On Friday, March 6th, Santa Rosa Junior College hosted members of the community for a grand opening celebration of the newly renovated Burbank Auditorium. A ribbon cutting ceremony kicked off the event followed by speeches from Theater Department faculty and recognition of the design and construction team from SRJC President Frank Chong. To close out the event, guests enjoyed a special music performance and backstage tours of the theater.
The project involved a complete renovation of the interior of the beloved, 80 year old, 400-seat auditorium. Improvements to back-of-house production spaces included a renovated prop shop and full costume production facility, in addition to two new classrooms. The project included a new “Studio Theater,” a multi-function flexible space that will be used as a 200-seat teaching classroom, a black box theater, and a movie theater. The exterior shell of the building was preserved, but the interior spaces are completely modern, allowing the theater faculty more flexibility in the types of programs they offer. Overhead lighting and audio-visual equipment is state of the art and designed to match the standards that SRJC students will expect to find when they work in industry.
The project was designed by the award winning firm Mark Cavagnero and Associates, with theater consulting provided by the Shalleck Group. Local firm TLCD Architecture serves as the Executive Architect for the project, with Wright Contracting as the General Contractor.
