New Beginning mid-1930s: The Laguna Beach Artist Theater has a unique history attached to it. Dating back to the 30s, the Artist Theater coincided with the campus since its construction back in 1935 (Laguna Beach was officially established on Tuesday, September 11, 1934). Funded by Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal, the Work Project Administration is a government-funded project. The WPA was the largest New Deal effort , employing millions of people to carry out public works projects, including the construction of public buildings and roads. The construction work as a whole took about 1 year for completion.

Early years 1935-1958: For the next 3 decades, the Theater would be heavily shared with the general public and the school. The theater was officially called the Laguna Beach High School Auditorium before 1990. Inside the theater would be wooden seats and an all-concrete surface. Although the structure of the building hasn’t changed that much, the ceiling was much higher and the current projection room was used as an outdoor balcony for the audience in attendance. The current front entrance to the theater had large windows. Furnaces were kept all around the theater as the concept of central heating didn’t exist back then. During school hours the theater was used for students, such as drama classes, as it is used today. The Auditorium is a shared space with the public, therefore the theater was a showcase for many popular dances in the southern California area. Famous old-time choreographers such as Myra Kinch would perform in front of large audiences.  (poster Pictured below)

The long-haul 1958-1990: 23 years later the City of Laguna Beach decided to remodel the theater for the first time. They first decided to take down the Balcony as the state of California considered it to be an earthquake hazard. The large windows at the entrances were removed and replaced with concrete. The gold plastic curtains were also replaced by new ones. In 1970 (22 years later), the Laguna Beach community decided to fundraise $40,000 for new curtains, chairs and the floor carpeted. They also decided to extend the stage creating more room for school assemblies. A few years later (1974), the theater installed new lights for the stage.

The present 1990-2018: Around the mid-1990’s the theater was for a major renovation Ballet Pacific performed there and music performances from professional groups took place as well.  The renovation took longer than anticipated and by the Ballet Pacifica decided to stay at the Barclay Theater in Irvine.

2018-beyond: The artist theater will continue to go through renovation. Summer of 2018 they plan to add a new heating and cooling system to the theater, as well as replacing the carpet. The theater is currently overseen by Peter Roach, the artist theater director.