Pasadena Playhouse

Pasadena Playhouse. Founded in 1918 by Gilmor Brown as a semiprofessional troupe, the community group prospered, built a fine new theatre, and for many years was Southern California's most exciting playhouse. Besides reviving classics it regularly offered new plays by unknown playwrights at its Laboratory Theatre and conducted a highly praised acting school. Among its outstanding productions was the first mounting of Eugene O'Neill's Lazarus Laughed in 1928. It was made the official State Theatre of California in 1937 and enjoyed a reputation as one of the finest community theatres in the nation. But the organization later fell on hard times in the 1960s, and its properties were auctioned off in 1970. The theatre reopened in 1986 and, despite damage incurred during the 1991 earthquake, continues on today as a professional resident company performing in its 672‐seat theatre. Gilmor BROWN (1887?–1960), a native of New Salem, North Dakota, began his career as an actor in Western stock companies. For a time he joined Ben Greet's traveling ensemble before founding and running the Playhouse for thirty‐one years. He also served as California state supervisor for the Federal Theatre Project and as president of the National Theatre Conference. Biography: Gilmor Brown, Portrait of a Man—and an Idea, Harriet L. Green, 1933.