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The San Jose Repertory Theatre (a.k.a. San Jose Rep) was the first resident professional theatre company in San Jose, California. It was founded in 1980 by James P. Reber. In 2008, after the demise of the American Musical Theatre of San Jose, the San Jose Rep became the largest non-profit, professional theatre company in the South Bay with an annual operating budget of $5 million. In 2006, it was saved from impending insolvency by a $2 million bailout loan from the city of San Jose; this was later restructured into a long-term loan similar to a mortgage.
Former home of San Jose Repertory | |
 | |
| Address | 101 Paseo de San Antonio San Jose, California United States |
|---|---|
| Type | regional theatre |
| Capacity | 584 |
| Opened | 1980 (company) 1997 (building) |
| Closed | June 2014 |
On June 11, 2014, San Jose Rep ceased operations and filed Chapter 7 bankruptcy.[1] The building was reopened in 2015 as the Hammer Theatre, now operated by San Jose State University.[2]
San Jose Rep was founded by James P. Reber in 1980 (originally as San Jose Repertory Company). James Reber was born in Butte, Montana, and was raised in the 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 staff, and administrative staff, most of them based in the Bay Area. The Rep's opening production of Noël Coward's Private Lives was the first step for the fledgling company. This 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 and 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. As happens with 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 their payment of 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 manager 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:
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 Theater Company; 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; fingerstyle guitarist, singer, songwriter. Educator Stevie Coyle; Cecilia Pang, Associate Chair of Theatre and Professor at University of Colorado, Boulder; Kelvin Han Yee,American actor of Asian descent with a successful film, television and theater career, Oregon Shakespeare Festival Associate Artist, director and resident actor -James Edmondson; Oregon State Representative Peter Buckley (D-Ashland); and Kenneth Kelleher, artistic director of Pacific Repertory Theater.
The arrival of Timothy Near as artistic director in 1987 signaled the theatre's 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.[4]
In 1997 the company moved from the Montgomery Theater (attached to the San Jose Civic Auditorium[5][6]) into the Sobrato Auditorium, a new building in downtown San Jose that was built specifically for the Rep. No longer restricted by space or required to share their venue with other organizations, the Rep was able to offer a wider range of programming, produced to high artistic and technical standards. Since moving to the new building, the Rep has commissioned several new works and has produced World premieres, U.S. premieres, and West Coast premieres.[4]
Artistic Director 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 premiere of Thunder Knocking on the Door by African American playwright Keith Glover, with a Rep-commissioned score by Michael Butler and local blues legend Chris Cain.
In 2001, Holly Hunter appeared in a production of By the Bog of Cats in preparation for her 2004 West End revival of the play. In 2002, Lynn Redgrave appeared in a production of The Mandrake Root.
The company commissioned a locally based musical from Craig Bohmler and Mary Bracken Phillips for its 25th anniversary season.[7][8] This resulted in The Haunting of Winchester, about rifle heiress Sarah Winchester and her Winchester Mystery House in San Jose.[9][10][8] The musical premiered in September–October 2005.[8][11][12][13]
After Near's departure, the Rep conducted a national search and selected Rick Lombardo in 2009. Lombardo joined the financially struggling company[14] after 13 years as the producing artistic director at New Repertory Theatre in Boston, where he was credited with bringing in a younger and more diverse audience.[15]
Notable projects under Rick Lombardo's leadership include:
In June 2014, the San Jose Repertory Theatre board of trustees informed Mr. Lombardo that they had voted to close the theater[20] as he was in rehearsal for American Premiere of "Landscape With Weapon" by Joe Penhall. About the closing, Lombardo had this to say:
I was in mourning, it was the same grief I felt when my parents died.
— Rick Lombardo, "Hounded by Reality, Staging a Fairy Tale 'Snow Queen' Emerges From Defunct San Jose Theater", The New York Times
The Rep started performing at the 500+ seat Montgomery Theatre, owned by the City of San Jose. The dream of building and performing in their own theater became reality in 1997 when they moved to their new home, the Sobrato Auditorium, a few blocks away.
After the Rep closed, the building became the Susan and Phil Hammer Theatre Center named for the former mayor and her husband who were instrumental in getting the theater built. The theater consists of three seating sections, with a total capacity of 584 people.
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