The new theater in Pilsen is finished; only the moving and the parking garage remain

Plzeň - The new theater in Plzeň, which was built in the city center as a replacement for the inadequate Chamber Theater, is completed. Almost half of the props, costumes, and some furniture have already been moved. The construction, costing 870 million crowns, will open to the public on September 2. Jaroslav Möller, the construction coordinator, told ČTK.
    "The work is proceeding according to schedule, and there are no issues; the test operation of the theater building was approved on June 13, in line with the contract date. Work is underway on a parking garage for 200 cars, and on July 10, Hochtief is expected to apply for early use," said deputy mayor Pavel Šindelář. The city has already paid 700 million CZK.
    Plzeň is the first city in the country to build a new theater since 1989. The dominant feature of the modern building is the front sloped facade made of raw concrete, which has 39 oval openings, three of which serve as entrances to the building.
    "We have already taken over all the spaces. The test operation with technical staff has already begun," Möller said.
    The left black four-storey operational building, which houses dressing rooms, offices, make-up rooms, and the like, insulates the right main part of the theater, that is, the large hall with 461 black seats and the studio stage, or black box, which does not have fixed seats but can accommodate 150 spectators. The theater itself has a facade made of red "spotted" concrete, 12 centimeters wide, and underneath it is sound and thermal insulation made of polystyrene, 15 centimeters wide. "However, if the operating building from the side of Jízdecká Street (a busy intersection) was not there, the theater would not be well insulated," Möller said. The two buildings are connected by six tunnels in the audience area and backstage.
    There will be no barrier between the stage and the audience, the first row is one meter from the actors. The stage consists of a revolving platform with a diameter of 11 meters and eight computer-controlled tables measuring 12 meters, operated by silent hydraulics.
    The current Chamber Theater has 440 seats, but since it was originally a cinema, tickets were not sold for the last two rows. The current club, which will replace the studio stage, has only 60 seats. The large theater J. K. Tyl accommodates 465 spectators.
    "We lived in makeshift conditions for a total of 46 years, which the Chamber Theater was. All the time, there was talk of building a new theater," Möller said.
    In the new theater, built "mainly for the audience," there will be far greater effects. The acoustics are ideal even for musicals, designed for microphones, which were not available in Plzeň, Möller stated.
    Actors have not yet seen the new building. They are expected to appear there at the beginning of July when they will start settling into the new spaces and rehearsing in them. Technicians and actors will come in during the holidays, during which they must move 11 productions to the new venue and rehearse four new ones there.
    According to operations chief Jan Baxa, the most modern theater building in the Czech Republic represents a huge leap forward. In the Chamber Theater, for example, there were no storage rooms, and decorations had to be transported daily. The new system includes 28 containers, housing decorations, furniture, and stage properties. From the large basement underneath the stage, items will be transported out using two elevators.
    It is still unclear how high the operational costs of the building will be. This year, the J. K. Tyl Theater will receive 152 million crowns from the city, and after moving to the new building, it is promised an increase of 6.8 million CZK. The city has allocated 1.5 million CZK for the move. The goal of the New Theater will be to increase the number of visitors, which was 175,000 last year.