Studio-théâtre at Place des Arts, Montreal, Quebec
• The Gamm Theatre in Pawtucket, Rhode Island
• The Festival Theatre at the Stratford Festival of Canada in Stratford, Ontario
• The Gateway Theatre in Chicago
• The Circle in the Square theatre on Broadway in New York City
• The Vivian Beaumont Theater at Lincoln Center, New York.
• The La Nouba stage in Downtown Disney in Florida.
• The Mystère theater in the Treasure Island hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada.
• All Cirque du Soleil stages except for CORTEO, LOVE, and DELIRIUM.

Europe

• The Questors Theatre, Ealing
• The Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, England
• The Gulbenkian Theatre in Canterbury, England
• The Globe Theatre in London, England. All other Elizabethan Theaters were also in the same style.
• Numerous Greek theater, such as the one in Epidaurus
• The Chichester Festival Theatre. Notable for the fact that the stage is hexagonal, and is surrounded by the audience on four sides.
• The Swan Theatre (Stratford).

Information provided by: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thrust_stage