After decades of planning and anticipation, California State University, San Bernardino is preparing to raise the curtain on a 73,337-square-foot Performing Arts Center that promises to reshape the campus arts scene and broaden opportunities for students across disciplines.
The $126.9 million facility broke ground in September 2022. When complete, it will house a 478-seat main theater with a full fly system, a basement trap space, and three levels of classrooms, rehearsal areas, and a student lounge. Donors Ellen and Stan Weisser provided a lead gift that secured naming rights to the lobby.
Scott Kruger, communication specialist for the Department of Theatre Arts, said the project “has been in the works for about 25 years, and many of our faculty who are now retired were hired with the promise that a new theater was coming.”
The building will be shared by the music and theater programs and will also function as a “roadhouse where people can come in, put on a performance, and move out,” Kruger said. The department hopes to stage Little Shop of Horrors there by the end of April if construction is complete. The project has suffered delays and is currently more than a year behind schedule.
Kruger noted that the center’s benefits extend far beyond the arts. “When it comes to improv, a lot of lawyers take those classes,” he said. “It teaches you to think on the fly and engage an audience, which is essentially what happens in a courtroom. Many teachers also take theater because it gives them the ability to speak confidently in front of large groups. Kids can be a tough audience.”
Theatre Arts will continue to use the 144-seat Barnes Theatre, opened in 1977, for productions that suit a more intimate thrust stage. “Barnes isn’t going away,” Kruger said. “Certain productions need that space.”
Kruger highlighted the black box theater, which now serves as both a podcast studio and a motion-capture lab. In the space, students use specialized equipment to track movement in real time, translating their performances into 3D computer images that blend live acting with digital technology.
Former CSUSB President Tomás D. Morales, speaking at the groundbreaking, said, “Providing our students with 21st-century resources means that they require access to state-of-the-art facilities. I know that you agree with me that our students deserve the very best. They have that already with their faculty, now we need to ensure that they have it in their learning spaces.”
Although the exterior of the new center appears nearly finished, Kruger cautioned that interior work remains. “It may look like it’s close to being done, but it’s not close to being done,” he said.
The new center continues a campus theater tradition of excellence that began in 1966 with the Players of the Pear Garden, the university’s first student club. Nearly six decades later, CSUSB is poised to enter a new era of performance and collaboration.
Finally! And we do have a photo of the building. Thank you, Stephen