re: About the Arena

The Main Hall or "Arena" consists of a triple-tiered platform surrounding the viewer in a central area. The viewer, (who has entered though a passageway from the Administration Hall) is surrounded on three sides by the event. The Viewer is able to choose between experiencing the "collective" space of simultaneous readings or moving in closer to observe the "individual" reawakening of specific texts, creating their own "stories" and "interpretations".

Each of the three levels of the platform (the Lower or Inner level for the Readers, the middle level for the Archivists, and the upper or outermost level for the Scribes) contains twelve stations. A combination of one reader station, one archivist station and one scribe station make up one "Reading Block". Hence the viewer is surrounded by a beehive of activity taking place in 12 three-tiered reading blocks.
Access to all levels is through the centrally located
Reader Recall Station (Arena Administration). It is here that the Arena Administrator and his or her staff of Runners coordinate all Arena personnel with the several hundred readers; making sure that each individual is in the correct place at the right time and that the Master Protocol is followed meticulously.
Members of the public can apply to read at the
Voluntary Readers Station and are called up by the Public Announcement System as needed. Each reading station consists of a table, a chair and a lamp which goes on and off when the reader should start and stop reading.

The only interruptions to the Master Protocol which are allowed are the
Musical Incisions. The Musical Incisions consist of four to five minute performances by Dreyblatt's ensemble, The Orchestra of Excited Strings, who are located behind the Data Wall.

 

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