The Theatre Workshop hired Wright-Ryan in the late fall of 1997 to provide design-build services for renovating a 40,000 square foot, three story masonry building constructed as a school in 1924. The project had been in process under another design-build team for nearly eighteen months and was almost a year behind schedule with less than a third of the work complete.  Beginning in December of 1997 Wright-Ryan undertook to assemble a design-build team, secure all necessary permits, and complete all work within a six month period to allow NTWH to open an schedule for its summer 1998 session. The scope of work included dormitory facilities for 50 students and faculty, eight studio/classrooms, a main theater with a capacity of 400, a children’s theater with a capacity of 100, a complete commercial kitchen, and interior and exterior accessibility improvements throughout the project including the installation of two elevators and a wheelchair lift.