Our Mission
With community at our core, Palo Alto Players is the home for creating exceptional theatre experiences that inspire, entertain, and enrich the lives of our local artists and audiences.
Ideology
At Palo Alto Players, we put community first. We ensure everyone who walks through our doors feels welcomed and valued, because we believe that people matter. We believe that theatre matters. We believe that theatre should matter to more people.
Our Values
We hold ourselves to the highest standards in every area of production and operation, creating a supportive environment for artists, staff, and volunteers to do their best work.
We celebrate our legacy and cultivate our future by using the resources entrusted to us responsibly and efficiently.
We embrace our community’s rich diversity in our programming, on our stage, and in our audiences. We believe the best possible theatre experience belongs to everybody.
We believe that lives are transformed by access to and participation in theatre, and we are committed to removing barriers and creating opportunities.
What We Do
Based at the Lucie Stern Theater since 1933, Palo Alto Players presents a diverse season of mainstage plays and musicals featuring exclusively local actors, designers, directors, choreographers, and musicians. Together, more than 200 artists bring each season to life on our stage and behind the scenes.
IDEAL
IDEAL: (Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, Access, and Liberation)
We are on a continued journey to refine our administrative and artistic processes through an IDEAL lens — setting the example for a theatre of the future that reflects the beautiful diversity of the community we serve.
As part of this commitment, Palo Alto Players seeks strong representation of BIPOC artists and artists of other underrepresented identities in our productions. We see diversity in casting and production staffing — colorful and identity-conscious — as the key to true equity. Rather than focus our storytelling on one cultural identity or another, we tell a season of stories, old and new, with artists as diverse as our community. This means giving our audiences the opportunity to see people they identify with, both on our stage and behind the scenes.
Land Acknowledgement
Palo Alto Players acknowledges that we gather on the ancestral homelands of the Ramaytush, Muwekma, and Ohlone people, who are the indigenous peoples of this land. Join us in paying our respects and honoring their ancestors, their elders, and their communities. To learn more about the Native American tribes of California, visit native-land.ca.
Our History
Palo Alto Players was formed in 1931 when a group of 100 like-minded citizens gathered to create a theatre dedicated to their community. Initial productions were held at a makeshift performance space in the Palo Alto Community House adjacent to the train station (now MacArthur Park Restaurant). The Players soon gained a patron in front-row-center audience member Lucie Stern, who donated the funds to give them an artistic home — the Palo Alto Community Theatre, now part of the city-owned Lucie Stern Community Center at Rinconada Park.
In 1934, the company was incorporated as the tax-exempt nonprofit Palo Alto Community Players, Inc. During World War II, the company produced “defense plays” for civil defense information and entertainment, and traveled to military camps across the Bay Area to entertain the troops. In 1948, the Players launched the Palo Alto Teen Players, a group that lasted through the late 1960s. Musicals became a regular part of the season in the 1950s.
In 1974, Palo Alto Players’ status as a City-sponsored program with the Parks and Recreation Department formally ended, and the organization transitioned to an independent nonprofit corporation. Since then, the City of Palo Alto has continued to support Palo Alto Players with a stable artistic home at the Lucie Stern Theater.
In 1986, under Executive Director Peter Bliznick, the company received the historic Fox Theater in downtown Redwood City as a charitable donation. A new branch of the company, Peninsula Center Stage (PCS), began with three seasons of open-air Shakespeare-at-Woodside performances (1988-1990), and in 1991 PCS began mounting full musical seasons to standing-room-only audiences at the Fox. The Fox building was sold in 1998, and in March 2000 PCS productions ceased in Redwood City, enabling the organization to concentrate fully on producing high-quality productions at Palo Alto Players.
Now under the executive leadership of Artistic Director Patrick Klein (2014) and Managing Director Elizabeth Santana (2015), Palo Alto Players is in a new era of growth, embracing its role in the community with a spirit of innovation to delight and inspire 21st-century audiences and artists.
Notable Alumni
Palo Alto Players has been an artistic home for many acclaimed local artists who have gone on to make important contributions in entertainment, education, and film, including:
- Danny Glover — Of Mice and Men (1976)
- Waldo Salt — Mr. Pim Passes By (1935); two-time Oscar-winning screenwriter of Midnight Cowboy and Coming Home
- Jack Palance — The Philadelphia Story (1946); 1991 Oscar recipient
The roots of many of the Bay Area’s theatre companies, including many of its artists and artistic leaders, can be traced back to Palo Alto Players.
Recognition
- Palo Alto Tall Tree Award for Outstanding Nonprofit (2022)
- Best Professional Theatre, BroadwayWorld (2013)
- Theatre Bay Area Award recognition
- San Francisco Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle recommendations
- San Francisco Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle Award nominations
- San Francisco Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle Award wins:
- Gypsy – Best Choreography, Mike Saenz
- The Play That Goes Wrong – Best Entire Production South Bay
- Allegiance – Best Direction, Vinh Nguyen
- Allegiance – Best Music Direction, Benjamin Belew
- Allegiance – Best Costume Design, Y. Sharon Peng
- All The Way – Best Featured Actress, Shannon Turner
