TheatreWorks' Robert Kelley Receives Palo Alto Honors

TheatreWorks Silicon Valley's Founding Artistic Director Robert Kelley was the star of the show for a change - receiving proclamations on Monday, August 22 from both the City of Palo Alto's Mayor Pat Burt, and Santa Clara County Supervisor Joe Simitian, acknowledging his significant contributions to the community.

Simitian expressed his admiration for the extraordinary benefit Kelley has shared with this community, remarking that having the vision for such an enterprise is one thing, but to engage scores and hundreds of others to bring that vision to a reality is remarkable. He also noted his personal connection - 46 years ago, in 1970, a teen-aged Simitian was the Stage Manager for the first show ever performed by TheatreWorks, Popcorn. He recounted that he was just a kid, and entirely unprepared for the responsibility. When Simitian expressed his concern that they needed to be rigorous, Kelley reassured him that it was possible to be rigorous and mellow at the same time - a life lesson Simitian says he has carried ever since.

Robert Kelley was visibly moved by the standing ovation he received by a large crowd of supporters in City Hall Chambers, thanking the Mayor, the Supervisor, the Councilmembers, and all present.

He also credited the City of Palo Alto as one of the true founders of TheatreWorks, which has grown into one of America's preeminent Regional Theatres, recalling that it was the City which developed what is still a unique partnership with local arts organizations, providing space for those groups to rehearse and perform, with each arts group assuming responsibility for its own budget and expenses.

As TheatreWorks enters its 47th season, it can boast a track record that includes developing and presenting an astounding 66 World Premieres - plays and musicals which were created at TheatreWorks and have gone on to be seen at theatres across the country, and on Broadway. The company has also brought local audiences their first look at 146 Regional Premieres, in addition to presenting scores of classical plays, musicals, Shakespeare, and more. TheatreWorks is lauded across the US as one of the foremost theatres developing new works, and has just concluded its 15th annual New Works Festival to packed, sold-out houses.

Kelley has been part of the Palo Alto community for more than 60 years; he attended Jordan Middle School, Palo Alto High School, and then Stanford University. He founded TheatreWorks Silicon Valley in 1970 and is believed to be the longest tenured Founding Artistic Director of any major regional theatre company in the country. In 2003, Kelley was honored with the Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle Paine Knickerbocker Award for Lifetime Achievement, and has received many BATCC Awards for Outstanding Direction. Last season he directed the record-setting production of Jane Austen's EMMA.

Since its founding in 1970, TheatreWorks Silicon Valley has become one of the nation's leaders in cultivating and producing new musicals and plays, developing and premiering more than 66 works by new and veteran artists and over 160 regional premieres. The company's New Works Festival and Writers' Retreat programs attract authors and composers of national stature (Beth Henley, Paul Gordon, MarSha Norman, Stephen Schwartz, Duncan Sheik, Joe DiPietro, and Andrew Lippa, among many others), providing an artistic home in which America's theatre artists can create new works. In addition, the company has developed scores of works which have gone on to both regional and Off-Broadway productions. A home for artists developing new works, it was at TheatreWorks thatMemphis, the 2010 Tony Award-winning musical, was first workshopped and received its world premiere.

TheatreWorks Silicon Valley is an Equity/LORT theatre, producing eight shows annually, playing to more than 100,000 patrons a year. TheatreWorks continues its dedication to the Bay Area community with increased audience services and subscriber benefits,Wednesday discussion nights, and opening night celebrations in which the community is invited to mingle with writers, cast, and crew. In addition, TheatreWorks offers many public services such as the costume rental program, and the education outreach program that reaches some 25,000 students annually with in-class workshops, student matinees, summer camps, the Young Playwrights Project, the touring assembly Oskar Trilogy, and The Healing Project at Lucile Packard Children's Hospital.

Up next, TheatreWorks Silicon Valley will bring U.S. audiences their first look a London hit, when it presents the American Premiere of the joyous musical revue The Life of the Party, opening this Saturday, August 27. Directed and co-created by David Babani, the Artistic Director of London's Menier Chocolate Factory, this rollicking musical journey celebrates the songs of Tony Award-nominated composer Andrew Lippa (The Wild Party, The Addams Family, Big Fish) who takes the stage as a featured performer, along with a cast of Broadway and West End veterans, bringing to life a hilarious, uplifting, memorable evening that was declared "Sexy, sophisticated, and funny" and awarded five stars by London's Telegraph. For tickets and information visit theatreworks.org or call 650-463-1960.