Coronado Playhouse

Coronado Playhouse, the oldest, longest-running community theatre in San Diego County, has been dedicated to providing quality entertainment to the Coronado community since 1946. The 100-seat, cabaret-style theatre, overlooks beautiful Glorietta Bay and is part of the beautiful Coronado Community Center. The current venue opened in 2006 with state-of-the-art equipment and a full service bar.

We produce high quality productions each year – with the best local talent and production teams available – which entertain, educate and enrich our patrons. In addition, we offer showcases, special events, classes and educational opportunities for students and adults to thrive in the local artistic community. We draw upon local creative and technical talent to give Coronado and San Diego residents vibrant, creative and safe training in the theatrical arts.

Coronado Playhouse is the longest-running arts organization in Coronado, now located in the Coronado Community Center on beautiful Glorietta Bay.

Coronado Playhouse was first organized as the Coronado Players in February 1946. After four successful seasons of performing in a local high school auditorium (and selling tickets door to door), the Players purchased a World War II WAVE barracks and an adjoining Quonset hut from the U.S. Navy at North Island.

That building housed the theatre until it was demolished in 2003 to make way for the Glorietta Bay Project, which includes the new City Hall, a small park, and the Coronado Community Center (which houses the Coronado Playhouse).

In May 1950, Rena Kennyon directed the melodrama, The Curse of an Aching Heart, the first production to be staged in the then-new theatre on North Island. Since 1946, the Playhouse has produced over two hundred productions, 100 of which were directed by Stanley Martin, a professional director at the theatre for 22 years. Mr. Martin directed Suds in Your Eyes, based on the best selling book by Mary Lasswell, which ran for an impressive sixteen consecutive summers from 1950-1966.

When the old theatre was demolished, Coronado Playhouse operated out of a temporary strung structure Pavilion at the Coronado Ferry Landing. In 2006, we moved into the Coronado Community Center theatre at 1835 Strand Way when the Community Center was completed.

The theatre started a new summer tradition in 1997 with the Annual Free Classic Series, that we hold every year.

Our theatre is operated under the direction of a Board of Directors, who are elected by the membership. Performers and stage and technical crew are all dedicated volunteers.

The Playhouse is self-supporting through box office revenues, season tickets, memberships, donations, grants and the generosity of volunteers.

The Playhouse is an intimate, 100 seat cabaret-style theatre with a full service bar. It provides quality entertainment with a mix of classic and modern comedies, dramas, and mysteries; dazzling musicals; colorful free Classics; and exciting original works by local authors.