Officials will meet biweekly with community members who want more say in what features will be included in the new auditorium.
By: Linda Seida
WEST AMWELL Officials from South Hunterdon Regional High school have agreed to hold biweekly meetings with community members who want more say in the features of a soon-to-be-built auditorium.
One of them, an architect with 35 years of experience, said one of the features in the current design is a serious safety issue, and he wants to see it changed.
The auditorium will do double duty as a theater for student productions, drama classes and professional performing arts groups.
The board will consider the group’s suggestions for several items, such as lighting and rigging.
But the group also hoped for an orchestra pit, and that is "a dead issue," said Board of Education Vice President Robert Campbell.
About 50 residents from Lambertville, Stockton and West Amwell filled the meeting room in the West Amwell municipal building Monday night to hear a presentation by architect James Nichols of the Thomas Group.
Some community members said the new auditorium is lacking items crucial to the success of a good performance space and for teaching theater arts. For example, there is not an adequate way to reach stage and house lighting. Even if a special lift were purchased, the board would not allow students to change the special lights because of liability concerns.
But Audrey Frankowski, a theater professional who directs productions at the high school, said knowing how to work with the fixtures is part of learning technical expertise.
"You can’t teach stagecraft if you can’t touch the mechanics," she said.
"It’s a tremendous loss of opportunity to kids if they have to stand around and watch a geezer" perform the technical aspects, said Richard Warwinsky, who also works on the high school’s productions and is married to Ms. Frankowski.
Architect David Conant Ringer, who has a theater degree, told the board the rigging system it has planned is life-threatening. He said he witnessed an instance locally when a heavy piece of rigging crashed into his boss’ head.
"Another inch, he would be dead," he said.
He added, "This is a serious failure here, and it is scary."
He said he told experts about his concerns months ago.
"They were not listened to," he said.
Mr. Campbell said at least a dozen of the group’s suggestions already have been incorporated.
"You were involved in the decisions from day one," he said, speaking to the group, not only to Mr. Ringer.
Mr. Ringer also criticized the lack of storage space for several rows of seating. About 50 seats are designed to be removed to make way for a pianist or other need during performances, yet no accommodations have been made for their storage.
Mr. Ringer, whose three children graduated from South Hunterdon, also urged the board to include an orchestra pit. He said the space could be excavated now, allowing easier construction of the pit later when finances allow. This would be easier than trying to build it from scratch in the future, which would then involve chopping out a 5-inch-thick slab.
He also had words of praise for the design. He said the acoustics will be "fabulous," and the structure will be an "amazing facility."
"I don’t want anybody to go away from here thinking we got cheated," Mr. Ringer said. "I want everybody to go away from here thinking we could do a little better."
The district already has incorporated some suggestions in the design, such as a lobby, snack bar, green room or preparation room, a stage loading dock and bathroom access.
The biweekly meetings will begin before Labor Day, Superintendent Nancy Gartenberg said.
The discussions will focus on the "gotta haves" versus the "want to haves," she said.
Much of it will be based on cost. Mr. Nichols said the district is not permitted by law to spend over the amount approved by voters in a referendum in 2005.
Voters approved $4.6 million for a new auditorium and another $16.2 million for upgrades, renovations and new construction at the 50-year-old school.

