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• 1 2022-05-04T13:00:14-07:00 The Venues 39 plain 2022-06-10T09:50:22-07:00

  The Playbox Theatre

  The first structures built on the new campus were identical small, one-story buildings designed by campus architect A. Quincy Jones. Though utilitarian-looking, the structures were connected by walkways, benches, and lawns that helped create a thriving and communal campus environment.  Among these buildings was the campus theatre, known as the Playbox Theatre. Later, when this part of campus became known as Small College, the theatre was likewise often referred to as Small Theatre.
  
  The interior, designed by Theatre Arts professor Hal Marienthal, may not have been inspiring -- at first glance it seemed more lecture hall in appearance than university theatre. The stage was very small, and seemed destined for one-act plays, or if the productions were larger, they would have to have small casts and few scenery changes. There was little room between the stage and the audience, and the seating area consisted of three tiers: the auditorium floor, and then two tiers rising like wide steps. The seating might consist of classroom chairs, or small tables used to create a cabaret atmosphere, as in a 1976 production of The Drunkard.
  
  As the photos in this exhibit show, if there were any shortcomings in the Playbox Theatre's size or set-up, they disappeared as soon as the curtain rose. Inspired direction, staging, costuming, and acting established Dominguez Hills as a destination site for exciting theatrical experiences from the very first production. The space was indeed perfect for intimate plays and intimate scenes. The 1975 production of The Diary of Anne Frank,  for example, might rank among the most realistically claustrophobic presentations of that play.
  
  But the Playbox also proved to be a perfect venue for productions of spectacle and scale. In its first five years alone, the tiny theatre was home to Jacobean, Shakespearean, and Edwardian comedy , Greek tragedy and comedy alike, a Morality play, Brechtian musical, Baroque Spanish tragicomedy, and Kabuki, as well as the freshest American drama and comedy. Even after close to a half century later, the images of all these productions are striking in their dramatic immediacy. Small wonder that when the Theatre Arts program entered the American College Theatre Festival three times in a row during this time, it was twice recognized for excellence in costuming.

  The University Theatre

  As successful as the Playbox Theatre was, it was never intended to be the permanent home of the Theatre Arts Department. Even as the first buildings of the permanent campus were going up, the school's first President, Dr. Leo Cain, began pushing for a structure that would meet the theatrical needs of the campus as it grew. The campus was a perpetual construction site in those years -- with several groundbreaking ceremonies per year. Starting in 1970, President Cain listed a Theatre Arts building as a priority each year. Architect Daniel Dworsky completed a design for the new building in the early 1970s, in consultation with the two Theatre Arts faculty. But the California State University Chancellors Office largely controls what campus buildings are constructed on university campuses, and each year the Chancellor's Office and Board of Trustees made a new Theatre Arts building a low priority.  Finally, in 1975, after a direct personal appeal by President Cain, a new Theatre Arts building was approved.
  
  As soon as construction began, anyone visiting the campus could see that something special was happening on the west side of the campus. For openers, the new theatre was to have 500 seats (to the Playbox's roughly 100). Moreover, it would centralize all theatrical activities in one location. For the Playbox Theatre productions, Theatre Arts had to turn to the Library complex (known as the Educational Resource Center, or ERC) for a rehearsal room, costume laboratory, prop and scene storage, and makeup laboratory and costume storage). The Theatre Arts Building was to have dressing rooms, stage house and scene shop, storage area, and a lecture room.
  Construction continued for two years. Coinciding with the completion of the Theatre Arts Building was that of another campus building, the School of Humanities and Fine Arts. The school began a series of events called "A Celebration of the Human Spirit," bringing art exhibits, concerts, and theatre events to the campus. In addition to plays, the Theatre Arts Building was to become home to the  University Symphony (which would often be joined by the Carson Symphony Orchestra in annual concerts). On May 15, 1977 the festivities kicked into high gear with a champagne celebration of the just-finished Theatre Arts Building. But, while already-scheduled productions continued in the Playbox Theatre, something major was in the works for the new theatre's inaugural offering, something that would tie all campus elements of performing together. The Theatre Department hired an Artist-in-Residence: Jack Eddleman of the New York City Light Opera, who would teach as well as star in a major production. It was to be a musical, so the university orchestra would be involved, as well as vocal instruction by Music faculty. On November 12, 1977, the new theatre building, now officially named University Theatre, opened with its production of My Fair Lady, with Jack Eddleman starring as Henry Higgins.