Our Mission
To provide a concentrated and highly creative work environment in which professional artists and artists in training are encouraged to trail-blaze into new and established works and audiences are provided with the best entertainment anywhere on the Central Coast.
Don’t give them what you think they want; give them what they never thought was possible.
- Orson Welles
Our Story
Theater 150 started in 1996 as a dream of Kim Maxwell and Dwier Brown to pass on their professional performing skills to the community of Ojai. They opened an acting studio in an abandoned pool hall and starting with just a few students, they began to impart their training – but more importantly their belief that theater arts can elevate the soul – to more and more students as word of their teaching spread. In 1997, they co-founded the Ojai Playwright’s Conference. They also began to collect an ensemble of professional actors who put on staged readings, then produced a solo-series and finally mounted their first play, True West, in 1997. Sam Shepard attended and said, “Theater 150 is a gem. Their production of True West was one of the best I’ve ever seen.” Volunteers came by the dozens to fan the flames and soon a Board of Directors was formed to incorporate the burgeoning group as a CA non-profit theater that has become the artistic home for hundreds of Ojai residents.
From those beginnings in a 43 seat, two-room building, Theater 150 has blossomed into a multifaceted organization that brings together artists and lay people in a collaboration that is truly a unique regional treasure. Winning VC Reporter’s “Best Theater Company,” and “Best Place to See a Play” awards for several years. Theater 150’s programming has grown to include several types of classes for all ages, music concerts, reading series, educational outreach programs, stand-up comedy shows, new play development, and award-winning professional mainstage plays.
All of that success finally led to the bursting of its pool-hall seams. In 2006, the theater hired Deb Norton and Chris Nottoli as Co-Artistic Directors and recruited several new board members to guide them into the next phase of success. They quickly found a larger space in the heart of town that could house even more programming. Chris and Deb initiated an inaugural subscription season of mainstage plays and built a much-needed smaller Black Box/Classroom space for more intimate, cutting-edge work. Staying true to its original mission to harness the community-building power of theater, thousands of patrons are now served each year. The staff, the Board and a small army of dedicated donors and volunteers have committed themselves to ensure that the theater’s future growth is solid, its business model is financially sustainable and its artistic successes continue to challenge, enrich, and inspire.