FUN FACTS
1923
The Arts and Crafts Theatre (later renamed the Abalone Theatre, Carmel Playhouse and the Filmarte) was built on the present site of the current Golden Bough, adjacent to the original Arts and Crafts Clubhouse.
1924
Ted Kuster opens the Theatre of the Golden Bough on Ocean Avenue in downtown Carmel. Hailed across the world as a beautiful and technically innovative facility, it is labeled "the greatest little playhouse in America."
1935
One the third weekend in May - following a performance of the thriller By Candlelight - the Theatre of the Golden Bough on Ocean Avenue burns to the ground. An unnamed arsonist is blamed. Kuster consolidates operations at the Monte Verde Street theatre, eventually renaming it. The Golden Bough Playhouse. The operation includes a School of the Theatre, which grows to achieve a national reputation.
1949
In an incredible twist of fate, on the third weekend of May, the relocated Golden Bough Playhouse again burns to the ground after a revival performance of By Candlelight! The official cause of the fire is "spontaneous combustion."
1952
The present 332-seat Golden Bough Playhouse reopens on Monte Verde Street and includes the newly designed 99-seat Circle Theatre on the Casanova Street side of the building. The new facility features both live performance and film.
The Arts and Crafts Theatre (later renamed the Abalone Theatre, Carmel Playhouse and the Filmarte) was built on the present site of the current Golden Bough, adjacent to the original Arts and Crafts Clubhouse.
1924
Ted Kuster opens the Theatre of the Golden Bough on Ocean Avenue in downtown Carmel. Hailed across the world as a beautiful and technically innovative facility, it is labeled "the greatest little playhouse in America."
1935
One the third weekend in May - following a performance of the thriller By Candlelight - the Theatre of the Golden Bough on Ocean Avenue burns to the ground. An unnamed arsonist is blamed. Kuster consolidates operations at the Monte Verde Street theatre, eventually renaming it. The Golden Bough Playhouse. The operation includes a School of the Theatre, which grows to achieve a national reputation.
1949
In an incredible twist of fate, on the third weekend of May, the relocated Golden Bough Playhouse again burns to the ground after a revival performance of By Candlelight! The official cause of the fire is "spontaneous combustion."
1952
The present 332-seat Golden Bough Playhouse reopens on Monte Verde Street and includes the newly designed 99-seat Circle Theatre on the Casanova Street side of the building. The new facility features both live performance and film.
1956
Due to financial pressures, the Golden Bough Theare is leased, and eventually sold to the Golden State Theater Company, later known as United Artists. Meanwhile, live theatre and classes continue in the downstairs Circle Theatre, including Marica Hovick's Children's Experimental Theatre, which began there in 1960.
1972
Due to fires, finances and good old-fashioned small-town politics, the Circle Theatre of the Golden Bough closes and becomes a storage facility.
1983-84
Stephen Moorer creates GroveMont Theatre (eventually renamed Pacific Repertory Theatre), staging productions at Carmel's Cherry Hall, and presenting Robinson Jeffers' Medea at the Forest Theater, featuring local acting legend Rosamond Goodrich Zanides.
1990Due to financial pressures, the Golden Bough Theare is leased, and eventually sold to the Golden State Theater Company, later known as United Artists. Meanwhile, live theatre and classes continue in the downstairs Circle Theatre, including Marica Hovick's Children's Experimental Theatre, which began there in 1960.
1972
Due to fires, finances and good old-fashioned small-town politics, the Circle Theatre of the Golden Bough closes and becomes a storage facility.
1983-84
Stephen Moorer creates GroveMont Theatre (eventually renamed Pacific Repertory Theatre), staging productions at Carmel's Cherry Hall, and presenting Robinson Jeffers' Medea at the Forest Theater, featuring local acting legend Rosamond Goodrich Zanides.
PacRep reactivates the old Carmel Shakespeare Festival at the Forest Theater. The company also begins producing children's and family productions on the outdoor stage, and the aging facility enjoys a "cultural awakening," once again receiving attention from the theatre-going and business community.
1990
PacRep campaigns to Save the Golden Bough, eventually raising $1.2 million to prevent the facility from succumbing to the wrecking ball. The inaugural season opens in March 1995 with repertory productions of Death of a Salesman on the main stage and La Bete in the Circle Theatre, both directed by PacRep Founder Stephen Moorer.
2001
Olympia Dukakis performed in PacRep's The Cherry Orchard.
2007
Susannah York performed in her solo show, The Loves of Shakespeare's Women at the Golden Bough.
2008
Hamilton star Daveed Diggs performed as Troilus in PacRep's Troilus & Cressida, and in the cast The Comedy of Errors.
