The challenge of designing an audio/video system for the Family Theater was to fit it into the context of the Kennedy Center as a whole. "There's an established standard for operations at the Kennedy Center," says Cooper. "All the spaces try to share equipment and spare parts. Dealing with legacy systems is part of the challenge. For example, many of their fan-outs are on a multi-connector that we no longer specify, but because this is the standard for the rest of the building, we use them. The Kennedy Center has a large and very knowledgeable staff, so we give careful consideration to their input based on how they operate. As a consequence, the amount of collaboration between us and the Kennedy Center was much larger here than it is on other projects."

Kennedy Center's Head of Productions Operation Shop, Glenn Turner, adds that because the Center's technical staff had so much input—a spread sheet of specific needs, really—into the infrastructure design, and the Family Theater into which it fits, that "the systems do everything that the technicians need them to do." The close collaboration with JaffeHolden helped bridge the theater world and the world of contracting and construction. "In the world of the theater," Turner adds, "we're all focused on a common goal—we have a curtain at 8 o'clock. Everybody pulls together to get the show up and running. But in contracting and construction, there's always the potential for change-orders, and if it's not in the documentation originally, you can't get creative after the fact. The relationship with JaffeHolden has worked out very well for us."

Family Theater FOH equipment is based around a Yamaha PM5D digital console and JBL loudspeakers, powered by Crown I-Tec amplifiers. "They like the functionality and the recall," says Cooper of the operations staff, "the ability to store shows and bring them back if they need to." The PM5D's small footprint (with 48 XLR inputs) was critical for the Family Theater application. JBL loudspeakers are a standard throughout the Kennedy Center performance spaces. The Center has long enjoyed the support of Dr. Sidney Harman, Executive Chairman, Harman International Industries, Inc., a trustee of the National Symphony Orchestra (as well as the Los Angeles Philharmonic Association).

The 14,000 square foot Family Theater essentially was carved out of the large, upstage scene boxes of the Eisenhower Theater. "Essentially we were putting a full, legitimate theater inside a 40-foot wide by 100-foot long shell," says Turner. "These were absolute constraints. We couldn't make the room five feet wider to accommodate ducts and conduits. The white marble outer wall of the Kennedy Center weren't going anywhere." Squeezing equipment into the space was a challenge. "We were forced us to come up with some unique solutions for storing equipment," says Cooper. The amp room ended up encasing an elevator lobby. "Formerly, the elevator doors opened into the theater. Now they open directly into the amp room which accesses the control booth.... We solved an ADA [Americans with Disabilities Act] issue at the same time we solved an equipment storage issue."

With 3000 performances and special events in ten performance spaces each year emanating from the Kennedy Center, audio and video equipment get a workout. "We try to keep everything as modular as we can," says Turner. "If we have a piece go down, we have central place we can go to for spares. For that reason, we stay within certain families of gear. We're particularly fond of Harman products."

"The Family Theater is such a small space that we didn't have room for a lot of outboard gear, so we tried to minimize everything. This was our main reason for choosing the Yamaha digital console and the Crown I-Tec amplifiers. The I-Tec's are smart amps. You can build EQ's into them, and that technology helped us save space. Of course, this presents another issue: modernizing our other theaters just to catch up, and staying modular when we do so we can have plug-and-play replacements."

Directly above the Eisenhower, and now the Family Theater, are the Terrace Theater, the Jazz Club, and the Atrium. The four performance spaces in the North section of the building are tied in to a transfer rack. From here, audio can be routed to the basement level loading dock for smaller trucks. (The upgrade of the Eisenhower includes the installation of a tie-in panel at street level for access by large broadcast trucks so that audio feeds are available at both loading docks.)

Creating a successful acoustic space for young theater goers has all the inherent challenges of creating one for mature audiences, and more. It's not kiddie stuff.

"Young listeners have trouble focusing, as anyone who has children knows," says acoustic designer and company principal, Mark Holden, of JaffeHolden, Inc., Norwalk, CT. "They need all the help they can get... They have to be able to hear clearly in order to understand what's happening on stage. The acoustic space has to create contact and intimacy with the performers in order to capture children's attention."

Continued...