SPENCER THEATER, RUIDOSO, NEW MEXICO, FACT SHEET

• Years in planning: 15.
• Ground breaking: January 19, 1996.
• Architect: Antoine Predock, Albuquerque.
• General contractor: PCL, Canada.
• Steel used in construction: over 1036 tons.
• Tonnage of white-flecked stone quarried in Spain and finished in Italy: 430 tons.
• Square footage: 49,474 sq. ft.
• Site acreage: approximately 74 acres.
• Grand opening: October 3, 1997, with Violinist Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg, Dave Brubeck and the New Mexico Symphony.
• Construction cost: approximately $22 million funded solely by the late Dr. A.N. Spencer and Jackie Spencer Morgan of Alto, N.M. Dr. Spencer passed away in December, 1999. Jackie died in May, 2003.
• The theater is actually two buildings separated by a 6-inch air buffer with the theater in one building and all equipment that might vibrate or make noise in the other.

Front of house

• The Crystal Lobby took seven months to computer model. The 300 glass panes are over an inch thick and no two are cut to the same size.
• Handicap access to all public areas of the theater.
• Horseshoe bar on lower level.
• Upstairs Founder's Room for use by contributors with a private bar and outdoor seating above a terraced waterfall. Catered pre-performance dinners are held here prior to most events.
• Free public tours at 10 a.m. Tuesdays and Thursdays throughout the year (holidays excluded). Call 336-4800 for tour reservations.

The playhouse & venue

• Number of seats: 514 inside on two levels.
• Distance from stage to the seat farthest from the stage: 67 feet.
• Type of design: "Universal" according to Antoine Predock. The playhouse is a rectangular are like the original opera houses of Europe, and not built fanned out. There are gallery seats along each side with free-moving chairs.
• The theater has multiple blown glass installations by Seattle artist Dale Chihuly including Indian Paint Brushes (lower lobby) and The Persians (balcony level). Three new pieces were installed in early 2000. Glowing Sunset Tower in the lobby, and Ruby Sea Garden (with a major chandelier) in the Founders Room and outdoor Loggia. There is also a major piece entitled "Womb." 
• The theater operates year-round, booking and presenting both a Summer Season and a Winter Season (approximately 30-35 events each year) of touring concerts, shows, plays, dance companies, family and children’s shows.
• Ticket pricing: it can be as low as $10 to $98 per ticket.
• Ticket availability: The Spencer Circle contributor base (contributing from $250-up or more annually) has advance series ticket purchasing opportunities two-to-four weeks prior to series tickets being offered to the general public. Since the theater’s opening, there usually (with some exceptions) tickets available to all performances at the start of general public season ticket sales.
• The Spencer is known as a "presentor" venue, in that we use our own funds to contract with shows and performers. The theater is available for rent to other concert promoters and for weddings, parties, etc., etc. 

Backstage

• Dressing rooms to accommodate 52 artists---four star dressing rooms, one 24-person chorus dressing room and two 12-person dressing rooms.
• The "Green Room' (which has a small kitchen) and the star dressing rooms open onto an interior courtyard with two non-bearing Bradford pear trees.
• The two sound proof 22-foot high doors between the stage and the scene shop weigh more than 2 1/2 tons each.
• Size of stage: 4,770 sq. ft.
• State-of-the-art sound and lighting systems and many crucial back-up/reserve control systems.
• The Spencer Theater has 15 fewer flylines than the New York Met, enough fly space to accommodate just about any production touring the world today. Five miles of steel cable were used for the battens. There are 456 stage dimmers.

The Spencer’s ‘second’ stage

• The Spencer also has a 964 sq. ft. outdoor stage facing a lush Kentucky Blue Grass lawn that can seat 1,200 (or more) for outdoor performances

Community and education outreach

• School children from throughout the region attend performances at the theater and artists visit schools.
• Lecture/demonstrations at the theater and schools are open to the public.
• Master classes are offered when possible and appropriate.
• Area school systems use the theater free of charge for productions during Student Performing Arts Month (April/May) and again in the fall (November - December).