By Khalida Sarwari
For a city of its size, Saratoga packs a strong punch as a thriving theater mecca. Whether it’s Broadway revivals or Shakespeare productions, Saratoga’s theater groups have been entertaining residents for decades, and launching the careers of some Hollywood legends to boot.
In recognition of that, the Saratoga History Museum recently unveiled a new exhibit that explores the city’s history of theater that spans 100 years.
The exhibit, titled “Center Stage: Theater Groups in Saratoga,” provides an in-depth overview of theater in Saratoga from 1915 to 2015 through handmade costumes dating back to the 1930s, artifacts, photographs, playbills and programs.
“Saratoga has a rich history of theater groups offering the community a wide selection of live entertainment in a variety of venues,” said Saratoga Historical Foundation President Annette Stransky. “The ambient weather offers productions outdoors as well as the traditional indoors.”
The exhibit highlights big names that have passed through the city, most notably Olivia de Havilland and her sister Joan Fontaine. Their mother, Lilian Fontaine, mentored many aspiring young actors, coaching drama students in Saratoga and showcasing their efforts at the Saratoga Foothill Club. She taught a theater class in connection with the adult education program and produced the plays at Los Gatos High School. Because Saratoga did not have a suitable venue at the time, the plays were performed in the Los Gatos High auditorium.
“Local lore is that Fontaine would recruit friends, neighbors or pull strangers off the street to act in the plays,” Stransky said. “Some of these students later became the Los Gatos-Saratoga Community Players.”
As an actress, Fontaine had starring roles in plays at the Saratoga Foothill Club and the Theatre of the Glade, as well as Villa Montalvo. She was Montalvo’s first artistic director, from 1942 to 1962, and was a longtime supporter of the theater at Montalvo until her passing in 1975 at the age of 89. She now has an outdoor theater there named after her.
Another name some may be familiar with is Dorothea Johnston, a producer and actress in the 1930s who created the Theatre of the Glade just below the Saratoga Inn, which was owned by her mother at the time. Audiences flocked to the woodsy scene to enjoy plays that were famed throughout the state, according to Stransky. Both amateur and professional actors starred in Johnston’s plays, including de Havilland and Joan Fontaine, but also Judith Baum, Patricia Ironsides, Ann Edmunds, Audrey Long, Margaret Goodrich and Robert Baines, who achieved success both on stage and in Hollywood films.
The exhibit also covers the history of the various theater groups that formed in the city and still exist, as well as those that transitioned or are no longer around.
Jaleen and Ivan Holmes brought King Dodo’s Playhouse, which originated as the first dinner theater in the U.S. at the Hawaiian Gardens in San Jose, to the Azule Shopping Center on Saratoga-Sunnyvale Road in 1967. The playhouse ended up being the longest running, self-supporting not-for-profit theater in California, according to Stransky.
“The playhouse was unique in that the audience sat around the stage so close they could touch the actors,” Stransky said. “No cue cards, minimal set, and homemade sound effects were used.”
What’s more, she said, the actors sometimes studied as many as three plays a week to keep up the pace. In 1980 the playhouse moved to Sunnyvale.
The late Willys Peck built an amphitheater on the slope behind his house in 1953 complete with a stage and balcony. By that point, Peck’s resume included performances in plays at the Theater of the Glade and the Saratoga Federated drama group. For more than 40 years, the outdoor theater he called Theater on the Ground was the site of many original plays and variety shows. Among Peck’s family and friends who performed in the shows was Broadway actor Lance Guest.
Peck’s son, Bill, launched the Valley of Theatre Arts in 1975 along with John Schwartz and Saratoga High School drama teacher Judith Sutton. The group shared space in the former Saratoga Library on Oak Street with the Book-Go-Round and held performances in many locations, among them Villa Montalvo and the Mountain Winery. Actress Annette Bening was in VITA’s production of “Romeo and Juliet.” The group later changed its name to Shakespeare Theatre Arts Repertory.
The group changed names yet again–and this time ownership, too–to the Shady Shakespeare Theatre Company, which now goes by Silicon Valley Shakespeare. Formed by Dinna Moore, the company dedicated itself to exposing artists and audiences to Shakespeare and other classic works. The award-winning repertoire theater has produced such works as “Shakespeare in Hollywood” and “Antony and Cleopatra.”
WVLO was formed in 1964 with the aim of promoting cultural activity and providing opportunities for anyone with dramatic aspirations to take part in theatrical productions under the guidance of experienced directors. The group continues to perform three Broadway type musicals each season at the Saratoga Civic Theater.
The Saratoga Federated had its own theater company in the 1960s. The church’s drama group produced its first show–titled “Our Town”–in Richards Hall in 1963. By 1966 the audience had grown so large that the group moved its productions to the Saratoga Civic Center. Later, the group changed its name to the Saratoga Drama Group and then to South Bay Musical Group, and continued to produce a mix of popular musicals.
Saratoga High School’s drama group also produced “Our Town”–its first play–in 1962 in the school cafeteria, which served as the site of all of the school’s productions for more than three decades. In 1994 the school unveiled the “little theater,” which was constructed with donations from the school community. In 2011, the little theater was renamed the Thermond Drama Center in appreciation of Catherine Thermond and her family for their efforts in keeping the theater alive at the school. Four years later, the McAfee Performing Arts and Lecture Center was opened.
The exhibit includes information about notable Saratoga High alumni Ross Maddalena, Ed Solomon, Lance Guest, Paul Magid and Academy Award-winning director Steven Spielberg, who is alleged to have said the school was “the worst experience of his life and hell on Earth.”
The exhibit is free and can be viewed from 1 to 4 p.m. Friday through Sunday at 20450 Saratoga-Los Gatos Road. A reception is scheduled for Sept. 20 and the exhibit will close Nov. 18.
Link: Saratoga Historical Museum exhibit showcases the history of local theater
