San Luis Obispo Repertory Theatre has announced three bits of good news about its new downtown theatre to be built at Monterey and Nipomo streets.
- Local philanthropist Joan Gellert Sargen has pledged an additional $1.5 million to SLO REP’s “A New Stage” capital campaign, bringing the total money raised to more than $23.8 million.
- The organization’s board of directors has voted to preserve the large oak tree on site, rather than trying to move it, after receiving new information about the tree’s health and chances of survival.
- A groundbreaking is expected in October, and completion is expected in spring 2028 with JW Design & Construction as general contractor.
“Any one of these headlines would be terrific news,” according to SLO REP managing artistic director Kevin Harris. “Having them all fall into place over the last few weeks is absolutely thrilling.”
Sargen’s generous gift is “icing on the cake,” Harris says. “It speaks volumes about our donors’ confidence in SLO REP and the power of live theatre to bring a community together.” Sargen joins SLO REP’s other four capital campaign leadership donors who have each contributed more than $1 million to the capital campaign: Catherine and Richard Luckett, Bette Kulp, the Murray Family and The Harold J. Miossi Charitable Trust.
The decision to keep the large oak tree on site comes after the SLO REP board received updated information from arborists. “Our original design always imagined this tree as part of the plaza,” according to SLO REP board president Pam Nichter. “Now the experts tell us the tree has a real chance of surviving construction, so there was only one decision to make.” The tree will be featured in the new theatre’s outdoor plaza. It survived initial root pruning in August, which also revealed that the tree’s essential root system is smaller than previously thought and will not be impacted by the new theatre. The tree also survived canopy pruning this month.
Bids for the new theatre came in on budget in August, according to Harris, and final reviews by the City of San Luis Obispo are near completion. Construction is slated to begin in the next few weeks.
SLO REP’s new venue will feature two distinct performance spaces: a 215-seat mainstage theatre for fully staged musicals, comedies, and dramas, and a flexible 100-seat black box theatre designed for staged readings, intimate plays, experimental works, comedy nights, and cabaret-style music.
The theatre currently attracts nearly 20,000 patrons annually to its current home at Morro and Palm streets, but Harris projects attendance to reach 50,000 a year in the new facility.
“Our vision is to become a nationally recognized regional theatre, positioning SLO REP as a vital cultural and economic driver for the Central Coast,” Harris says.