The City of Palo Alto has invited TheatreWorks Silicon Valley, the nationally-acclaimed Tony Award recipient theatre founded in Palo Alto, to potentially partner on the performing arts portion of the planned development for Cubberley Community Center, planning to upgrade the existing theatre for continued use by a variety of local community groups while creating a second theatre as a future home for the 55-year-old nonprofit company. While the development of Cubberley is contingent on City acquisition of land from the Palo Alto Unified School District, the City and TheatreWorks are exploring a partnership to cost-share renovations to establish a two-theatre, 40,000 square foot performing arts center that would serve as a major cornerstone of the revitalized Cubberley complex and a prominent nexus for arts and culture in Silicon Valley. Initial conversations with TheatreWorks and the City include plans to adaptively reuse the existing Cubberley theatre and the pavilion, less costly and more eco-friendly methods of transforming the existing spaces into a revitalized performing arts center.

Said TheatreWorks Artistic Director Giovanna Sardelli. “At TheatreWorks, we pride ourselves in creating theatre that is nationally known and locally grown. The arts are vital to a vibrant community, bringing its citizens together in conversation, discovery, and collaboration. We are elated by the city’s investment in the future of the arts in Silicon Valley, shaping a facility that will serve its community for many years to come.”

The proposed Cubberley arts project involves refurbishments to the center’s existing theatre space, which will continue to be used by a wide range of performing arts groups after the development. Renovations would include adding restrooms, an expanded lobby, upgrading accessibility, revitalizing its technical capabilities, and other improvements. Now in its earliest planning stages, the proposed project would also create a new professional-sized theatre where TheatreWorks can present its mainstage productions, as well as space for the company’s arts education, community engagement, and new works programs. Concurrently, the City is pursuing development of a recreation and wellness center, providing new gymnasium space on another portion of the Cubberley campus.

Led by Artistic Director Giovanna Sardelli and Executive Director Phil Santora, the celebrated theatre company has captured a national reputation for artistic innovation and integrity, often presenting theatregoers with their first look at acclaimed musicals, comedies, and dramas, directed by award-winning local and nationally lauded directors, and performed by professional actors cast locally and from across the country. In recognition of its contributions, TheatreWorks Silicon Valley received the 2019 Regional Theatre Tony Award, the highest honor bestowed on an American theatre outside Broadway. In their joint statement, the Broadway League and American Theatre Wing presidents noted, “The work they produce celebrates the human spirit, they have helped develop hundreds of vibrant new plays and musicals that are now being performed in theaters across America, and they have pioneered education programs that inspire thousands of students each year.”

TheatreWorks has presented productions at Palo Alto’s Lucie Stern Theatre since the company’s inception in 1970, and at the Mountain View Center for the Performing Arts since that space opened in 1991, attracting tens of thousands of audience members annually to the two locations. TheatreWorks will continue performing at both venues during the development of this project, should it move forward. In addition to performing in both Palo Alto and Mountain View, the company currently rents offices and rehearsal spaces in Redwood City, and its artisans build scenery for its productions across the Bay in Newark. Beyond the stage, TheatreWorks offers community responsive education programs that have reached thousands of Bay Area students each year through in-class workshops, student matinees, the Lucille Packard Children’s Hospital Healing Project, and community outreach. These vital programs make the arts accessible to young people, align with core curriculum subjects, and address social issues impacting students today. Hundreds of thousands of Bay Area children have experienced live theatre for the first time through TheatreWorks’ programs.