The History of San Jose Rep
San Jose Rep was founded in 1980 by James P. Reber as the city’s first resident professional theatre company. Within two years the Rep was the fastest-growing regional theatre in the United States. Despite the inevitable economic challenges that accompany such rapid growth the company, with its dedicated volunteer board of directors, soon became one of San Jose’s leading cultural institutions.
To ensure the Rep’s evolution, the board in 1987 appointed Timothy Near, a respected and experienced figure in American regional theatre, as Artistic Director. Ms. Near immediately led an artistic renaissance that was to touch every aspect of the Rep’s activities. She expanded the company’s mission to include plays that would speak to San Jose’s diverse community, ensure the Rep’s contribution to the health and growth of the city and position the company as a significant participant in the development of a flourishing American theatre.
Ms. Near has defined the Rep’s distinct identity through her innovative approach to the classics and commitment to contemporary plays that explore the most creative aspects of the live theatre experience, utilizing inventive design and visual metaphor, imaginative staging and dynamic and integrated sound and music.
Examples of her progressive programming have included such classics as Oedipus the King, incorporating San Jose Taiko Company as the Chorus, Anne Bogart's A Midsummer Night's Dream performed by SITI company, Desire Under The Elms directed by Michael Butler, Near's contemporary socially searing approach to Iphigenia at Aulis featuring the Dance Brigade and both Fences and the Piano Lesson directed by Kenny Leon (director of Broadway’s revival of Raisin in the Sun).
Ms. Near’s adventurous belief in new work was soon evidenced by the world premiere of My Visits With MGM by Edit Villareal, The Geography of Luck by Marlene Meyer, La Posada Magica by Octavio Solis and Pick Up Ax by Anthony Clairvoe.
Ms. Near’s determination and commitment to make the Rep an important contributor to the o verall quality of life in San Jose led her to invite John McCluggage to join the company as Associate Artistic Director with the particular responsibility of advancing the company’s outreach programs. In 1992 McCluggage launched the Rep’s Red Ladder Theatre Company which has become an award-winning, arts-based social outreach program.
The Rep’s progress, however, was limited by its venue, the city-owned Montgomery Theatre. Despite the Rep’s creative ability to overcome many of the Montgomery’s technical limitations, the company’s scheduling flexibility was severely hindered by the fact that it shared the theatre with se veral other local performing arts organizations. It was clear that the Rep needed and deserved a home of its own.
The 1991 election as Mayor of Susan Hammer, a firm believer in the importance to San Jose of a vibrant cultural, together with the city’s continuing commitment to redevelop and revitalize downtown San Jose, gave fresh impetus to the Rep’s long held dream of finding a home of its own. Finally, in 1995, the City of San Jose partnered with the Rep to build a new permanent home for the company in the heart of the downtown. The Rep under the direction of then Managing Director Alexandra Urbanowski, successfully raised over $5 million towards the cost. Ms.Near and Ms. Urbanowski worked closely with the city and the architects to design a theatre that would reflect the Rep’s artistic vision and answer the needs of the community it serves.
Meanwhile, as the new theatre took shape, in 1996 the Rep launched a New America Playwrights Festival for emerging playwrights from under-represented groups. Providing a fertile environment in which theatre artists can develop new works and innovative approaches to the classics is at the heart of San Jose Rep’s mission. The Rep has afforded playwrights time in residence and administrative and artistic resources. The New America Playwrights Festival consistently attracted renowned playwrights from across the nation, including John Henry Redwood, Oliver Mayer, Edwin Sanchez, Naomi Izuka, Lynn Nottage, Sandra Tsing Loh, Ronnie Gilbert, Keith Glover, Cherylene Lee and Philip Kan Gotanda. The festival, currently in abeyance owing to financial constraints, has offered 20 playwrights extended residencies, readings, and further development/production opportunities.
The opening of the new theatre in 1997 ushered in a period of extraordinary artistic growth that has catapulted the Rep onto the national theatre scene. The Rep’s programming for the first season in its new home signaled the company’s continuing commitment to reflect the diversity of the city and develop new plays. The inaugural production was the West Coast premiere of African-American playwright Keith Glover’s Thunder Knocking on the Door with a Rep-commissioned score by Michael Butler and local blues legend Chris Cain. The season also included a world premiere of Icarus by Eddie Sanchez, which had been developed in the Rep’s new play festival.
Through the Rep’s Silicon Valley New Works Initiative, the Rep has commissioned four new works including Philip Kan Gotanda’s The Wind Cries Mary, The Last of the Boys by Steven Dietz and The Haunting of Winchester, a musical by the award-winning team of Craig Bohmler and Mary Bracken Phillips. The Last of the Boys continued to receive its premiere at the McCarter Theatre during the 2004-2005 season. In October 2002, The Wind Cries Mary became the third play—the others are Fire in the Rain…and Legacy—successfully to travel the full course of new work development at the Rep, from initial commissioning to world premiere. Since moving into its new home the Rep has produced nine World premieres, four U.S. premieres, 22 West Coast premieres and 21 Bay Area premieres. These numbers grew as the Rep launched its 25th Anniversary Season with the World premiere of the musical Haunting of Winchester followed by Jon Jory's World premiere adaptation of Pride and Prejudice.
The Rep continues to be a major contributor to the national body of theatre literature, to produce theatre with an optimistic, humanistic and enlightened aesthetic and to reach out into the community in ways that enhance understanding and enrich lives.