Production Archive

The department has staged more than 700 productions since 1961. These pages record each season, from the Highlands Playhouse to the University Theatre and the Studio Theatre.

Productions by year

History of the Highlands Playhouse

The Highlands Playhouse was originally part of Highland School in Hayward. "It served as a cafetorium, a combination cafeteria and auditorium." "The college purchased the facility and converted it into a science building." "With the college's move in 1963 to the new hilltop campus, and a new science building, the makeshift labs were no longer needed. The speech and drama department then proposed that it be allowed to use the building as a 145-seat theater." "It has that non-institutional look," Muir said. "The playhouse is adequate for the present, but not for the strong program we hope to have in the future." The first production in the theatre was The Strongbox. (The Daily Review, Hayward, July 20, 1966)

Relocation

"Cal State was confronted with the perplexing playhouse problem when the Hayward Unified School District decided to build additional classrooms on the former playhouse site." A truck carried the playhouse onto campus land, to a new home west of the science building, with the aim of having the revamped and relocated playhouse ready for productions in the fall quarter. (The Daily Review, Hayward, July 20, 1966)

Demolition

"Sparse crowds watched as the playhouse was crumbled on Tuesday of August 15." The Highlands Playhouse, with 150 seats, served as an interim theatre on the Hayward campus from fall 1966 to spring 1971. It housed 23 campus productions, beginning with Harold Pinter's The Birthday Party and ending with Stalag 17. "According to Cal State sources, several drama students were observed carrying away small remnants of the building, like pieces of old theatrical dreams." (The Daily Review, Hayward, August 16, 1972)

History of the University Theatre and the Studio Theatre

The project began in 1962, as Donald B. Muir wrote in his 1974 letter of invitation to the first production in the new University Theatre. The first production in the new building took place in the Studio Theatre: Christopher Fry's The Lady's Not for Burning. The opening of the University Theatre came next. "With this installation of our complex, new lighting and sound control system we can now mount the kind of productions of which we have dreamed," said Muir. "In celebration of this event we are presenting a gala production of Shakespeare's Comedy of Errors." (Invitation letter by Donald B. Muir, February 14, 1974)

"This opening marks an end as well as a beginning: our Theatre building fulfills the ambitious dreams and painstaking planning of some of our faculty for a decade or more and embodies our confident expectation of a successful future as a cultural center for the University and the community. We hope that you will enjoy our performances of Comedy of Error and will return frequently for future productions." John C. Hammerback, Chair, Department of Speech and Drama. (University Theatre Dedicatory Series booklet, 1974)