THE 2008/2009 THEATRE SEASON::
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof
By Tennessee Williams
Directed by Gene Putnam
Performing Arts Building – Mainstage Theatre
Oct. 24-Nov. 2, 2008
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All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten
By Robert Fulghum
Directed by RoZsa Horvath
Dow Arena Theatre
Dec. 5-14, 2008
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Stage Door
By George S. Kaufman & Edna Ferber
Directed by Valorie Grear
Performing Arts Mainstage
March 27-April 5, 2009
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Private Lives
By Noel Coward
Directed by Gene Putnam
Dow Arena Theatre
May 1-10, 2009
Call (818) 719-6488 for more info
BOX OFFICE INFORMATION
Tickets for most productions are $15 -- General; $12 -- Seniors, Students & Pierce Faculty & Staff.
Group rates are available -- Save $1 per ticket on groups of 10 or more!
Prices may vary for specific productions. Please call (818) 719-6488 for show specific pricing.
Season ticket package options are available as well. With the Pierce VIP Pass, you get four (4) admissions for $56 to any or all of the 2008-2009 productions.
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THEATER ARTS AT L.A. PIERCE COLLEGE
Thank you for visiting our site. We invite you to come share in the world of Theatre and Dance at Pierce College by attending and enjoying our excellent productions, participating in our productions (on-stage and/or off-stage), enrolling in our wide variety of theatre courses and educational programs, or donating your time, talents, or funds to help support one of the finest community college Theatre Arts & Dance programs in Southern California.
Each year, for over a half century, the Pierce College Theater Arts Department has prepared students academically, and through hands-on experience, for higher-levels of education, entertainment-related career training, and personal development & fulfillment.
In addition, Pierce College Theatre and Dance productions have been, and continue to be, a tremendous cultural asset and entertainment value to our San Fernando Valley community.
BRIEF HISTORY OF PIERCE THEATER
Pierce College has put on entertaining productions for the community since it's early days in the late 1940's.
For nearly thirty years, from the mid-1950s to mid-1980s, Theatre Arts at Pierce College existed because of the hard work and dedication of its only Theatre instructor, Mr. Eugene Francis Dow, and his wife Ellen Albertini Dow.
Using a small, borrowed, tin-roofed bungalow as a theater, as well as regular outdoor Shakespeare productions, the Dows built a legacy of live theater at Pierce and were instrumental in obtaining the funding that led to our beautiful, state-of-the-art Performing Arts Building (Theater on the Hill) which was dedicated in 1981.
The Performing Arts Building (PAB), with its 375-seat Mainstage Theatre and 100-seat, flexible black-box space (recently dedicated as the Eugene Francis and Ellen Albertini Dow Arena Theatre) serves as an important cultural venue for all manner of Theatre, Music, Dance and other community events.
By the time of Mr. Dow's retirement in 1984, Theatre Arts was a full-fledged academic department (it had previously been part of the English & Speech Department) with a new generation of dedicated faculty and staff.
In recent years, under the direction of Chair Gene Putnam, the Department has developed a Musical Theatre program with appreciation and training courses and it's top-quality summer musical productions, featuring the San Fernando Valley Symphony Orchestra.
Pierce College students have competed successfully in acting and design categories in regional drama competitions against 4-year public and private colleges.
In 2003, the acclaimed Dance program, led by Marian Weiser, separated from the Physical Education Department and joined with Theater Arts.
The Department continues to be a cultural focal point for the San Fernando Valley showcasing a wide variety of top-quality comedies, dramas, musicals, and dance concerts.
RECENT PRODUCTIONS:
Here is a list of some of the eclectic and excellent theatrical productions performed at Pierce College within the last few years:
Last Night of Ballyhoo (Comedy/Romance) Fall 2001
Done to Death (Comedy/Mystery) Fall 2001
The Diary of Anne Frank (Drama) Spring 2002
The Vagina Monologues (Monologues/Performance Art) Spring 2002
My Fair Lady (Musical) Summer 2002
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (Drama) Fall 2002
Myths & Tangos (Premier -- Original Drama) Fall 2002
Charlotte's Web (Children's Theatre) Spring 2003
Our Country's Good (Historical Drama) Spring 2003
Cabaret (Musical) Summer 2003
The Good Doctor (Comedy) Fall 2003
The Laramie Project (Drama) Fall 2003
A Dance Mosaic(Multicultural Folk Dance Concert) Fall 2003
The Miss Hamford Beauty Pageant & the Battle of the Bands (Comedy) Spring 2004
Othello (Classic Drama) Spring 2004
Spring Dance Concert (Dance) Spring 2004
The Robber Bridegroom (Musical) Summer 2004
The Misanthrope (Classic Comedy) Fall 2004
World Culture and Dance Fall 2004
Lost in Yonkers (Pulitzer Prize-Winning Comedy) Spring 2005
Spring Dance Concert Spring 2005
Five Women Wearing The Same Dress (Comedy) Spring 2005
Guys and Dolls (Musical Comedy) Summer 2005
An Enemy of the People (Classic Drama) Fall 2005
A Piece of My Heart (Contemporary Drama) Fall 2005
You Can't Take It With You (Comedy) Spring 2006
James And The Giant Peach (Children's Theatre) Spring 2006