Materials in Folders 1-4 were originally found in two document cases labeled "Playhouse Closure and Reopening." Also contains brochures, correspondence, clippings, and photographs concerning the 1979 Builders Bash, a gala event to raise funds and awareness for the Playhouse's anticipated planned reopening.
Chiefly contains programs from plays featuring the State Theatre Players. Also includes materials reflecting the Playhouse's association with the Los Angeles County Department of Parks and Recreation and the Pasadena Playhouse at Catalina, as well as fliers and a coursebook from educational outreach efforts.
Contains Book of the Pasadena Playhouse, edited by Harriet Green, 1934; a 21-page typescript, Pasadena Community Playhouse Beginnings, 1916-1918, as Recalled Twenty Years Later, by Marjorie Sinclair, plus clippings and a typescript of the Playhouse's first program, circa 1938; a scrapbook Sinclair compiled, The Stage, Volume I, comprising printed photographs of various actors and actresses from the late 19th and early 20th centuries (undated; materials not necessarily connected to the Pasadena Community Playhouse); and an undated typescript by Margit Veszi, Theatre. Also includes two copies of the booklet, Theatre Professionals Trained at the Pasadena Playhouse, undated; typescript of a tour of the Playhouse buildings, undated; and Historical Sketch of the Organization of the Pasadena Community Playhouse, approximately 1940.
The collection contains materials documenting the history and activities of the Pasadena Playhouse and its College of Theatre Arts. It includes approximately 15,000 photographs; 5,000 theater programs; 300 scripts; over 100 scrapbooks; 70 set and costume designs; and a few musical scores; as well as board meeting minutes; business records including ledgers, financial records, and correspondence; student catalogs, manuals, and yearbooks; curricular materials; newspaper clippings; theater periodicals; and various subject files. Also included are publications and business records from the Pasadena Playhouse Alumni and Associates, as well as a set of indexes (Series IX) and other research materials compiled by archivists at the Huntington Library (Series IVV). The materials date from approximately 1657-2013, with the bulk of the materials dating from the beginnings of the Playhouse in 1916 through its bankruptcy in 1969. Major areas of interest represented in the collection include the Playhouse Board of Trustees' meeting minutes and correspondence; correspondence and business records of Playhouse executives and administrators, including Gilmor Brown, Fairfax Walkup, and Lenore Shanewise; writings, photographs, scrapbooks, and clippings detailing various aspects of the Pasadena Playhouse's history; catalogs, photographs, and promotional and curricular materials documenting the School of the Theatre (later College of Theatre Arts), its students, and student life; performance photographs, theater programs, original set and costume designs, scripts and scores, and supplementary materials reflecting productions at the Playhouse's venues (Community Playhouse, Mainstage, Playbox, Workshop and Laboratory Theatres, Patio Theatre, and East and West Balcony Theatres) as well from various student, traveling, and special events productions; and the holdings of the Playhouse's library and museum. Along with Brown, Prickett, Walkup, and Shanewise, other key figures surfacing within the collection include Maurice Wells, assistant director of the Playbox; Charles Lane, actor in many Playhouse productions; Ralph Freud, a director at the Playhouse; Catherine Turney, a member of the School of the Theatre's first class who went on to become director of the Workshop; Dorothy Arzner, a filmmaker from the silent film era into the 1940s and cinema instructor at the Playhouse; Gail Shoup, a Playhouse staff director; Bobker Ben Ali, a writer and director whose productions included Manya: The Story of Marie Curie (circa 1938) and The People Win Thru (1952); Board chairs David Crandall and Earl Messer; and actors Maudie and Oliver Prickett, Charles Prickett's spouse and brother, respectively. The core records are strengthened by the complementary personal paper collections of directors, performers, and others associated with the Playhouse, including ben Ali; Graydon Spalding; Gail Shoup; and more (see Series VIII, Related Personal Collections). The collection features the work of photographers including Jerome Robinson, Jack Powell, Gordon Spalding, Kim Spalding, and A. E. Arnold, and the original set and costume designs of James Hyde; Jānis Muncis; Rita Glover, who was the first woman to be admitted to the Designers Guild of California; and Robert Redington Sharpe, among many others.
Includes an invitation to join the Community Playhouse and rules for players, 1917; an undated document, How a Community Play is Made; and a report on the Community Playhouse's 1921-22 season; documentation of the relationship between Actor's Equity and Little Theaters, including Pasadena Community Playhouse, circa 1936-1937; State Theater of California designation, 1937: and the Red Cross's recognition of the Savoy Stock Company and Gilmor Brown, 1917; a photograph of an early board meeting, circa 1925-1929; applications to the Rockefeller Foundation (1947) and a Ford Foundation proposal and reports (1951); a report to the Board on instructional activities, including a school calendar (1946-1948); sales agreements and appraisals of properties (1943-1949); and documentation of various development initiatives (circa 1950-1952).
This collection contains the records of the Pasadena Playhouse, a community theater established in Pasadena, California, in 1917. Materials consist primarily of theater programs, scrapbooks, business records, correspondence, clippings, scripts, school catalogues, brochures and ephemera, indexes, photographs, original drawings of set and costume designs, and research materials originally housed in the organization's library. The materials document the performance history of the various theaters of the Playhouse and also contain partial administrative records and school records, with particular strength in coverage for the "Mainstage" theater and an extensive run of programs and performance photographs. The core records are strengthened by the complementary personal paper collections of directors, performers, and others associated with the Playhouse.
