Construction Update the Third!

The construction team is just clicking right along. We have the frame for the new stage and the risers up.

The stage is the object to the right, the seat risers to the left. There will be some seats on ground level. Most of the seats are removable so we can reconfigure if we want to. We'll also have a few tall cabaret tables in case we want to do something a little bit different.

Then the work to make it a safe and functional stage started.

The upper level is getting all built out.

And the latest is the staircase to the upper level. We had to have the steel frame custom made but it's up and ready for some actual stairs!

Exciting! It's starting to feel like an actual theatre!

Construction Update the Second!

Huge progress is being made at our new home in Redwood City.

We've gone from rough frames:

To solid walls!

That orange piece of equipment in the front is a scissors lift - it's a platform that lifts people up and down. Necessary when you're doing silly things like building an all new mezzanine. 

That little window up there is for the tech booth. The stage manager and various tech folk will sit up there during a show to run the lights and sound and program all the whizz bang effects that go into prettying up a show. 

Here's a look at the interior of the new theatre from the point of view of an actor standing on the currently imaginary stage: 

They've even got the new mezzanine up and safe enough for Executive Artistic Director Meredith Hagedorn to check out the view from the future balcony. We might have some fun VIP seating up there some day. 

I love  that on the wall across from Meredith you can see where the old staircase was.

Boom! Gone! 

And last but not least, here's a look back toward the front of the building from the new hallway. Note the size of that part of the lobby and that we've moved the front door front and center! 

It's starting to look like an actual theatre! If you come see our current show, The Little Dog Laughed (and you SHOULD because it's HILARIOUS. Don't take my word for it, here's a great review) there's a nice scale model in the lobby - check it out because it's pretty darn cool. And you'll get a better idea of what we're buildling toward. We are still fundraising for the build so if you have a few bucks, please donate in the buckets in the lobby when you're at the show or contact me (Kim) at kim@dragonproductions.net for more information! See you at the show! 

Construction Update

We broke ground at our new facility on Broadway in downtown Redwood City a few weeks ago and our contractor, Louis, is just building like crazy and it's starting to look like, you know, a theatre!

We started like this, at the July Sneak Peek event:

The staircase is on the left, there's a half balcony with office space, and under the stairs are offices. There's HVAC piping all over the place for the heating and cooling systems.

Then demolition happened. First the carpeting was pulled up.

 Then the HVAC piping came down.

Then walls started coming down.

The offices under the stairs are basically where the backstage will be.

Looking to the front from the back of the building. That open space on the right WAS office space. 

And the side staircase came out and the framing for the walls went up.

Louis conferring with our architects from Chiu Lao Architecture Design.

The mezzanine walls were gutted because we're expanding it. We'll have an office, a classroom, the tech booth, and a small balcony upstairs when we're done.

All of the walls are getting framed out so the shape of the theatre is becoming more clear.

This is the view from the current front door. 

This is the view of the new lobby.

The framing for the upstairs.

This is the back wall of the theatre where the fixed seats will go.

Not bad for only a few weeks work! We're making great progress on our fundraising efforts but still have a ways to go. If you can help us with a gift, please visit our fundraising page for details on how you can help build the next generation of the Dragon Theatre in downtown Redwood City!

Fun Facts About Redwood City

Since we're starting to spend more time downtown, I wanted to learn a little more about our new home. Here's what I've learned about Redwood City so far...

Redwood City's Slogan

Redwood City's slogan, emblazoned on arches across Broadway at the east and west entrances to downtown, is "Climate Best By Government Test." This is based on a climatological survey conducted by the United States and German governments prior to World War I. The area centered on Redwood City tied for the world's best climate with the Canary Islands and North Africa's Mediterranean Coast.



Education in Redwood City

Sequoia High School is a high school in downtown Redwood City, California, United States. Established in 1895, it is the oldest high school in the San Francisco Bay Area between San Francisco and San Jose. It was founded as a preparatory school for Stanford University. Today, it is one of the few schools to offer the International Baccalaureate (IB) Diploma Programme within the Bay Area.

The present-day campus is located on the grounds of the former estate of Horace Hawes, author of the legislative bill that created San Mateo County. The grounds include a Japanese tea garden and is surrounded by a number of historical trees; the Giant Sequoia, Monkey-puzzle tree, Australian Tea tree, Ginkgo biloba trees, Cork Oak tree and many others.

Sequoia High School is part of the Sequoia Union High School District.

On September 13, 2007 Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger visited Sequoia High School to sign bill SB 33, which prohibits persons who are under the age of 18 years from using a wireless telephone or other mobile service device while operating a motor vehicle.

Law and Order in Redwood City

The Scott Peterson trial was held in Redwood City.

In 1976, Patty Hearst was held at the San Mateo County jail, as it was the most secure facility in the Bay Area at the time. Hearst, the heiress and granddaughter of the legendary newspaper publisher William Randolph Hearst, was kidnapped by a radical group, the Symbionese Liberation Army (SLA), and made national headlines when she joined the group in a series of crimes.

Author Ken Kesey spent time in the San Mateo County jail in 1967 for possession of marijuana. During his incarceration he wrote Kesey’s Jail Journal.

In addition to the new 20-screen theatre, major improvements were made to the historical courthouse located on Broadway. In the late 30's an addition was built in front of the original structure, obscuring the view. It was torn down as part of the revitalization project. The building has been replaced with a large courtyard flanked by water fountains on either side, leading to the main steps of the courthouse. The courthouse's glass dome is lit at night and changes colors every 11 seconds.

On Location in Redwood City

Harold and Maude was filmed at various Northern California locations. There is a scene of Maude liberating a "poor tree that can't breathe" which was filmed in front of the San Mateo County Government Center in downtown.

The courthouse scenes of Mrs. Doubtfire were filmed at the Redwood City courthouse.


Famous Redwood City Residents

• Gary Beban: 1967 Heisman Trophy winner, briefly played professional football for the Washington Redskins.
• Ray Dolby: 1951 Founder of Dolby Laboratories, producer of Dolby Sound used in nearly every movie.
• Spencer Folau: 1991 Super Bowl Championship Team with the Baltimore Ravens.
• Tim Genis: 1984 Boston Symphony Lead Timpanist
• Roger Dennis "Denny" Hansen: Rhodes Scholar All American Swimmer @ Sequoia, Yale University, Subject of Calvin Trillin's Remembering Denny (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 1993; the true story of a golden boy's rise and fall),
• Charles Johnson: professional basketball player for the Golden State Warriors.
• Paul McClellan: Major League Baseball (MLB) player for the San Francisco Giants.
• Gordon Moore: 1946 Co-founder of Intel Corporation, best known for Moore's Law.
• Paul Noce: former MLB player with the Chicago Cubs.
• Kenny Ortega: 1968 Emmy Award winner and Director and Choreographer for the High School Musical franchise. Longtime choreographer for Michael Jackson. Directed and choreographed the film Newsies.
• Eric Dane (in school as Eric Feldman): Former Student 1987–1990 — Actor on Grey's Anatomy and Marley & Me.
• Dick Sharon: former MLB player.
• Dick Stuart: former MLB player with the Pittsburgh Pirates.
• Bob Svihus: 1961 Played with the Oakland Raiders and the New York Jets from 1965–1973.
• Tim Twietmeyer: Ultramarathon runner, best known for his completing the Western States Endurance Run more than 25 times in under 24 hours.
• Linda Cardellini: actress born in Redwood City, best known for her roles in ER and Freaks & Geeks.

Sister cities

•  Colima, Colima, Mexico
•  Zhuhai, China
•  Annapolis, Maryland, USA
•  Aguililla, Michoacán, Mexico

Enter the Dragon!

We've not been shy about telling everyone that this will be our last season in our current home at 535 Alma Street in downtown Palo Alto. As much as we love love LOVE our current home, we're actually outgrowing it. Last season we had regular sell outs. We rent the space out as often as we can to other groups needing a theatre for a magic show, a work shop, a one-woman show,  and off-site company meeting, or whatever. And the fact of the matter is, we've flat out hit capacity. We've had to start turning some rentals away because we just don't have the room. With rent going up and our revenue stream basically maxed out, we realized it was time to think about something bigger. Not a ton bigger, we like that we're small. We're proud to do what we do up close and personal. But we do need room to grow. We have some ideas for the future and 42 seats just isn't enough any more.

So... for about 10 months or so our Executive Artistic Director, Meredith, has been working with a realtor to find the home of Dragon 3.0. See, Dragon 1.0 was an itinerant company searching for a permanent home. Dragon 2.0 landed in Palo Alto. And now in the middle of our 7th year in Palo Alto, we're on the move with Dragon 3.0. And we're moving to the "theatre district" in downtown Redwood City.

It was important to us to find a new space with the following requirements:
1. ample, easy, and cheap parking
2. in an area where we can be a part of a community
3. in an area where you can grab dinner or drinks and walk around safely before or after the show.
4. more space for a price that we can reach and sustain. A space that is still an intimate space, but that gets us more seats, a backstage, better storage, private office space, a classroom, and a studio for rehearsals or smaller events.

We think that our new location at 2120 Broadway Street in downtown Redwood City hits all of these requirements.

Meredith recently sat down with Rebecca Wallace at the Palo Alto Weekly to fill her in on the move -  check out the article here for full details on the new space, including some pictures of the theatre and a draft of the new facility's blueprints!

So yes, we're leaving Palo Alto, but we're not going far. It's just a stop or two up the Caltrain route and is really easy to get to in your car with has lots of parking nearby. We're in the final stages of permit approval and lease negotiation and all that necessary legal stuff, but hope to start construction this summer. We'll be posting updates and photos as we go along so you can see how it's going.

We will be opening our 2013 season at this new space so we've only got 2 more shows in Palo Alto.

In the meantime, we will be needing a lot of support this summer as moving is never fun or easy. We'll need volunteers to help us pack, move, paint, install things, clean up the old space, and likely a million other things that we haven't even thought about yet. If you've got some time to spare in the second half of the year, please contact our Company Manger, Jason, at jason@dragonproductions.net as he's starting a list of people to call on when we need all hands on deck later this year.

We're also ramping up the biggest fundraising effort in Dragon history. If you would like to make a special gift to Dragon this year, please contact me, Kim, at kim@dragonproductions.net and we can talk about how you can pitch in to help the Dragon Theatre 3.0 become a reality in Redwood City!

Save some time on the evening of July 7th for a party at the new space in Redwood City. We'll be letting you, our loyal Dragon family, in for a full 2013 Sneak Peek - you can come tour the new space, take a closer look at the latest renderings from the architects, and nibble on some desserts while we unveil scenes from our 2013 season. We'll be sending out an email at the end of this week with all the details so watch your inbox!

Thanks so much for reading this big old thing. We are SO EXCITED about this next phase in the life of Dragon Productions Theatre Company and hope that you are too!

As always, if you have any questions or concerns, feel free to contact us at info@dragonproductions.net or me directly at kim@dragonproductions.net !

See you at the theatre!

--Kimberly Wadycki
Marketing & Development Manager
Dragon Productions Theatre Company