Sierra Madre Playhouse: A Century of Treasures

In the 1920s, the building, now known as the Sierra Madre Playhouse, was a theater for silent films, and then “talkies” in the 30s and 40s. It opened as a performing arts venue in the 1970s. This year, the San Gabriel Valley area landmark celebrates its centenary. Throughout its performance history, the 99-seat theater has earned multiple Ovation Awards, NAACP Image Awards and LA Times Critics Choice honors.

In 1982, Tom Hanks stood in for a friend in Barefoot in the Park , and in 2023, Rep. Judy Chu (D-Calif.), designated the Playhouse a leading area ‘Nonprofit of the Year.”

Matthew Cook, the Playhouse’s artistic and executive director, says the venue prides itself on presenting world-class performing artists at accessible prices. Calling it “A unique cultural hub for our community,” Cook states, “Our performances are distinctively curated to activate diverse voices within the community. This approach allows us to explore a wide range of artistic endeavors, opting for more intimate compositions like a composer's string quartet over larger-scale productions such as operas.”

He adds that the Playhouse reaches people with many interests, much like “a movie theater that presents many different genres of films.” The performance slate features old favorites and newer productions, “ensuring both innovation and continuity.”

The centenary celebrations featured a festival of silent films with Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton, and Harold Lloyd, accompanied by a live piano. “The Bee’s Knees,” the Playhouse’s Roaring 20s-inspired gala, featured a Lloyd silent film double bill and a dinner and speakeasy at Roe Fusion honoring Lloyd’s granddaughter Suzanne, who is also the trustee of his extensive film library.

The spring program of theater, music, comedy, and family-friendly programs culminates in Jason Robert Brown’s musical “The Last Five Years,” which runs May 17-June 16.

Although no official records are available from the venue's early decades, current management estimates that over the past 100 years, the theater has presented approximately 75,000 film, theatrical and other live performances.

Mary Baville, a longtime subscriber, patron, and volunteer who has been taking audience reservations for about 25 years, attends approximately three or four shows a year and lists easy parking, proximity to local restaurant The Only Place in Town, and an intimate setting as some of the venue’s merits. Over the decades, the Playhouse has become more than a community theater, she tells Pasadena Magazine — more professional and more eclectic — with pandemic upgrades making the Playhouse “more inviting for the community and the city.”

“Where [else] can you see a professional show in the heart of a city with plenty of free parking?” she asks. “I am looking forward to the future of this beautiful little theater.”

“Our flexibility and lower overhead enable us to take artistic risks and produce lesser-known works,” says Cook, adding that the Playhouse is “distinctively positioned” to host high-caliber lineups — including Grammy Award winners — and experiences such as post-show interactions with the presenting artists, providing an intimacy that larger L.A. County venues cannot match.