SAN DIEGO, CALIF.: Arts District Liberty Station and San Diego’s third largest theatre company Cygnet Theatre have unveiled The Joan and Irwin Jacobs Performing Arts Center (The Joan)—a transformative $43.5M project reimagining a historic Navy building into San Diego’s newest world-class performance space. Named in honor of the late Joan Jacobs, a beloved patron of the arts and lead project donor, The Joan will serve as Cygnet’s new permanent home, and will be the only free-standing live performance space at Arts District Liberty Station. Cygnet kicks off its inaugural season in the new space on Sept. 10 with a new production of Follies. In addition to Cygnet’s productions, The Joan will welcome other arts organizations to use the space.
“The completion and opening of The Joan marks a transformative moment—not just for Cygnet, but for the arts landscape of our city,” Cygnet Theatre artistic director Sean Murray said in a statement. “This state-of-the-art venue gives us the opportunity to dream bigger and create bolder. It’s been an honor to partner with Arts District Liberty Station in bringing The Joan to life while preserving San Diego’s rich historic fabric.”
The Joan features two performance spaces: the 282-seat proscenium-style Joseph Clayes III Theater (The Clayes) and the 150-seat Dorothea Laub Studio Theater (The Dottie). Both spaces feature flexible seating configurations, allowing for a wide range of productions and creative staging. Designed for artists and audiences, Back-of-house amenities include two green rooms, spacious dressing rooms, a full costume shop, dedicated rehearsal space, and top-of-the-line acoustic elements (including a specially engineered roof for the proscenium theatre and high-performance sound-dampening paneling). Guests can also enjoy two indoor lobbies and refreshment areas, with one lobby serving as an art gallery, plus an outdoor lobby space.
According to Lisa Johnson, Arts District Liberty Station president and CEO, Joan Jacobs, who was raised in New York City, loved theatre, art, and music and enjoyed helping to shape the San Diego performing arts scene. Both were excited at the plans to convert the building into a performing arts center. “The suggestion to refer to it as The Joan was icing on the cake,” Johnson continued. “Although not with us at the completion, Joan was present at the groundbreaking and thrilled with the scope of the project. She will be very much in the thoughts of family and friends as we celebrate the ribbon cutting and a broad range of performances at the Joan.”
The Joan opening is the culmination of a nearly eight-year project. In 2017, Arts District Liberty Station conducted a study confirming the need and desire for a local performing arts center, leading to their partnership with Cygnet and identifying Building 178 as the home for the new performance space. Built in 1942, Building 178 is one of 26 historic buildings at the former Naval Training Center under the stewardship of Arts District Liberty Station. Building 178 was once a lively Navy recreation center complete with a bowling alley and dance hall.
Arts District Liberty Station and Cygnet Theatre’s partners included theatre planning and design by Fisher Dachs Associates, which designed the Sheryl and Harvey White Theatre at the Old Globe Theatre’s Conrad Prebys Theatre Center. The project’s architecture firm is obr Architecture, and project management was led by the female-owned Boretto + Merrill Consulting. Suffolk, whose notable San Diego projects include the Alilia Marea Beach Resort and LEGOLAND Water Park, was the general contractor.
Other Liberty Station arts groups, including High Tech High School and Young Lions Jazz Conservatory students, are intended to use the building. Next year, guests can look forward to performances by Malashock Dance, San Diego Women’s Chorus, Write Out Loud, and more. Cygnet Theatre and Arts District Liberty Station also hope to enhance and grow community outreach initiatives, including creating jobs and training programs for college students and emerging artists, and partnering with under-resourced communities like military members and students throughout the region.
Cygnet Theatre Company produces a year-round season of professional Off-Broadway-style theatre as well as thought-provoking and engaging educational programming. Cygnet is committed to maintaining high standards of artistic and fiscal integrity, and serves more than 50,000 patrons annually from San Diego and beyond.
