Our Mission:
Provide affordable professional entertainment and arts education for the Coachella Valley
Palm Canyon Theatre History:
Bill and Sylvia Layne had been coming to the desert for years with their family to vacation and visit relatives. They recognized that there was a need for high quality, professional, and affordable regional theatre in the greater Palm Springs area.
Exploring potential opportunities, the City of Palm Springs approached the Laynes to look at the old school at Frances Stevens Park and thought that it could be made into a marvelous, intimate setting for live theatre productions. They spent a couple of years working with the City of Palm Springs to secure a lease. Then they spent an intensive year and a half working with family and friends converting the old gymnasium to a 230 seat banked stadium-style proscenium theatre.
Palm Canyon Theatre opened its doors for the first production in the fall of 1997 with "The Desert Song" by Romberg, Harbach, and Hammerstein, setting the stage, as it were, for a series of award winning productions for more than 10 years.
Now entering it's tenth season, Palm Canyon Theatre is on firmer financial footing, and is delighted that its offerings continue to expand. In recent years we've been pleased and proud to sponsor Jeanette Knight's Third Sunday Improv Jam, Second Sunday Shakespeare and Spotlight on Musicals with Nate Brown in Concert. From its inception, Palm Canyon Theatre has strived to enhance educational opportunities for aspiring professionals and talented children through its Equity Membership Candidates' Program and annual 5-week intensive summer theatre and arts camp.
