San Jose Repertory Theatre - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

The San Jose Repertory Theatre (or San Jose Rep, SJ Rep or, locally, just the Rep) was founded in 1980 by James P. Reber as the first resident professional theatre

Theatre

Theatre is a collaborative form of fine art that uses live performers to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place. The performers may communicate this experience to the audience through combinations of gesture, speech, song, music or dance...

company in San Jose, California

San Jose, California

San Jose is the third-largest city in California, the tenth-largest in the U.S., and the county seat of Santa Clara County which is located at the southern end of San Francisco Bay...

, and is currently the largest non-profit, professional theatre company in the South Bay. Artistic Director

Artistic director

An artistic director is the executive of an arts organization, particularly in a theatre company, that handles the organization's artistic direction. He or she is generally a producer and director, but not in the sense of a mogul, since the organization is generally a non-profit organization...

Timothy Near's vision of reaching the ethnically diverse San Jose population was highlighted by opening the newly built new home of the Rep with the West Coast

West Coast of the United States

West Coast or Pacific Coast are terms for the westernmost coastal states of the United States. The term most often refers to the states of California, Oregon, and Washington. Although not part of the contiguous United States, Alaska and Hawaii do border the Pacific Ocean but can't be included in...

premiere of Thunder Knocking on the Door by African American

African American

African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...

playwright Keith Glover, with a Rep-commissioned score by Michael Butler

Michael Butler

Michael Butler is a musician and podcaster from San Francisco, California, United States.He is well-known for his popular podcast, The Rock and Roll Geek Show, one of the earlier podcasts and a featured program on Mevio , a Podcasting start-up and Butler's employer since late 2005. Butler is the...

and local blues

Blues

Blues is the name given to both a musical form and a music genre that originated in African-American communities of primarily the "Deep South" of the United States at the end of the 19th century from spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads...

legend Chris Cain

Chris Cain

Chris Cain is an American blues and jazz guitarist with an international following.He began playing professionally as a teenager in local clubs, at festivals, and at private events....

.

Like many organizations concerned by the humanitarian

Humanitarian aid

Humanitarian aid is material or logistical assistance provided for humanitarian purposes, typically in response to humanitarian crises including natural disaster and man-made disaster. The primary objective of humanitarian aid is to save lives, alleviate suffering, and maintain human dignity...

needs posed by the recent Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami

2004 Indian Ocean earthquake

The 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake was an undersea megathrust earthquake that occurred at 00:58:53 UTC on Sunday, December 26, 2004, with an epicentre off the west coast of Sumatra, Indonesia. The quake itself is known by the scientific community as the Sumatra-Andaman earthquake...

, the Rep held a benefit performance February 14, 2005, with some of the proceeds going to victims of the disaster.

As the Rep celebrates 30 years of adventurous storytelling in 2011, the theatre remains as dynamic and forward-looking as ever but will always uphold its commitment to serve, reflect and enrich the lives of the community that has nurtured it. The 2010-2011 Anniversary Season, with a World Premiere, two West Coast Premieres and three Regional Premieres, celebrates the Rep’s passionate commitment to presenting provocative stories told by renowned playwrights, breathtaking designs created by accomplished artists and riveting performances from award-winning actors.

The Early Years of San Jose Rep

San Jose Rep was founded by James P. Reber in 1980 (originally as San Jose Repertory Company). James Reber was born in Butte, Montana, but raised in Santa Clara Valley. He returned home after having been the first employee of the Berkeley Shakespeare Festival (now California Shakespeare Theatre in Orinda, California) as Business Manager and General Manager.

San Jose Rep was formed as San Jose’s first resident professional theatre (originally called San Jose Repertory Company), the Rep soon became the fastest growing regional theatre in the country. Mr. Reber led a group of young artists, technical and administrative staff, most of them Bay Area based. The Rep's opening production of Noel Coward's Private Lives was a great first step for the fledgling company. This "hit" was followed by three more plays in 1981 (including one directed by Tony Taccone before he was Artistic Director at Berkeley Rep).

Early support came from the City of San Jose's Fine Arts Commission, which provided funding and worked to help create a viable Board of Trustees. The first Board was led by Dr. Clayton Feldman, who was able to provide guidance for the young staff and helped recruit the future leadership of the Rep, including Attorney Phil Hammer, who succeeded Dr. Feldman. The William & Flora Hewlett Foundation provided a key early grant to help hire professional staff. Elaine Knoernschild joined the board in 1982 and became the third board president. Like most nonprofit theatres, the founding board members made success possible by their dedication and hard work.

Most notable among the Rep's early accomplishments was the fact that everyone was paid competitive wages, a commitment that Mr. Reber made for the company from its inception. David Lemos, a recent graduate of Santa Clara University, became the first production manage and eventually Artistic Director. Lemos and Reber negotiated with Actors Equity for early concessions and eventually to full Equity (Actors' Union) status. Artistically, San Jose Rep was a bit uneven, but given its age, many productions were surprisingly high quality and were given excellent critical notices and are still revered by patrons.

Among the more distinguished productions of the early Rep era were:

- A very popular WWII version of Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew directed by Anne McNaughton and featuring a dashing and
handsome young John Callahan, who later went on to a successful television career, as Petruchio.

- A series of large productions done in collaboration with the San Jose Symphony, sponsored by Merrill Lynch and known as the
Merrill Lynch Great Performances. These were produced in the massive San Jose Center for Performing Arts and had very short runs.
The first was The Tempestwith music by Sibelius and the next was the only known production of Peter Shaffer's masterpiece,
Amadeus featuring Ray Birk as Salieri and a chorus of Opera San Jose singers who were particularly effective on Mozart's
Requiem. The music for both of the productions were conducted by George Cleave.

- A collaborative production of Emily Mann's Execution of Justice which told the story of the infamous slaying of San Francisco
Supervisor Harvey Milk and Mayor George Moscone by Supervisor Dan White. The production was produced by San Jose Rep, Berkeley
Repertory Theatre, and the Eureka Theatre. It premiered at the Montgomery theatre and later moved to Berkeley Repertory Theatre.

Among the distinguished alumni of San Jose Rep's early years, all of whom were recruited by the young Artistic Director David Lemos, and played significant roles in launching the young company, are: James Houghton, Founding Artistic Director of New York City's unique Signature Theatre Company and currently Richard Rodgers Director of the Drama Division at Juilliard; James Bundy, artistic director of Yale Repertory Theater and dean of the prestigious Yale School of Drama; Elaine Avila, Associate Professor of Theatre Dramatic Writing at the University of New Mexico; beloved Fingerstyle Guitarist, Singer, Songwriter & Educator Stevie Coyle; Oregon State Representative Peter Buckley (D-Ashland); and Kenneth Kelleher, Artistic Director of Pacific Repertory Theatre.

The Timothy Near Era

The arrival of Timothy Near as Artistic Director in 1987 signaled a more focused commitment to produce plays that spoke to the city’s diverse community both directly or by inflection. The Rep achieved this with modernized versions of the classics, contemporary works and a commitment to developing new plays.

In 1997 the company moved from the Montgomery Theatre into a new, purpose-built building in downtown San Jose. No longer restricted by space or required to share their venue with other organizations, the Rep was able to offer a wide range of programming, produced to high artistic and technical standards. Since moving to the new building, the Rep has commissioned several new works, and produced World premieres, U.S. premieres, and West Coast premieres.

Introducing Mr. Rick Lombardo

After Near’s departure, the Rep conducted a national search and selected Rick Lombardo for his combination of artistic excellence, programming savvy and leadership abilities. Lombardo joined the Rep in 2009 after 13 years as the Producing Artistic Director at New Repertory Theatre, one of Boston’s and the New England region’s leading mid-size regional theatres. Lombardo was selected as the perfect combination of a consummate artistic leader, exciting director and seasoned administrator. In only two years, Lombardo has successfully built upon the Rep’s reputation for artistic excellence while imparting an extraordinary wealth of imagination, ideas and images to the Rep’s stage. Lombardo’s critically acclaimed first season at San Jose Rep garnered a total of 25 Bay Area Theatre Critic Circle award nominations for The Kite Runner, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, As You Like It and Groundswell.

Lombardo’s commitment to education and outreach launched San Jose Rep on Tour, the Rep’s new education outreach initiative modeled after Lombardo’s successful education program at New Repertory Theatre, which will bring fully produced plays to middle and high schools in the Bay Area. The Rep’s diverse education and outreach programs also includes the Red Ladder Theatre Company, the social outreach program of San Jose Repertory Theatre, which works with under-served and disadvantaged communities to improve and enrich lives through the art of theatre. These programs strive to make a significant contribution to improving the quality of life in the broader community.

Current leadership and staff

Rick Lombardo, Artistic Director
Nick Nichols, Managing Director
Kirsten Brandt, Resident Director
Monika Churchill, Director of Development
Cecilia Clark, Director of Marketing
Bruce Elsperger, Artistic Associate/Casting Director
Christopher Morris, Production Manager
Karen Altree Piemme, Director of Outreach
Christa Stiner, Director of Finance
Leslie McGarry, Assistant Director of Development
Michael Mulhern, Associate Director of Operations
Jean Rivers, Controller
Erik Sunderman, Technical Director

Facilities

The Rep runs all of its performances from the Sobrato Auditorium. The theater consists of three seating sections, seating 584 people.

Seating

Orchestra: 166 seats (Modified Thrust)
Front Orchestra: 56 seats (Proscenium)
Parterre: 197 seats
Balcony: 165 seats

Accommodations

Wheelchair and handicap access are available in the orchestra and balcony only. Assisted listening devices are available upon request. Slight variation in seating configuration may occur based on the needs of the show in performance. It is also possible to make the front orchestra slightly less intimate, configuring it with two rows instead of three, resulting in 41 seats rather than 56.

External links

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