Tauranga's Baycourt Theatre is only days away from losing its reputation as an uncomfortable theatre for audiences.
The auditorium looked unusually bare today as it awaited the arrival this week of 582 new American-made seats.
Baycourt manager Megan Peacock Coyle said the terraces that held the seats had been sanded and polyurethaned to match the rest of the exposed wood in the theatre.
We tested them on some decent-sized bums.
It will be the third generation of seats installed in the theatre which opened in 1983. This time the council was determined to provide seats offering patrons more leg room.
''The trick was to find chairs that worked in that space,'' Ms Coyle said.
A chair that was smaller in height but not in width was chosen. It did not have the old chair's high back, was more upright and met the bum test.
''We tested them on some decent-sized bums.''
However, the main criteria for the new seat was that it had to offer a solution to the most common complaint of patrons: The old seats lacked leg room.
Ms Peacock Coyle said Baycourt ended up by not scrimping and choosing a high-quality seat that had been proven in Christchurch's Theatre Royal.
The council last year approved a $280,000 contract with US-supplier Hadley's Theatre Seating.
''It will be exciting.''
Baycourt planned to have an open day to allow the public to come along and try out the new seats.
The theatre had no problems disposing of its old chairs, with 115 going to 40 people who requested them and the rest going to the Mosaic Church, with donations for the chairs going to Homes of Hope and the Child Cancer Foundation.