The Garden Grove Playhouse was a non-profit community theater organization near the western edge of the city of Garden Grove in Orange County, California. The organization was originally called the Garden Grove Community Theatre, but the name changed in 1995 by a vote of the Board of Directors and the general membership. Prior to this name change, the organization was known briefly as the Orange County Actors’ Theater – Garden Grove, but the general membership did not accept this name and at the annual meeting in January 1995, the Garden Grove Playhouse (GGP) name was suggested and accepted.
GGP’s next home was in Garden Grove’s Gem Theater, though it was a very brief stay. The Gem Theater was originally a single screen movie theater that the City of Garden Grove obtained grants to remodel and convert to a performing arts space. GGP would only present two productions at the Gem – it was decided that the space would be used only for professional or equity theater.
While GGP was left homeless, the situation lead to the conversion of another city-owned facility – one with a rather odd history. The building that would become the GGP's permanent home was used originally as an office to sell newly built homes in west Garden Grove. After the homes were all sold, the building became city property and was moved to Eastgate Park to be converted into a teen center. The center was closed during the 1970s due to lack of interest and vandalism, and remained largely unused for several years – though it was periodically used as a rehearsal space for the Gem Theater. GGP's Board of Directors convinced the Garden Grove City Council the space could be converted into a theater, and work began in 1981. The building saw its first opening night in January 1982 with a production of Any Wednesday and served as GGP’s home continuously until it ceased operations in 2009.
The productions presented by GGP varied slightly from year to year, often including a balanced roster of traditional favorites and seasonal variety shows. In 2003, the GGP presented its first original production, a collection of three one-acts written and produced by a local playwright. In 2005, GGP began including more experimental fare, including productions of Lee Blessing's Eleemosanary and Moisés Kaufman's The Laramie Project. However, in 2006, GGP returned to presenting more traditional, classic plays and variety shows which continued until the organization's demise.
The Eastgate Park building's original location remains somewhat of a mystery. A thorough search of city building records only returned the building permit that allowed the building to be moved to Eastgate Park. While that document showed the destination address for the building, the original address was omitted and remains unknown, making it virtually impossible to find the original building permits for its construction. During the summer of 2009, the City of Garden Grove began using the building as a teen center once again, returning the building to its pre-theater use.
Orange County is a county located in the Los Angeles metropolitan area in Southern California, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 3,186,989, making it the third-most-populous county in California, the sixth-most-populous in the United States, and more populous than 19 American states and Washington, D.C. Although largely suburban, it is the second-most-densely-populated county in the state behind San Francisco County. The county's three most-populous cities are Anaheim, Santa Ana, and Irvine, each of which has a population exceeding 300,000. Santa Ana is also the county seat. Six cities in Orange County are on the Pacific coast: Seal Beach, Huntington Beach, Newport Beach, Laguna Beach, Dana Point, and San Clemente.
Garden Grove is a city in northern Orange County, California, United States. The population was 171,949 at the 2020 census. State Route 22, also known as the Garden Grove Freeway, passes through the city in an east–west direction. The western portion of the city is known as West Garden Grove.
Los Alamitos is a city in Orange County, California. The city was incorporated in March 1960. The population was 11,780 at the 2020 census, up from 11,449 at the 2010 census. The adjacent unincorporated community of Rossmoor uses the same 90720 ZIP code in its mailing address, but is not part of the city. The Los Alamitos Race Course is named for the city, but lies in the neighboring city of Cypress.
Seal Beach is a coastal city in Orange County, California, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 25,242, up from 24,168 at the 2010 census.
The Hunger Artists Theatre Company was an alternative theatre company located in a business park in Fullerton, California. They were known for presenting challenging, thought-provoking plays, musicals, world premiere pieces, and re-imaginings of classic plays. The company, named after a short story by Franz Kafka, was founded in 1996 by a group of longtime friends and is the first Orange County-based alternative theater to grow out of Orange Coast College's Repertory Theater. During its sixteen-year existence, the company had a number of homes including Costa Mesa, downtown Santa Ana, and finally on South State College Boulevard in the former home of the Vanguard Theatre Ensemble. Hunger is credited with helping launch Theatre Out, an LGBTQ+ theatre company that had productions at Hunger before expanding to their own space in 2009. The company closed in December, 2012 following a production of Rag and Bone by Noah Haidle. Hit hard by the recession, the company became the third Fullerton theater in two years to shut its doors due to financial pressures.
GGP may refer to:
The Diocese of Orange is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory, or diocese, of the Catholic Church that covers all of Orange County, California, in the United States. It is sometimes referred to as the Diocese of Orange in California, to avoid confusion with the Diocese of Orange in Orange, France, which was dissolved in 1801.
Puvunga is an ancient village and sacred site of the Tongva nation, the Indigenous people of the Los Angeles Basin, and the Acjachemen, the Indigenous people of Orange County. The site is now located within the California State University, Long Beach campus and surrounding areas. The Tongva know Puvunga as the "place of emergence" and it is where they believe "their world and their lives began". Puvunga is an important ceremonial site and is the terminus of an annual pilgrimage for the Tongva, Acjachemen, and Chumash.
Rancho Alamitos High School is in Garden Grove, California. It is a member of the Garden Grove Unified School District and serves north-central Garden Grove and a section of Stanton. The high school first opened in the spring of 1957 with no senior class. The first graduating class was in 1958.
The Coconut Grove Playhouse was a theatre in the Coconut Grove neighborhood of Miami, Florida, United States. The building was originally constructed as a movie theater called the Player's State Theater. It opened on January 1, 1927, as a part of the Paramount chain. The movie house was designed by the architect Richard Kiehnel of Kiehnel and Elliott. It was built by local realtors Irving J. Thomas and Fin L. Pierce. Albert Peacock was the contractor.
West Grove, officially recognized as the West Grove Business District by the City of Garden Grove, and sometimes called West Garden Grove, is a neighborhood in the city of Garden Grove, located in Orange County, California, United States. West Grove encompasses the pene-exclave western portion of the city of Garden Grove. It is bordered to the north by Cypress, to the west by Los Alamitos and Seal Beach, to the south by Westminster, and to the east by Stanton, and connected to the rest of Garden Grove by a narrow strip along Garden Grove Boulevard. It includes the entire 92845 ZIP Code, which is designated as the areas west of Knott Avenue to the Seal Beach and Los Alamitos city borders, and the industrial area east of Knott Avenue to the Stanton border. The community is more "affluent" than the rest of Garden Grove, with a median income $25,000 greater than the main body of the city. There is also less crime, a lower poverty rate, and lower population density compared to the rest of Garden Grove. As of the 2010 Census, 16,333 people reside in West Grove.
Rancho Los Alamitos takes its name from an 1834 Mexican partition of the 1784 Rancho Los Nietos, a Spanish concession, covering an area in present-day California's southwestern Los Angeles County and northwestern Orange County. Los Alamitos means the Little Cottonwoods or Poplars in Spanish, after the native Fremont Cottonwood trees there.
The Naples Players (TNP) is a community theatre company located in Naples, Florida. The company was founded on January 19, 1953 in the Sugden Community Theatre at 701 5th Avenue South in downtown Naples. It has been named the "Best Live Theatre" in Southwest Florida (including professional theaters) fifteen times by the readers poll of The Naples Daily News.
Downtown Santa Ana (DTSA), also called Downtown Orange County, is the city center of Santa Ana, the county seat of Orange County, California. It is the institutional center for the city of Santa Ana as well as Orange County, a retail and business hub.
Alamitos Beach is a coastal neighborhood in the southern portion of the city of Long Beach, California. Although it was in unincorporated Los Angeles County when annexed by the City of Long Beach, it had been planned as its own community with a townsite.
Rancho Las Bolsas was a 33,460-acre (135.4 km2) 1834 Mexican land grant resulting from the partition of Rancho Los Nietos, located from the coast on inland within present day northwestern Orange County, California. The Spanish name "las bolsas" means "the pockets", and refers to pockets of land amongst the marsh wetlands of the Santa Ana River estuary. The rancho lands, adjacent to the southeast of Rancho La Bolsa Chica, include the present day cities of Huntington Beach, Garden Grove, Fountain Valley and Westminster.
The Victoria Gardens Cultural Center (VGCC) is a community library and performance venue attached to the Victoria Gardens lifestyle center in Rancho Cucamonga, California. The building officially opened on August 19, 2006. It is supported in part by The Rancho Cucamonga Library Foundation and the Rancho Cucamonga Community Foundation. These two organizations joined together in 2002 to create the Promoting Arts and Literacy (PAL) fundraising campaign. Since then these two groups have continued to hold their annual fundraising events: the Rancho Cucamonga Public Library Telethon and the Community Foundation Gala for the sole benefit of the PAL campaign.
Rossmoor is a planned census-designated place located in Orange County, California. As of the 2020 census, the CDP had a total population of 10,625 up from the 2010 census population of 10,244. The gated Leisure World retirement community in the city of Seal Beach is to the south of Rossmoor, Los Alamitos is to the east and north, and Long Beach is to the west. The community of Rossmoor has two shopping centers within its boundaries, but only one—the Rossmoor Village Square, is now within the political boundaries of Rossmoor. A larger shopping center, the Rossmoor Business Center, was annexed, despite many protests, by the City of Seal Beach in 1967. The Center has been remodeled several times and was renamed the Shops at Rossmoor in the early 2000s.
Bao Nguyen is an American Democratic politician from Orange County, California, and a former mayor of Garden Grove, California. He also previously served as a trustee on the Garden Grove Unified School District Board of Education.
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