Pasadena Playhouse

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Pasadena Playhouse
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
Pasadena Playhouse (USA)
Pasadena Playhouse
Location: 39 S. El Molino Ave
Pasadena, California
Coordinates: 34°9′22″N 118°7′55″W / 34.15611, -118.13194Coordinates: 34°9′22″N 118°7′55″W / 34.15611, -118.13194
Built/Founded: 1924
Architect: Elmer Grey
A. Dwight Gibbs
Cyril Bennett
Architectural style(s): Mission/Spanish Revival
Added to NRHP: November 11, 1975
NRHP Reference#: 75000435
Governing body: Pasadena Playhouse State Theatre of California, Inc.

The Pasadena Playhouse is a historic theatre located in Pasadena, California.

Contents

[edit] History

The Playhouse's history began in 1917 when actor/director Gilmor Brown began producing a season of plays at an old burlesque house he called the Savoy. The community theatre organization quickly grew to prominence and in 1925, the citizens of Pasadena raised funds to build an extraordinary theatre in the heart of the city. It was known originally and for the first few decades of its existence as the Pasadena Community Playhouse. Its community theatre (ie: non-professional) beginnings and the tremendous amount of local support led George Bernard Shaw to dub Pasadena “the Athens of the West.”

Designed by Elmer Grey (whose notable credits include most of the California Institute of Technology campus and Polytechnic School) and built by the Winter Construction Co. (also noted for Sid Grauman’s Egyptian Theatre and Grauman's Chinese Theatre in Hollywood), the theatre drew the attention of the nation; bringing Southern California world premieres by authors such as Eugene O’Neill, William Saroyan, Noel Coward, F. Scott Fitzgerald and Tennessee Williams. The Playhouse was declared the State Theatre of California in 1937 after the remarkable achievement of having performed the entire Shakespeare canon for the first time in this country.

A school of theatre arts was established in the late 1920s that became an accredited college by 1937 (known informally in Hollywood as the “Star Factory”), eventually training such notable talents as Gene Hackman, Dustin Hoffman, Raymond Burr, Sally Struthers, Victor Mature, Jamie Farr, Charles Bronson, and others. During the school years, the Playhouse was constantly abuzz with activity having as many as five independent stages in operation at any given time, making the Pasadena Playhouse the single most prolific theatrical producing organization in the world.

The varied staging capabilities offered by its five venues led the Playhouse to become of the first companies in history to experiment with new theatrical forms such as theatre-in-the-round. This experimentation took on a new dimension when the Playhouse built and operated one of the first television stations in Southern California. In addition to training the Air Force to use television and radio equipment, the Pasadena Playhouse supplied the majority of Southern California’s early TV stations with the first trained technicians in the business.

Upon the death of founding director Gilmor Brown, changes in Actors Equity Association laws, and the opening of drama departments in many schools and universities across the country the theatre went bankrupt in 1969 and was reopened again in 1985, since then it has grown into prominence again as one of the most respected theatrical organizations in the nation.

[edit] The Pasadena Playhouse Today

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Today, Pasadena Playhouse is under the guidance of Sheldon Epps, whose mission of cultural and theatrical diversity has brought new life to the theatre, as is reflected in the performance seasons and extensive outreach programming. The Playhouse is currently a nonprofit, LORT-B designated regional theatre, and produces six plays annually on its mainstage. The theatre serves its community through partnerships with local schools and social service organizations, providing workshops and performances as a part of their regular curriculum. Development of new theatrical work is encouraged through the Hothouse at the Playhouse reading series, which presents a regular season of works in progress by local writers.

It is also important to the Pasadena Playhouse to maintain strong ties with the local artistic community, and each Mainstage season features at least one co-production or theatrical collaboration as well as permanently playing host to resident artists, such as the Furious Theatre Company, who perform a regular season of plays in the new Carrie Hamilton Theatre at the Pasadena Playhouse.

[edit] Mission

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As one of the great institutions of the American theatre since 1917, the Pasadena Playhouse remains committed to the development and presentation of a culturally diverse variety of theatrical productions at the highest level of artistry. By cultivating and utilizing the unique resources inherent in our greater community, the Pasadena Playhouse will preserve and amplify the powerful voice of theatre, assuring its vitality for generations to come.

[edit] Educational Programming

In order to engage audiences that are representative of the diversity of this community, Pasadena Playhouse develops and presents ongoing outreach and educational efforts to schools, students of all ages, teachers, artists, community organizations, persons with disabilities, and low-income residents. The goals of these programs are to:

  • Ensure that live theatre is available to new audiences and reduce barriers to participation;
  • Deepen the experience of attending the Playhouse, for all ages;
  • Make theatre arts an integral part of education in the Pasadena Unified School District and other schools in the area

Over the past four years, Pasadena Playhouse has deepened its commitment to engaging underserved audiences through a significant expansion of free and low-cost programs that are easily accessible, address educational needs, and are family-friendly.

  • New Generations - This program reaches economically, emotionally, and developmentally challenged teens as well as those recovering from substance abuse, through partnerships with social service organizations. These participants are largely first time theatre attendees and are all students/young adults with real and/or perceived barriers to participation in the arts. The program gives these young men and women an immersive theatre experience that includes workshops, writing assignments and a chance to build a relationship with a mentor from the theatre. It promotes the idea that participants do have access to the arts and that they are valuable members of society with the right to not only experience art in all of its forms, but the right to experience it the same way as adults and those from other strata of society. A generous grant from the James Irvine Foundation in 2006 enabled this program to effectively triple its constituency to 2,500, while deepening the immersive experience the program provides through enabling regular interaction with professional artists every Thursday evening.
  • Children's Theatre Season - This program provides an introduction to the theatre arts by presenting interactive and education-based productions of the highest quality for a target audience of 3 to 10 years in the Carrie Hamilton Theatre. Children’s Theatre plays a major role in the Playhouse’s commitment to providing the highest level of artistic excellence for audiences of every age and in every way possible.
  • Allies in Art - This program is a classroom based initiative that provides, in addition to Playhouse field-trips, teaching artists to travel to local classrooms and provide follow-up lessons on theatre visits or lead performing arts workshops. These workshops help local schools with small arts budgets meet state mandated educational content standards.
  • Student Matinees - This program brings students from around Los Angeles County to the Playhouse for mainstage productions as well as talkbacks with the artists and provides supplemental educational materials for pre and post performance classroom instruction. In 2008 this program will expand to include more student performances and reach an even larger base of schools and students across the region.
  • Internships – Pasadena Playhouse regularly offers up to twelve internships annually for high-school and college-level students interested in pursuing careers in the theatre or nonprofit management. Participants gain valuable real-world experience at one of the nation’s most prominent theatrical venues, working alongside master artists and professional management staff.

[edit] Artistic Director

Sheldon Epps conceived and directed the Duke Ellington musical Play On!, which received three Tony Award nominations and was produced at the Goodman Theatre in Chicago, where it received four Jefferson Awards including Best Musical. The Pasadena Playhouse production was taped by PBS for broadcast as part of the Great Performances series. He also conceived and directed the highly acclaimed musical revue, Blues in the Night. The Broadway production was nominated for two Laurence Olivier Awards, and ran for over a year on the West End before being broadcast in Europe by Thames Television. Mr. Epps was a co-founder of the off-Broadway theater, The Production Company, where he staged the world premier of Scenes and Revelations, which he also directed on Broadway at the Circle in the Square Theatre. Mr. Epps had directed plays and musicals for many of the country's major theatres including the Guthrie, the Old Globe Theatre, Manhattan Theatre Club, Seattle Repertory Theatre, Playwrights Horizons, Crossroads Theatre, Cleveland Play House, Arizona Theatre Company and Coconut Grove Playhouse. He directed the world premier of Blue at the Arena Stage Theatre, which was also produced off-Broadway by the Roundabout Theatre. Following a record-breaking production at Pasadena Playhouse, Blue was produced across the country on a six month national tour.

For television he has directed episodes of Frasier, Friends, Everybody Loves Raymond, Out of Practice, Joey, Less than Perfect, In Laws, Veronica's Closet, What I Like About You, Evening Shade, Sister, Sister and many others, as well as several pilots. For five seasons he was also producer/director for the hit series Girlfriends. He is currently a member of the Executive Board of the Society of Stage Directors and Choreographers. Mr. Epps is a two-time recipient of the Theatre Communications Group/Pew Charitable Trust Naitonal Theatre Artists Residency Grant, which supported his four-year tenure at the Old Globe Theatre as Associate Artistic Director. Mr. Epps was pleased to join Pasadena Playhouse as Artistic Director in 1997. His directing credits at the Playhouse include As Bees in Honey Drown, Blue, Play On!, Les Liaisons Dangereuses, The Importance of Being Earnest, The Old Settler, The Real Thing, On Borrowed Time, Mr. Rickey Calls a Meeting, Blues in the Night, Purlie (a co-production with the Goodman Theatre), Fences, and RAY CHARLES LIVE! - A New Musical. Under his leadership, Pasadena Playhouse has once again become one of the premiere theatres in the country and has established a reputation for outstanding productions distinguishing themselves in their artistic excellence and theatrical diversity.

[edit] Notable Alumni

[edit] External links

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