The long-running Camino Real Playhouse (Photo by Jeff Antenore, Contributing Photographer)
The Camino Real Playhouse has been living on borrowed time. The city property it occupies was sold to a prominent local developer. Plans for a major makeover — sans theater — were embraced by the city council.
The community mainstay has been searching for a new home for years, knowing it must duck the wrecking ball sooner or later.
So it’s with some sweet irony that the Playhouse will do a holiday run of “Miracle on 34th Street” this year — the theater’s own little miracle being that it can remain in its building near San Juan Capistrano’s Mission until the end of the year, while the developer finishes up the nearby River Street Marketplace project.
The Playhouse remains hopeful it will find a new space in San Juan Cap — soon. The theater angels are at work, so keep those fingers crossed. As we’ve said before, it would be tragic to lose a community theater that survived pandemic shutdowns, only to be felled by the outrageous fortune of California real estate and the loss of redevelopment agencies (which is why the property had to be sold to begin with).
A rendering of a proposal submitted by developer Dan Almquist’s Frontier Real Estate Investments, calls for the conversion of the San Juan Capistrano’s Camino Real Theater into a state-of-the-art performing arts center.The City Council is scheduled to discuss four proposals for the playhouse property and a 68-space parking lot in a closed-door session on Tuesday, May 2. (Courtesy of Frontier Real Estate Investments)
Meantime, developer Dan Almquist — whose original vision for the Playhouse property included a theater — has formed a nonprofit called the San Juan Capistrano Performing Arts Center, whose mission is “to construct and operate a new performing arts facility with two theater venues production support areas and administrative offices,” according to its latest tax filings.
This center will offer a diverse array of performing arts productions and educational programs for audiences of all ages, the filing says, and a capital campaign to raise the money to build and operate it will be launched “over the next couple of years.”
Almquist has estimated that’ll cost some $40 million.
Concepts of a plan are being formulated for the center: Since the nonprofit’s establishment last year, it has reported contributions of $310,000 and spent $138,361, according to its most recent tax filings with the IRS.
That spending includes $22,000 on professional fundraising via Kelsch Consulting of West Sacramento (“Consulted only on fundraising plan and names of prospects for campaign,” its tax documents say); $18,399 on advertising and promotion; $23,000 on the Urban Advisory Group; $10,070 on C3 Civil Engineering; $3,243 on Land Concern; and $ 2,746 on Bickel Group Architects.
That left it with $171,639 at the beginning of this year.
Meanwhile, the Playhouse is run by the South Orange County Community Theatre, a nonprofit that has been mounting productions in SJC for some 35 years. It moved into the city-owned feed store/Pacific Bell building/playhouse on Camino Real back in 1991. It’s still a bit unclear precisely when it will be moving out.
Robin Hood gets the girl, Maid Marian, played by Gerardo Villa-Lobos and Austin Eisner, respectively at Camino Real Playhouse ( File photo by Cindy Yamanaka, Orange County Register/SCNG)
The theater reported revenue of $499,403 last year, and expenses of $243,567, leaving it with a respectable $587,592 in the bank, according to its latest tax returns.
How integral is the Playhouse to SJC? It mounts six mainstage shows for about 7,000 patrons; six to eight second stage shows for about 1,200; and eight to 10 outside performances, comedy club, solo and group concerts as well. It offers classes to hundreds of students and opportunities to dozens of artists.
“The Theatre Gives back to the community with gift certificates to fundraiser activities for 50 or more regional groups per year; makes the theatre available for meetings for these groups, opens the scene shop for set build and scenic art work for many groups including the Local Art Walk, Local Schools, Chamber of Commerce, Fiesta Association and others; also loans technical equipment to schools and other organizations as needed,” its filings say.
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Spending included $92,758 for set building, artwork and staff fees; and $21,809 for costumes, music, props, the website and rent.
The Playhouse is doing the “Jekyll & Hyde” musical through Sept. 29 (“The epic struggle between good and evil comes to life on stage”); “Duck Hunter Shoots Angel” Oct. 4-20 (“An uproarious story of two bumbling brothers who think they shot an angel”); and “Miracle on 34th Street” Nov. 29 through Dec. 22 (“Kris Kringle, an old man in a retirement home, gets a job working as Santa for Macy’s”).
One classic line from “Miracle” works well given the Playhouse’s situation: “… someday you’re going to find that your way of facing this realistic world just doesn’t work. And when you do, don’t overlook those lovely intangibles. You’ll discover they’re the only things that are worthwhile.”
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