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The city of Palo Alto and TheatreWorks Silicon Valley announced this morning that they are exploring a partnership to create a performing arts center with two theaters at Cubberley Community Center, a project that city leaders hope will energize their broader effort to renovate the eclectic community hub.
Under the new proposal, the existing Cubberley theater would be refurbished and upgraded, with improvements including an extra bathroom, an expanded lobby and greater accessibility. Next to it, the city and TheatreWorks plan to build a new professional-sized theater that the award-winning theater company would use for its productions.
The existing theater would continue to be used for a wide range of performing arts groups, according to the announcement from the city and TheatreWorks, which currently stages productions at the Lucie Stern Community Center and at the Mountain View Center for the Performing Arts.
The announcement could present a significant breakthrough for Palo Alto’s urgent effort to renovate Cubberley, a beloved community center that includes space for nonprofit groups, artist studios, athletic clubs, martial arts studios, schools and other uses.
After struggling for more than three decades to develop a plan to improve Cubberley, the City Council last fall struck a deal with the Palo Alto Unified School District, which owns 27 acres in the 35-acre center and leases most of the space to the city.
Under the agreement, the city would buy 7 acres from the school district for $65.5 million and pursue a phased development plan on the 15-acre portion now owned by the city. Under a master plan that the City Council embraced last October, the expanded city-owned portion would house a wellness center, enhanced performing arts spaces, parking structures, new bikeways, classrooms, studios and other improvements.
The city is exploring a phased approach to redevelop Cubberley, with the first phase focusing on basic repairs, renovation of the performing arts center, a new wellness center and improvements to education spaces. Staff has estimated that this phase would cost about $392 million, which includes the $65.5 million land purchase.
Future phases would include additional visual arts facilities, as well as technology spaces, a cafe, native gardens, a central plaza and other improvements.
The deal between the city and the school district hinges on Palo Alto voters approving in November a measure to fund the purchase and the first phase of improvements. Recent polls showed solid resident support for making basic repairs at Cubberley but little enthusiasm for more ambitious enhancements, particularly if these projects add more than $250 to their annual tax bills.
Given these limitations, City Council members recognized at recent discussions that private partners would be key to achieving the type of ambitious improvements they are aiming for. A group of civic leaders is already raising money for the new wellness center. Now, TheatreWorks is similarly stepping up to contribute funding for the redevelopment. As part of the new proposal, TheatreWorks would initiate its own fundraising effort to help pay for the construction of the theater complex, according to the joint announcement from the city and the theater company.
Katie Blodgett, chair of the TheatreWorks board of trustees, said the company is “excited to take this first step with the city of Palo Alto.”
“We know there is a long road ahead and that years of hard work will be required to realize this goal,” Blodgett said in a statement. “We will first need support from the community enabling the city to acquire additional land from the school district. Once that critical milestone is met, we look forward to undertaking the effort to bring this dream to life.”
Established in 1970 by Robert Kelley, TheatreWorks has been performing at the Lucie Stern Theatre since its inception. It also began staging productions at the Mountain View Center for Performing Arts when the venue opened in 1991. TheatreWorks plans to continue operating out of the two venues while the Cubberley project advances, according to the announcement.
Since its founding, the company has produced 77 world premieres and 176 regional premiers, according to the announcement. In 2019, it won a Regional Theatre Tony Award, the highest honor given to a theater company outside Broadway.
Kelley, who retired in 2020, lauded the possibility of giving TheatreWorks a new permanent home in Palo Alto.
“For 55 years, TheatreWorks has engaged our community with thrilling productions wherever space could be found: from the Baylands Nature Center to the parking garage at City Hall, and onward to churches, libraries, outdoor spaces, and a number of other intriguing, but part-time theatres,” Kelley said in a statement. “With strong community support, we’ve created one of America’s highly acclaimed, Tony Award recipient professional theatres.
“Looking ahead, I hope TheatreWorks will fulfill its greatest dream: a permanent home for the next half-century of incredible art.”
TheatreWorks is now led by Artistic Director Giovanna Sardelli and Executive Director Phil Santora. Sardelli said that the company prides itself in “creating theatre that is nationally known and locally grown.”
“The arts are vital to a vibrant community, bringing its citizens together in conversation, discovery and collaboration,” Sardelli said in a statement. “We are elated by the city’s investment in the future of the arts in Silicon Valley, shaping a facility that will serve its community for many years to come.”
The new proposal comes just days after the City Council chose the renovation of the Cubberley as one of its top priorities for 2026 at its annual retreat. Council member Julie Lythcott-Haims, who sits on a council committee that is charged with advancing Cubberley improvements, was among the advocates for paying special attention to the project in 2026.
“It’s a priority that we get this land purchased from the school district, en route to building or rebuilding an enhanced community center,” Lythcott-Haims said at the retreat.
With the TheatreWorks partnership announced, Lythcott-Haims said the Cubberley Ad Hoc Committee was “ecstatic to learn of TheatreWorks’ interest in investing in the city in which it was born by helping us bring our vision for Cubberley to life.”
“This partnership will seat professional quality productions in the new facility, alongside the newly refurbished existing theater which has long been a cherished home to numerous community performance groups,” she said.
She predicted that TheatreWorks will attract audiences from throughout the region and elevate the city’s cultural reputation, while also furthering the council’s priority to “foster greater wellness and belonging in our community for which the performing arts are vital tools.”
Council member Pat Burt, who also serves on the Cubberley Ad Hoc Committee, cited the city’s historic partnership with TheatreWorks, as well as their shared commitments to “innovation, embracing and sharing new ideas, reflecting the community’s multicultural character, investing in young people and future generations, and maintaining the highest professional standards.
“It also reinforces our commitment to the arts as a public good, essential to our community,” Burt said.
As a Mountain View resident and long-time Theatreworks subscriber I’ll be sad if Theatreworks ever leaves Mtn. View. I’m hopeful, though, that “the Palo Alto process” will insure that nothing much will happen for the next 5-10 years. I believe I’m correct in saying that about a year ago the Mtn. View City Council reduced the number of dates that Theatreworks could use the Main Stage, which is why one performance (“A Driving Beat”) was performed in Second Stage. The rationale was to create more open dates for other uses of Main Stage, but it’s going to feel like we shot ourselves in the foot in Theatreworks eventually ceases mounting productions at the MVCPA.