Children’s Musical Theater San Jose has a new home.
The nationally acclaimed theater company, which offers theatrical training to young performers ages 4-20 and stages several shows each year, announced the opening of its CMT Creative Arts Center on Thursday (April 15).
It’s a result of the company’s $2.2 million capital campaign, which has been flourishing over the past year — even while precautions surrounding COVID-19 necessitated shutting down in-person theater operations around the Bay Area.
The organization, which has been honored a dozen times by the National Endowment for the Arts and reportedly ranks as the oldest operating performing arts organization in San Jose, was just $80,000 away from hitting that $2.2 million figure as of Wednesday, according to an email sent out to the CMT community.
“For years we have lived and breathed the philosophy of not just making lemonade out of life’s lemons, but making a delicious lemon pie and teaching our children how to make one themselves,” said CMT San Jose artistic director Kevin Hauge. “We have had many such lemons throughout our incredible 53-year run at CMT, none of which like this past one that affected us and our community in so many ways.
“I am so proud that we can now say that we — our organization, our children, and our community — didn’t just survive this past year but are coming out of it stronger, more resilient and more vivacious than ever, and this new cutting-edge arts center is the living proof of that.”
The 25,000-square-foot space, housing five rehearsal studios, costume/props shops and plenty of storage and classroom space, is located at 1545 Parkmoor Ave. in San Jose, not far from CMT’s previous headquarters at 1401 Parkmoor Ave.
The Creative Arts Center will debut on May 4, when the organization begins in-person auditions for its three summer productions.
Those productions would typically take place at CMT’s longtime performance venue — the Montgomery Theater in downtown San Jose. But this summer — due to COVID-19 precautions about performing indoors — the productions will take place at an outdoor space created in the side parking lot of the Creative Arts Center. Those three productions are “Snoopy! The Musical” (featuring actors ages 7-10) “Starlight Express” (ages 10-14) and “American Idiot” (ages 14-20) which will run concurrently — summer repertoire style — July 8-25.
“It was particularly enriching to me and the staff to be able to continue working with the kids in the past year via video,” Hauge says. “But I’m beyond excited to see all the talented children again in person in the new center. We have worked hard with so many people on our board and beyond to make the new home easy for young people to navigate, for parents to thrive, and for enabling the best experience for our performers. This is a milestone moment for this organization, and I’m privileged to have led it towards its bright future.”
The center will feature an updated state-of-the-art SMART sound system, theatrical lighting and a contemporary dance floor, providing classes and workshops for all ages and skill levels. It also offers ample complimentary parking for those visiting the center. It will be “a safe space for youth performers, parent volunteers, full-scale production workshops, master classes and educational programs,” according to a news release.
“My family has benefited greatly from CMT, and now with the new CMT Creative Arts Center, our children will have a world-class facility to learn, create, and dream big as they go back to their second home,” said CMT Board Member Erez Yereslove. “For over 53 years, CMT has provided the superior theater arts training to youth in the region — our community is so fortunate to have this theater arts treasure right in our backyard.”
Visit www.cmtsj.org for more information.
