Broadway By the Bay

Each year, Broadway By the Bay produces three full-scale musicals from the American musical theater canon and one concert production series, playing to an audience of more than 25,000. For thirty-five years, performances took place at the San Mateo Performing Arts Center; its renovation, begun in 2011, necessitated the company’s temporary move to Redwood City’s Fox Theatre. As a result, subscribers have declined over the past two years. Broadway By the Bay also operates a Youth Theatre Conservatory, which offers affordable, fee-based classes to 200 youth ages six to eighteen. On average, $10,000 in full and partial scholarships are provided to low-income youth, and an outreach program provides theater education through free after-school programs to 350 students at two Boys & Girls Clubs and three elementary and middle schools. Renewed support would enable the organization to take advantage of its dynamic new artistic leadership and its focus on quality and accessibility.