San Jose Stage was founded 37 years ago with the mission of producing new works by emerging and established playwrights that explore the human condition. As we enter a new era as a company, we have taken time to reflect on this mission and its impact on our community. Over the past four years alone The Stage has brought four World Premieres to our stage by nationally and internationally acclaimed playwrights while advancing the voice of our community.

We would like to take a moment to celebrate these four works, Valley of the Heart, The Memory Stick, The Postman Always Rings Twice, and Adiós Mamá Carlota. These productions have contributed to the fabric of our organization and the new American theatre. Learn more about these celebrated productions and their impact below.

Before you do, we’d like to say 'Thank You' for your continued patronage and support.  Your enthusiasm toward new works, such as the ones listed below, brings a spotlight to our community.  As we move forward through the current COVID-19 crisis we hope you will consider making a contribution to help us further our mission:

“Through powerful, provocative and profound theatre, San Jose Stage Company (The Stage) seeks to expand community, forge creative partnerships, and challenge individuals in order to illuminate the human condition.”

Four World Premieres

Valley of the Heart established a 3-year partnership between San Jose Stage and the Obie award-winning theatre company El Teatro Campesino. Written by Luis Valdez “The Godfather of Chicano Theatre”, this play highlights the struggle and history of Silicon Valley. Produced in partnership with El Teatro Campesino, Valley of the Heart culminated in a sold-out run and went on to receive the San Francisco Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle Award for Best Production Bay Area in 2016. Luis Valdez reflects on his work: “There’s a triangulation in the play – that if you take the Japanese-American experience and contrast it with the Mexican-American experience, what ties them together is the American experience.”

The World Premiere of Irish playwright Donal O’Kelly’s The Memory Stick was the result of an international co-production with Dublin’s City Arts Office in Ireland and Irish Theatre Institute. It was also part of a wider international collaboration between San Jose & our sister city of Dublin to expand arts, education, & technology. The Memory Stick received a staged reading at the Dublin Theatre Festival in September of 2016 leading to a full production here at San Jose Stage. This electrifying, political, and mystical thriller weaves Irish, Native American, and U.S. history into a suspenseful examination of the 1916 Easter Rising.

The World Premiere of The Postman Always Rings Twice was an artistic union between San Jose Stage and prolific playwright Jon Jory, a 2006 inductee into the American Theater Hall Of Fame. He conceived the internationally lauded Humana Festival of New American Plays, the SHORTS Festival, and the Brown-Forman Classics-in-Context Festival. For his commitment to new plays, he has received the Margo Jones Award twice, the Shubert Foundation's James N. Vaughan Memorial Award for Exceptional Achievement and Contribution to the Development of Professional Theatre, and Carnegie Mellon's Commitment to Playwriting Award. The Stage is thrilled that Mr. Jory, a leader in the national theatrical landscape, gave us the opportunity to unite his extensive legacy with our mission.

The commission of Luis Valdez’s Adiós Mamá Carlota furthered the partnership established through Valley of the Heart between The Stage and El Teatro Campesino. While bringing life to mutually developed new works, this partnership has deepened community engagement and reflected the new American theatre throughout the region. For the second time, San Jose Stage received the Theater Commissioning Award from The Wallace Alexander Gerbode Foundation and The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation to support this production. The Stage first received this award in 2012 to produce our World Premiere of Buffalo’ed by Jeannie Barroga in collaboration with Alleluia Panis.