South Valley Civic Theatre
SVCT provides high quality community theater to the residents of South Santa Clara County and beyond.
High Quality Community Theater
South Valley Civic Theatre (SVCT) is a non-profit 501(c)3 community theater organization directed and staffed entirely by volunteers. Our mission is to provide high quality community theater to the residents of South Santa Clara County and beyond. We produce musical and non- musical live theater, drawing on talented musicians and non-professional actors from as far away as the North Bay and Hollister.
Support For Our Youth
We are also proud of our tradition of encouraging young actors and helping them grow. Of the five shows we present each year, we always include a children’s show, a teen show, and at least one other show with multiple roles for young people. We believe that involvement in community theater is an important means for youth to develop confidence and skills and for adults to support the youth of our community.
Our History
South Valley Civic Theatre (SVCT) is entering its fifty-first year of presenting live theater to patrons from the South Bay and beyond. It is the resident theater company of the Morgan Hill Community Playhouse. Each annual season features five productions, typically including a large musical with an all-age cast, a smaller and/or perhaps more modern or less well-known musical, a teen musical, a children’s musical, and a non-musical comedy or drama. Our play selection committee strives each year to create a balance of classic and contemporary theater that showcases the talents of our acting community and captivates our audiences.
SVCT’s roots date back to 1969, when Gilroy Community Theatre (GCT) was established in 1969 by Gilroy residents Al and Frances “Pinky” Bloom and a small group of dedicated volunteers. GCT’s first show was Come Blow Your Horn, in September, 1969. GCT became a nonprofit 501(c)3 organization in 1974. The “Theater Angels Art League”, a precursor to today’s “Gilroy Arts Alliance”, initially served as the fund-raising/auxiliary end of the theater and typically provided an opening night reception for each production.
Initial productions were typically mounted at Gavilan College (usually three a year) and, as GCT slowly became profitable, they began to give back to the community. They established a scholarship fund for Gilroy High School and Gavilan College students in 1975 and donated draperies and other equipment for the theater facilities at Gavilan College. In turn, Gilroy Unified School District and Gavilan College provided free venues for their productions. At this time, GCT also started setting aside money in anticipation of a permanent future home in. In 1978, GCT was honored by the Gilroy Chamber of Commerce as one of three outstanding clubs in Gilroy. This type of community-based collaboration allowed GCT to begin to set aside money in the hope of establishing a permanent home.
In 1983, George Costa joined GCT as its Managing Director. Previously he had served as producer and director for the San Jose Civic Light Opera (SJCLO), which later was renamed American Musical Theatre of San Jose. Costa was responsible for SJCLO’s tremendous growth and status from 1963 until 1981, and his skills and experience were important factors in GCT’s continued growth over the next few years.
However, the early 1980’s were also tough times financially for GCT, with ambitious productions and small audiences creating an ongoing budget deficit. Board members frequently fronted production costs, and worries grew about the continued viability of the organization. Two pivotal events in 1985 turned GCT around: Russell Hendrickson, of Center Stage in Gilroy, generously dedicated two performances of The 1940’s Radio Hour to benefit GCT. Then a highly successful summer production of Annie finally moved GCT into the black.
In 1985, the GCT board voted to expand performance locations to include Hollister and Morgan Hill and. to reflect the broadened coverage, they changed their name to South Valley Civic Theatre (SVCT). The first show performed in Morgan Hill was Same Time Next year, in December, 1985, and the first in Hollister was They’re Playing Our Song, in March, 1986.
In 1991, SVCT identified what they hoped would become their permanent home in a former nightclub in Morgan Hill’s Tennant Station shopping center. The City of Morgan Hill provided SVCT with a $5,000 redevelopment grant, and SVCT members spent their evenings and weekends painting, furnishing, and wiring their new playhouse. The South Valley Playhouse opened with a children’s performance of Narnia in October, 1991. However, just four years later, the property was sold and SVCT found itself once again homeless.
For the next decade, SVCT fell back to performing in diverse venues: Gilroy High School, San Benito High School, Live Oak High School, the Old Gilroy Hotel, the Good Food Company Morgan Hill, the Pumpkin Patch in San Martin, Gavilan Theater, and even Rosso’s Furniture store. Rehearsal space ranged from the back of a paint store in Gilroy to the community room in a Morgan Hill mobile home park. SVCT membership continued to grow slowly, although show attendance was sporadic as patrons struggled to follow where SVCT would be performing next.
Morgan Hill Community Playhouse
In 2001, as the City of Morgan Hill embarked upon a major redevelopment project to build a Community and Cultural Center in downtown Morgan Hill. SVCT collaborated with the city to have a 1920′s church, which was already on the property, moved to the corner of the campus and refurbished as a modern playhouse. (Read more about the building of the CCC.) The Morgan Hill Community Playhouse was beautifully renovated as as a charming blend of old and new, re-born into a modern, 186 seat performance facility. SVCT was established as the resident theater company of the Morgan Hill Community Playhouse, and opened at the Playhouse with Lend Me A Tenor in February, 2003.
In January, 2009, SVCT held a 40th anniversary gala celebration! Among those in attendance was GCT co-founder Pinky Bloom.
With a permanent home, SVCT has thrived. Increased membership and ticket sales have enabled SVCT to afford rental warehouse space for rehearsals, storage, and set construction. SVCT continues to stretch itself, staging more challenging productions. This, in turn, draws additional acting and production staff talent from a broad geographic area. These factors, along with the commitment of the community and the volunteers, all contribute to the high caliber of its productions.
SVCT is proud of the quality of its shows and of the community commitment and involvement that brings our shows to life and delights our audiences.
