Live Theater is Back at Cabrillo Playhouse!
Feb 23, 2026 11:31AM ● By Tom Marshall
by Tom Marshall
After more than three years of planning, fundraising and construction, the curtain has been raised on a new era for San Clemente’s Cabrillo Playhouse. A 1928 Ole Hanson era home, it was turned into a theater in 1966 at a cost of around $25-thousand. The first major upgrade to the facility was completed last December for ten times that amount.
After more than three years of planning, fundraising and construction, the curtain has been raised on a new era for San Clemente’s Cabrillo Playhouse. A 1928 Ole Hanson era home, it was turned into a theater in 1966 at a cost of around $25-thousand. The first major upgrade to the facility was completed last December for ten times that amount.
“We can’t praise enough our community’s support for our Raise the Roof fundraising campaign,” said Hillary Pearson, Cabrillo’s Board Of Directors president. As Cabrillo Artistic Director Michael Lopez put it, “Whether you bought a $2 bottle of water or donated thousands of dollars, you, our patrons, stepped up and made it happen.”
The stage area is now several feet wider and deeper and raising the roof gives actors more headroom when entering the stage. Also the actors no longer have to worry about the lights singeing their hair. Marc Marger has acted in several Cabrillo plays over the years. “I remember playing Snoopy in ‘You’re A Good Man Charlie Brown’ and whenever I had a scene on top of the dog house it got really hot and I worried about my costume getting singed,” Marger chuckled.
“The biggest benefit of the renovation is it allows us to have bigger and more complicated sets and a wider area for the actors to work,” Lopez noted. In addition, a $50,000 technology grant from a county non-profit enabled the Cabrillo to install state-of-the-art lighting and audio systems. The first play in the revamped theater was Company, a musical comedy. The next plays in the revamped theater are The Cottage and The Birds. You can check the schedule and purchase tickets at cabrilloplayhouse.org. On with the show!
