PacRep nears completion of its Golden Bough Playhouse remodel.

The anticipated opening of the Golden Bough Playhouse in Carmel, the primary performance venue for the Pacific Repertory Theatre (PacRep), has moved to late August. But the show must go on, as the saying goes, which means that the upcoming season will start on the stage of the Outdoor Forest Theater in Carmel, also managed by PacRep.

The major renovation project includes a new auditorium and a new, 800-square-foot lobby featuring accessibility improvements, among other upgrades. 

The nonprofit theater company is continuing its fundraising push as the project nears completion. On May 21, PacRep announced a $1 million community challenge campaign, initially set to run through July 1, as its "final push." In the May 21 press release, Executive Director Stephen Moorer said that the community's support is now more crucial than ever. 

In a June 16 press announcement, Moorer added, "We fully expect fundraising to continue through the end of the year, by which time we hope to secure the final gifts and pledges we so desperately need.”

The organization also announced a "final push" for fundraising toward the renovation in 2022. 

“This will be the last push for funding prior to reopening,” PacRep’s Development and Marketing Executive John Newkirk writes in an email. “The campaign will continue at least until the end of the year as we address the short-term bridge loans we have in place. To that end we are in conversations with a number of major donors who will make a significant impact in that regard.”

The total project cost, Newkirk says, doubled from $5 million to $10 million due to “pandemic-related price increases for everything from concrete and steel to labor and fuel charges.”

The renovation project has faced “significant obstacles,” according to PacRep, “including a worldwide pandemic, nationwide theater closures and substantial cost increases.”

The campaign launched in 2018 with a $2.3 million lead gift from Bertie Bialek Elliott, who had also supported the organization's previous remodel campaign of the Circle Theatre. This second, larger campaign nearing completion is for the larger Golden Bough Theatre. 

As fundraising continues, PacRep notes that "major naming opportunities" are still available and donors who give $25,000 or higher will have their names in perpetuity on the blue-ribbon donor wall in the new lobby of the Golden Bough Playhouse.

In the meantime, come see PacRep's production of Dolly Parton’s 9 to 5, The Musical at the Carmel’s Outdoor Forest Theater. A discount preview is scheduled for Friday, July 5, opening night is Saturday, July 6, and the production will run through July 21. (Ticketholders with existing reservations for the Golden Bough Theatre will be automatically moved to the Outdoor Forest Theater.)

To contribute to the capital campaign and join the community challenge, visit PacRep.org/capital-campaign or call 622-0700.