FROM PLAYHOUSE TO POORHOUSE TO ...

1917-24--Gilmor Brown’s Community Players mount 163 plays in a former burlesque house on North Fair Oaks Avenue.

1917--Making her stage debut in the title role of “The Song of Lady Lotus Eyes,” first production of the Community Players, is a young student from the Denishawn School of Dance--Martha Graham.

1923--Players stage the American premieres of John Masefield’s “Melloney Holtspur” and August Strindberg’s “Lucky Pehr.”

1924--Brown opens his Playbox Theatre, a first attempt at central and flexible staging. Twenty-eight years later, Margo Jones would write Brown: “You must get a thrill when you see theaters using central staging all over the country and you can remember how the seed was planted in your own living room.”

1925--The Pasadena Community Playhouse is built at 39 S. El Molino Ave. by the Winter Construction Co., which also built Grauman’s Chinese. Land, buildings, fixtures and equipment are valued at close to $383,000. It is the most remarkable plant of its kind, according to Yale theater educator George Pierce Baker, who has had a hand in the planning. It is bought by the City of Pasadena 54 years later for $325,000--or $58,000 less than its original valuation.

1927--There is an attempt, never completed, to make the Community Playhouse the first fully endowed theater in the country. Goal of the endowment: $300,000.

1928--Eugene O’Neill’s “Lazarus Laughed” has its world premiere at the Playhouse during Holy Week. Brown directs a company of 136. The production is praised by the national and international press, citing impressive major performances, outstanding costumes and scenic effects (by designer James Hyde) and unusual music (by Arthur Alexander). Among congratulatory telegrams was one from Constantin Stanislavski and the Moscow Art Theatre.

1928--First classes are held for the new school of the theater, later to become the Pasadena Playhouse College of Theatre Arts.

1930--Fannie E. Morrison, a Pasadena recluse, walks up to the box office and offers to pay off the entire balance of the mortgage on the Playhouse. Morrison does, along with other debts, a total of about $206,000.

1934--Noel Coward’s “Cavalcade” has a lavish American premiere on the main stage. More than 200 actors are in the production which requires a crew and technical staff of nearly 300 people.

1935--Themed summer drama festivals begin with Shakespeare’s Chronicle plays. These festivals enjoy great popularity for the next 20 years.

1936--The six-story tower adjacent to the theater housing the Pasadena College of Theatre Arts opens. Land and building fund ($156,000) donated by Morrison.

1937--The Pasadena Community Playhouse is designated the State Theatre of California, Inc. No subsidies are involved. It drops the word “Community” from its name.

1941--Playhouse stages the premiere of William Saroyan’s “Across the Board on Tomorrow Morning.”

1942--Playhouse goes union, marking the beginning of new financial woes.

1943--Premiere of Tennessee Williams’ and Donald Windham’s “You Touched Me” at the Playbox.

1946--Premieres of Gertrude Stein’s “Yes Is for a Very Young Man” and Tennessee Williams’ “Stairs to the Roof.”

1949--Premieres of Percy Mackaye’s “Hamlet” tetralogy and Saroyan’s “Don’t Go Away Mad.”

1954--Brown, in failing health, is named president and producing director. Thomas Browne Henry is named associate director, but effectively takes over day-to-day operations. He has been with the playhouse from 1928-51 and becomes the first in a long line of successors to Brown.

1956--Brown’s health continues to decline. Fearing he might not be there to enjoy it, the Playhouse celebrates its 40th anniversary a year early.

1958--Student enrollment is 270. Ten years later it would be down to 80.

1960--Gilmor Brown dies.

1964--Utah’s C. Lowell Lees is appointed to head the Playhouse. He comes in with plans for a repertory company but suffers a heart attack that delays things by a year.

1965--Lees’ repertory season is so ambitious it results in a mountain of debts.

1966--The Internal Revenue Service padlocks the building for 11 days, for non-payment of back taxes.

1968--Albert McLeery is appointed to run the theater. The Playhouse earns the name of Pasadena Poorhouse.

1969--The summer program is canceled. McCleery sues for back pay. Debts keep the Playhouse closed for fall.

1969--The Playhouse declares bankruptcy.

1970--Playhouse contents and fixtures are sold at auction.

1975--The City of Pasadena buys the Playhouse from Bank of America for $325,000.

1976--The Playhouse is recognized as a state historical site, which saves it from the wrecking ball. It is awarded a matching $1.3 Economic Development Agency restoration grant.

1979--The city completes negotiations with developer David Houk to purchase and restore the Playhouse.

1980--Restoration begins.

1986--The Playhouse reopens after reconstruction that has cost $4.3 million and does not include the tower, which Houk estimates will cost another $4 million.