When the motion picture industry was in its infancy on the West Coast shortly after the 1900s commenced, and eventually primarily in the Los Angeles area, not only did the founding studio heads of Paramount, Columbia, MGM, 20th Century Fox, Universal and Warner Brothers who had previously emigrated from "across the pond" come from "back East" (New York) and "up North" (Canada), but also they enticed theatrical stage performers from Broadway and vaudeville to come "out West" to appear in "the flickers" they were producing.
Those "flickers", the early motion pictures, were "silent" because the process of recording sound and synchronizing it on celluloid transparent film strips was not successful in a full-length feature film until 1929 in the "The Jazz Singer" starring Al Jolson. During the "Silent Era" of film production, the often-distinctive speaking and singing voices of stage actors and actresses could not be heard by audiences.
Prior to 1917, these "transplanted" theatrical stage actors literally had no "legitimate" stage venue in the Los Angeles area to practice their craft of performing plays for live audiences. In 1917, however, the Pasadena Playhouse was founded -- just l0-miles east of Downtown Los Angeles -- in the upscale, bucolic tree-lined community of Pasadena, where the Wrigley Mansion and other grand houses graced Orange Grove Boulevard, and Rose Bowl Parade floats had begun passing along Colorado Boulevard on New Year's Day in 1902.
EARLY YEARS:1917-1925
First sharing performance space in a burlesque house, the Pasadena Community Playhouse, as the Pasadena Playhouse was originally named, was founded in 1917 by theater impresario Gilmor Brown. Galvanizing a community largely made up of wealthy Easterners, Brown raised money from over 1,000 citizens in Pasadena to purchase land at 39 S. El Molino and in 1925 the current historically-landmarked theater opened its doors with national fanfare.
The theatre building was designed in a Spanish Colonial Revival style by Pasadena artist and architect Elmer Grey, and had a fire curtain painted by Pasadena artist Alson S. Clark. Its non-professional, community beginnings and the tremendous amount of local support for the project led George Bernard Shaw to dub the City of Pasadena as "the Athens of the West".
The Playhouse drew national attention, bringing Southern California world premieres by authors such as Eugene O'Neill, William Saroyan, Noel Coward, F. Scott Fitzgerald, and Tennessee Williams, as well as many English language premieres of significant Continental dramas.
Under Brown, The Pasadena Playhouse became internationally known and at one time, with a campus that took up almost a full square block, five stages, a scene shop and a theatre arts college, was one of the largest theatre complexes in the world.
THE THEATRE ARTS COLLEGE: Established in 1927
At no time in its history was there more
energy around The Playhouse than during the 40-plus years when the education
of actors, directors, designers, technicians and playwrights took place at The
Playhouse School of Theatre Arts (later College of Theatre Arts). Begun in
1927, the College expanded quickly as young performers enrolled from across the
country and hoped to break into the budding motion picture industry.
Eventually, considered second only in the country to Julliard, the College grew to 300 students, employed over 35 faculty, created a unique nexus
of education and professional productions, and provided a pipeline of talent to
the growing entertainment industry.
With degree programs in acting, directing, stage technology, playwriting, and theater administration, its three-year accredited training program offered BFA and MFA degrees and was housed in a literal “ivory tower” built in 1937 on the northwest side of the campus. The Playhouse College became one of the first schools in the nation to offer training and classes in “stage, screen, radio, and television”.
THE STAR FACTORY: 1920's - 1960
During its “golden era” between 1920-1945, the Playhouse was dubbed the “Star Factory” due to the number of celebrities who were discovered on its stages. Each of the major film studios, which were themselves young upstart companies at the time, had scouts assigned to cover all the Playhouse productions. When the industry was transitioning from silent films to “talkies”, the studios had contracts with the Playhouse for their silent film stars to be taught voice and diction. While Brown’s clairvoyance for talent led to the discovery of many notable actors, it also led to the development of playwrights, directors, and eventual entertainment industry giants who went on to establish the Los Angeles empire of film and television we know today. Some of the Playhouse's former students, guest performers or resident company players include Raymond Burr, Ernest Borgnine, Charles Bronson, Eleanor Parker, Gene Hackman, Dustin Hoffman, Angela Bassett, Tyrone Power, Dana Andrews, Robert Preston, Gig Young, Carolyn Jones, Martha Hyer, Nick Nolte, Al Pacino, Leonard Nimoy, Finola Hughes and Sally Struthers, among others. A few of these later-to-be-well-known performers, such as Dana Andrews, Eleanor Parker and Martha Hyer, were actually "discovered" by talent agents attending a stage production in which they were performing while they were students at the Playhouse!
Outside of showcasing talent, the Playhouse trailblazed techniques in radio, broadcasting live nationwide from the mainstage, and experimented with early television, establishing the first West Coast TV station in 1931, re-named KTLA in 1947 and still on-air. Under Brown’s leadership, The Playhouse grew from a small troupe of players to a center for artistic innovation and activity, becoming a veritable talent funnel for the radio, television and film industry explosion that occurred in Los Angeles during the 30’s, 40’s and 50’s.
GOING DARK: 1960-1986
In 1960 Gilmor Brown died and the Playhouse
experienced classic founder’s succession issues, suffering from a lack of
leadership and direction in the years after his death. As other competing
theaters in Los Angeles grew in popularity, particularly those at today’s
Center Theatre Group in downtown Los Angeles, many traditional patrons to the
Playhouse were looking for a new and more cosmopolitan experience. They
began to cancel their subscriptions at the Playhouse for other options.
Likewise, when the local drama departments
of USC and UCLA formed, the Playhouse college began to lose enrollment as
students opted for the broader university experience. The College
eventually closed in 1969, the same year the theater itself was shuttered and
claimed bankruptcy.
Because of prescient and ardent
preservationists, almost all of the theater’s archives, which included Gilmor
Brown’s papers, production designs and histories, clippings, art, photographs,
film and various other theater memorabilia, were saved from auction and guarded
in various private and public locations around Pasadena. Over the ensuing
years, most of it was gathered and donated to the Huntington Library where the
collection is held and believed to be one of largest American regional theater
collections in the nation.
During the 16 years during which the Pasadena Playhouse was dark, important work was being done to ensure its future. The Friends of the Pasadena Playhouse, a volunteer support group that has grown to 400, formed and was instrumental and securing the building’s California State Landmark status, saving it forever from the wrecking ball. On November 11, 1975, the Pasadena Playhouse was listed on the National Register of Historic Places as an "excellent example of Spanish Colonial style" and "example of the work of noted Los Angeles architect Elmer Grey". After a succession of real estate transactions, the Playhouse was finally reopened in 1986 as a non-for-profit LORT B theater.
RESURRGENCE: 1990s-2016
Entrepreneur and developer, David Houk, helped to successfully reopen and renovate the Playhouse, as well as create the Playhouse District itself, an area of retail and shopping that is now bustling around its namesake establishment. By the early 90’s and the Playhouse’s 75th anniversary in 1992, the theater enjoyed a thriving subscriber base of over 24,000 patrons from 327 zip codes and produced eight shows per year. In 1997, Sheldon Epps was named artistic director and became the first artistic director of color at a major Southern California theater. In a tenure that would last 20 years, the period under Epps direction would result in the theater becoming well known for its emphasis on diverse content and casting, new musicals, and growth in the areas of education and new play development.
For the past two decades, the Pasadena
Playhouse has staged several hit shows that went on to Broadway acclaim,
including Baby, It’s You, Sister Act, and Purlie, and is known for producing
multi-ethnic programming with a strong emphasis on diversity. Through programs
that helped to bring students to the theater as well as groups who might not
have the opportunity to attend a live theatrical event, community outreach and
arts education are pillars of the Playhouse’s mission. The theater has also
found great success through co-productions. From local theater companies like
South Coast Repertory and Deaf West Theater, to New Jersey’s Crossroads Theatre
Company, collaborations have brought bigger or more interesting productions to
Pasadena.
In
2016, Sheldon Epps announced his tenure would end at the Playhouse and a new
artistic director, Danny Feldman, hailing from New York’s Labyrinth Theatre
Company, was named on the eve of the theater’s Centennial.
INTO ITS NEXT CENTURY: 2017-present
2017 marked 100 years of The Pasadena Playhouse, which currently has a seating capacity of 686 for the main stage. The year 2017 also marked the 90th anniversary of the founding of The Playhouse College of Theatre Arts, and the 80th anniversary of the Playhouse’s designation as The Official State Theatre of California. These three significant anniversaries point to the importance of The Pasadena Playhouse in the chronicles of American theatre, with very few, if any, professional theatres in this country able to claim similar distinctions of history, impact and longevity.
The Pasadena Playhouse is included on our Los Angeles Architecture: An Eclectic Landscape© custom-created heritage and cultural Tour which is generally scheduled during the month of May when offered, in order to coincide with the Pasadena Showcase House of Design fundraiser benefiting the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra's educational and performance programs for disadvantaged youth. For more information, visit our Website at http://snobbytours.com/EclecticLAarchitecture.html
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(Primary Sources: pasadenaplayhouse.org; Historic Pasadena: An Illustrated History by Ann Scheid (1999); The Los Angeles Times; NetState: California)
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