Multiplex: Ruth Caplin Theatre curtains go up

Okay, UVA's state-of-the-art Ruth Caplin Theatre doesn't actually have a curtain for its thrust-style stage, but it does have windows– unusual for a theater– and the windows have screens that go up.

Here's something else about which the new theater can boast: vomitoria. Yes, that classic design element that allows large crowds– or actors– to exit and enter a stadium during or after performances through passageways between and under the seats. (And no, they were not actually used for vomiting during Roman orgy days, although it's a common misconception.)

UVA drama chair Tom Bloom gave a tour of the facility, which was still getting finishing touches the day before its April 18 debut with Moss Hart's You Can't Take It with You. The latest addition to the Betsy and John Casteen Arts Grounds has been an eight-year, over $14-million project, says Bloom, and it joins the existing Culbreth and Helms theaters with a lobby that's Jeffersonian in its serpentine lines.

The theater is named for Ruth Caplin, who along with her husband, UVA alum Mortimer Caplin, donated $4 million to the project.