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Music/Theatre
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Location: COS Campus
Phone: 559-730-3907
Two fall plays and several student-directed productions are staged each year in this community college theater located on Mooney Blvd., just off Hwy 198 in Visalia. The community eagerly anticipates its annual spring offering – a full-scale Broadway style musical with guest professionals in lead roles. The College also features band and choral concerts throughout the year, along with art displays in its theater gallery. James McDonnell, heads the theater arts department for the College.
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Location: in the Main Street Theatre on Main and Garden Streets in Downtown Visalia
Phone: 559-739-4600
Once upon a time….. The Enchanted Playhouse was founded in 1992 with a mission to “enchant, surprise, excite and amuse audiences, young and old.” It is the only theater company devoted to staging shows expressly for children in the San Joaquin Valley between Fresno and Bakersfield with such beloved stories as “Charlotte’s Web,” “Sleeping Beauty,” Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” and many more. They are adult-directed and performed, with many opportunities for teen and younger actors. Summer theater workshops for ages 5 through high school are extremely popular with children and parents. |
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Location: Tulare
Phone: 1-800-384-5629
The forte of this all-volunteer company is edgier works of a more adult nature. It’s most recent presentation was the ambitious and dramatic “The Lion in Winter.” As one board member put it, “we’re breathing new life into this company, but the mission of this traveling troupe is the same as its founders set at its start 20 years ago in Visalia." |
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Location: Seasonal Monthly Performances at the Visalia Fox
Phone: 559-732-8600
The symphony orchestra has drawn talented musicians from throughout Tulare County to present major works of symphonic music for the enjoyment of area concert goers since 1959. An attractive lineup of guest performers is presented each season. While its permanent home is now in the Visalia Fox Theatre, the concert season opener – Pops in the Park - is presented al fresco in Zumwalt Park, Tulare. A crowd pleaser is always the firing of live cannons during the Tchaikovsky’s “1812 Overture.”
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Location: The Ice House Theatre
Phone: 559-734-3900
This non-profit theater company opened in June, 1957 with “Suds in Your Eyes.” It has since performed numerous plays and musicals. Having rented a number of different quarters, The Players searched for a permanent home. In 1976, the City of Visalia offered the company use of the Ice House building – a huge, empty brick building constructed in the 1920s. After months of construction through donations of time, materials and money, the building was transformed into the comfortable 150-seat theater in use today.
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Location: Downtown Visalia
Phone:559-625-1369
This downtown landmark tells a lot about Visalians and their commitment to beauty and history. Fox built hundreds of theaters across the nation to promote their films. Six of them were in California, and the Visalia theatre opened in 1930 in the early days of “talking pictures.” As the film industry evolved, the trend changed to smaller viewing units and multi-plex cinemas. In 1976, the Visalia Fox was divided into three theaters but closed completely 20 years later. Friends of the Fox, a non-profit grass roots organization, immediately set to work to “save the Fox.” It was reopened three years later, wearing the designation of The League of Historic American Theatres and restored to its original grand design. Home to the Tulare County Symphony, the Fox is available to rent for concerts, plays, recitals, weddings, meetings and receptions.
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