TheatreWorks (Silicon Valley)

The TheatreWorks (Silicon Valley) logo

TheatreWorks is a non-profit, professional theater company based in Menlo Park, California and founded in July, 1970. The company is a member of the League of Resident Theatres (LORT) and employs some 300 artists annually, including Equity and non-Equity actors, directors, designers and specialty artists. It is the 3rd largest repertory theater in the San Francisco Bay Area behind American Conservatory Theater and Berkeley Repertory Theatre. The company stages a year-round season of eight productions - comedies, dramas, and musicals - in the Mountain View Center for the Performing Arts and in the California Mission-style Lucie Stern Theatre complex in Palo Alto. The company is currently led by a 24-member board of trustees, a full-time staff of 49, and entertains 100,000 patrons a year including 9,400 season subscribers on a budget of about $7.1 million.[1] TheatreWorkers, the company's volunteer guild, numbers 200 strong.

History

Beginnings - 1970s

TheatreWorks began as the dream of Robert Kelley, a Bay Area native who earned his degree in creative writing from Stanford University in 1968. After teaching at Andover Prep in Massachusetts for a year, Kelley returned to Palo Alto, California in 1970. As a musician and occasional actor, Kelley decided he wanted to make his living doing theater. He got his chance when the city of Palo Alto then asked him to launch a theater program that would engage teenagers and reflect the concerns of the community. The result was a powerful and original new musical called, Popcorn, which premiered in July 1970. Popcorn spoke volumes to the local community and reflected the tumultuous changes of the late 1960s and early 1970s.

Popcorn became the launching point for a Golden Era of Creativity for the company. In the first 3 years, 13 new productions were written and performed. The small company performed anywhere they could find space - basements, parks, and even old warehouses. But Robert Kelley and TheatreWorks had gained a reputation for putting no limits on creativity. During this time TheatreWorks became known for two distinct qualities -- outstanding production values and diversity on stage. Despite a small budget, the influx of talented artists from around the Bay Area allowed TheatreWorks to create extraordinary sets and costumes. The company also regularly featured performers of color on the stage at a time when it was a rare occurrence. By the end of the decade the company had grown to include a six-member Board of Directors, four full-time staff, 700 season subscribers and a budget of nearly $150,000 per season.

1980s

In the 1980s, the company focused on diversity and innovation. Newly hired Associate Artistic Director Anthony J. Haney led the charge to increase awareness of TheatreWorks among top caliber performers of color in the Bay Area and to gain credibility in the African-American, Asian, and Latino communities. in 1981, a world premiere musical, The Fireworks Rag, written by Kelley, was the company's first primarily African-American cast. Furthermore, the company continued to introduce Silicon Valley audiences to plays and musicals never before seen on Bay Area stages. The company shifted its focus from writing new material every few years to finding and illuminating the works of emerging authors from around the country. The Stage II Series was implemented where smaller productions by lesser known authors could be explored and produced. In 1985, Randy Adams was hired as the company's first managing director and within three years, TheatreWorks had signed its first contracts with the actor's union, Actors' Equity Association, and reached the $1 million mark for its annual budget. By the end of the decade TheatreWorks had a 16-member Board of Directors, 11 full-time staff, 5500 subscribers and a budget of $1.7 million.

1990s

In the 1990s, the company took up residence in the newly built Mountain View Center for the Performing Arts for 5 performances each season, while still keeping 3 performances in their original home, the Lucie Stern Theatre in Palo Alto. They built the fully functional black box stage in Cubberley Center in Palo Alto, to accommodate the Stage II series. The company encountered new opportunities to produce world premieres with established artists. In the early 90's, the company presented the world premiere of Josephine, a musical based on the life of Josephine Baker, starring Della Reese. They also mounted a national casting search seeking an all-Native American cast for a new musical called Honor Song for Crazy Horse. TheatreWorks continued to top itself in audience attendance and critical acclaim, until the end of the decade when the company had a 20-member Board, 30 full-time staff members, 8500 subscribers, and a $4.5 million budget.

2000s

In the new millennium, TheatreWorks put in renewed energies toward developing New Works. Most notable was the launching of the New Works Initiative, which strives to support the creation of new work by providing writers with the resources to explore their ideas. In 2005, Randy Adams left the company, which led to the national search to bring in a new managing director, Phil Santora. The company continued to produce world premieres, and in fall 2007 they staged their 50th world premiere, Emma,[2] a musical version of the popular Jane Austen novel. The musical which would go on to be TheatreWorks' top-grossing, most-attended production ever. The Broadway musical Memphis began at TheatreWorks' New Works Festival in 2002 and made its World Premiere as a TheatreWorks Mainstage production in 2004. In 2009, Memphis[3] opened on Broadway and subsequently won four Tony Awards, including Best Musical. During this time period, TheatreWorks has also been developing a relationship with power-pop musical group GrooveLily. TheatreWorks has produced several of the group's musicals, including Striking 12 and the World Premieres of Long Story Short and Wheelhouse (Mainstage 2012).

2010s

As TheatreWorks celebrates its 45th season, it is one of California's largest theatres, with 40 permanent staff members, a 30-member Board of Trustees, more than 8,000 subscribers, and an annual budget of $8 million. A pioneer in diversity programming, a regular home to world and regional premieres, and a widely hailed source of original new works for the American stage, TheatreWorks is the nationally-acclaimed theatre of Silicon Valley.

Complete repertoire

See List of TheatreWorks (Silicon Valley) Productions

New Works Festival

Attracting theater lovers from across the country, TheatreWorks’ New Works Festival is the artistic highlight of the summer. An extraordinary opportunity to experience new plays and musicals in their early stages of development, the Festival has launched many new works onto TheatreWorks’ stage and on to productions nationally. The acclaimed Fly By Night and Emma came to life in the Festival, as did Broadway’s Memphis, off-Broadway’s hit Striking 12, the off-Broadway play Equivocation, winner of the 2009 Steinberg/ATCA New Play Award, and The North Pool, winner of the Will Glickman Award for Best New Play to Premiere in the Bay Area in 2011. For two glorious weeks in August audiences applauded, debated, and helped shape five new shows for America’s future, while sharing fine wines with their authors in the starlit courtyard of the Lucie Stern Theatre.

See List of TheatreWorks (Silicon Valley) New Works

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ Hurwitt, Robert (2008-06-22). "TheatreWorks Getting National Attention". SFGate.com. Retrieved 2008-06-25.
  2. ↑ Lovendusky, Eugene (2007-08-17). "World Premiere 'Emma' Steps into TheatreWorks 8/22". BroadwayWorld.com.
  3. ↑ "TheatreWorks celebrates as Broadway hit ‘Memphis’ receives 8 Tony nominations". StarkInsider.com. 2010-05-05.

References

External links

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