The BARN OPERA House
During the course of this pandemic, our construction team was reduced to Joshua Collier (Artistic Director), Russ McColman (Technical Director), Nick Tocci (Former Board Member), and a few amazing friends, but that of course didn’t stop us! We are so excited to share this collection of photos of the construction of our new performance space!
If you want to help in the effort to support this beautiful new theatre click the link below.
View of the BARN OPERA House from the Collier's residence
The Horse Stables (Future home of the BARN OPERA Workshop)
The barn's silo (A blank canvas for a mural one day)
View of the gorgeous wetlands from the stage door
There is no shortage of breathtaking vistas in Brandon, VT
A walk to the Barn from the parking lot
The remnants of hay in the barn, it's time to start cleaning
Technical director, Russ McColman begins brainstorming construction
From floor to the top of the gable end, this barn is spectacular
A bit of an obstructed view, we'll take care of that
An amazing light shines through the windows
The BARN OPERA Family lends a hand cleaning
Aaaah, Much better.
Ed and Cindy Thomas (Supporters and friends), with Russ and Josh
With the hay removed, we begin to see how well preserved the original floors are
Russ and Nick begin to patch the floors, and organize supplies
Our first of many loads of supplies arrives!
Nick Tocci and Jack Schneider building the first wall
First wall of the main theatre space
Things are slowly taking shape
Russ begins framing the green room
Always triple checking our level
Russ reveling over his hard work
The tech box floor is built
Nick and Russ begin framing the theatre entrance wall
Supports are added for the floor joists
Russ checks for the sturdiest beams for our balcony floor
The floor joists are hoisted above the lobby
Nick begins adding the subfloor for the balcony
Half way there, time for a water break (then a nice strong beer)
These exquisite barn boards add to the beauty of our budding lobby
View from the balcony
View of the lobby from the main entrance
It's time to get these beams out of the way
Posts are used to begin the hoisting process
Chad stops by to play
Support structures and chains are used to hoist the beams
Time to get going!
Matt begins adding thick angle iron & plates to support the raised beams
A far better view for our audience in the balcony
Matt Blair, very casually, telling us the game plan as he walks across the barn beams
Josh walking away from a job well done
Now that those pesky beams are gone, we can start building the risers
The skeleton of the theatre seats
A quick demo of the seating
Russ the unstoppable
Board by board, the risers are taking shape
Nick slowing climbing up the risers, attaching the floor boards
The walkway into the theatre
The risers are built, and the summer is over. It's time to start insulating for the winter
The entrance side wall is insulated from the outside, to preserve the beautiful architecture on the inside.
A faux wall is built over the existing wall
Giving a warm blanket to the southeast facing wall
After a final sheath of house wrap, Josh affixes the first 16' barn board
Using locally milled, rough cut lumber, we made this barn wall look identical to the one underneath it
Almost there! It's a lot of work, but the reward is brilliant
Norman Welch (our wonderful electrician) and Russ, help Nick finish the final touches of the wall
Time to go back inside! Thankfully, we cleaned up for the big job ahead
Our very own BARN OPERA family lends a hand painting, and preparing for the electrical work
Prime painting the green room
Theatre entrance walls are put into place
Nick and Russ screwing in drywall for the balcony
Tricia Welch (Executive Assistant) and Joan Rowe (Dear friend of BARN) tape off the theatre entrance wall
Josh begins running electrical wires. The opera house is so close to being extension cord free
Orchestra pit is wired
Then insulated...
And just like, they are drywalled and ready to go
We now have our very own tech booth, with all the hook ups we need for our future productions
Russ removes old electrical boxes from the BARN to make room for it's new wiring
With the days getting shorter, Russ makes one more cut before calling it a day.
Josh Collier's sketches of the final product
Top side view of the opera house
Sketch of the future lobby
Entrance wall to the theatre