Pasadena Playhouse

ARCHIVES

The Pasadena Playhouse Alumni & Associates established the Archives and maintains them in conjunction with the Pasadena Playhouse. The collection encompasses Playhouse history from the inception of the Gilmor Brown Community Players in 1916, to the present.

These materials cover productions in all of the Playhouse theatres as well as the old Savoy on Fair Oaks. The Playhouse theatres were the Mainstage, Playbox, East Balcony (later, the Huxley), West Balcony (later, the Prickett), and Patio (now part of the restaurant). Within the last twenty years, the balcony theatres were combined to make one larger space, and in July 2006, was re-named The Carrie Hamilton Theatre, in honor of Carol Burnett's late daughter.

The books, housed in the Library, covering all aspects of theatre, film, and television, a selection of books by Alumni authors on a variety of subjects, and a complete set of Theatre Arts magazine dating from 1926, are part of this large archive. Scripts from more than 1100 plays have been catalogued. A large store of performance photographs and programs from Mainstage and student theatre productions are at the heart of the collection.

As with any archive, there are blanks in our collection, most notably, prior to 1969, when the Playhouse closed. We always welcome donations of scripts, photographs, and personal mementos of Alumni and Associates.

Researchers, both professional and private, have made use of this resource. Visits to the Archives are available by appointment. One may also request particular materials, which will be copied and forwarded.

Pasadena Playhouse provides many services to the community such as this at no cost. In order to continue providing these programs, we request that those seeking our service consider a donation in order to help keep costs down and continue our work.

Anyone interested in the Playhouse archival collections may contact Penn Genthner at (626) 737-2865 or send an email to pgenthner@pasadenaplayhouse.org.

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