Proposed Cubberley rebuild would include TheatreWorks

The city of Palo Alto, which intends to ask voters in November for money to acquire and rebuild Cubberley Community Center, will include an auditorium for TheatreWorks in the project.

Plans call for renovating the existing theatre for continued use by a variety of local community groups while building a second theater for TheatreWorks.

A statement from TheatreWorks said, “While the development of Cubberley is contingent on city acquisition of land from the Palo Alto Unified School District, the city and TheatreWorks are exploring a partnership to cost-share renovations to establish a two-theatre, 40,000-square-foot performing arts center that would serve as a major cornerstone of the revitalized Cubberley complex and a prominent nexus for arts and culture in Silicon Valley.”

“Initial conversations with TheatreWorks and the city include plans to adaptively reuse the existing Cubberley theater and the pavilion, less costly and more eco-friendly methods of transforming the existing spaces into a revitalized performing arts center,” the TheatreWorks statement said.

TheatreWorks anticipates using part of a 40,000-square-foot performing arts center, which would represent 16% of the completed 247,000 square foot project.

The statement didn’t say how much money TheatreWorks would put into the project.

The city plans to go to voters in November with a tax measure to pay for the purchase of 7 acres of land at Cubberley from the school district for $65.5 million. The purchase would bring the city-owned share of the Cubberley site to 15 acres. Funds from a tax measure might also help pay for renovations at the community center located at 4000 Middlefield Road.

TheatreWorks has presented productions at Palo Alto’s Lucie Stern Theatre since the company’s inception in 1970, and at the Mountain View Center for the Performing Arts since that space opened in 1991. TheatreWorks said it will continue performing at both venues during the development of this project, should it move forward.

The Mid-Peninsula is home to several existing or planned stages for live theater shows. They include the auditorium at Menlo-Atherton High School (which was partially funded by the city of Menlo Park); Lucie Stern Community Center; Pigott Theater, Bing Concert Hall and Frost Amphitheater at Stanford; Pear Theater in Mountain View; Mountain View Center for the Performing Arts at 500 Castro St.; the Bus Barn Theater in Los Altos, and a proposed theater in downtown Los Altos.