One year ago this week, Cygnet Theatre opened the doors of its new home, the $43.5 million Joan and Irwin Jacobs Performing Arts Center in Point Loma.
Owned by Arts District Liberty Station with Cygnet as its permanent tenant, the 42,166-square-foot, two-theater complex was the product of eight years of planning and fundraising by the two organizations, and two years of innovative construction within the shell of a long-shuttered, 1942-era U.S. Navy recreation and retail building.
The Jacobses donated $10 million toward the project, and in honor of Joan’s memory — she passed away on May 6, 2024 — the building is now known as The Joan.
Finding a forever home had long been a dream for Cygnet Theatre’s co-founders Bill Schmidt, who serves as executive director, and Sean Murray, artistic director. Their 24-year-old theater company started out in a Rolando-area strip mall near San Diego State University. Then it spent 17 years at the Old Town Theatre.
In a joint interview last week, Schmidt and Murray spoke about how things are going at The Joan, what shows have resonated most with audiences and what lies ahead.
The Joan and Irwin Jacobs Performing Arts Center (“The Joan”) at Arts District Liberty Station in Point Loma. (Ariana Drehsler / For The San Diego Union-Tribune)
Popular appeal
Schmidt said he and Murray have been bowled over by the public’s enthusiastic embrace of The Joan.
Ticket sales at The Joan have nearly doubled since the move from Old Town.
That’s due, in part, to the increased capacity of The Joan, which houses both the 282-seat proscenium-style Joseph Clayes III Theater and the black box-style Dottie Studio Theater, which seats 130 to 155.
But that’s not the only reason.
Schmidt said both the Clayes and Dottie theaters are selling at 80% to 85% capacity, a sales rate they never achieved in Old Town. Season subscriptions sales have also increased.
Schmidt and Murray said San Diego residents are not only curious about visiting The Joan, they’re proud of it.
The 282-seat Joseph E. Clayes III Theater at the The Joan and Irwin Jacobs Performing Arts Center, better known as The Joan, at Arts District Liberty Station. (Ana Ramirez / The San Diego Union-Tribune)
Point Loma residents have been especially welcoming, Schmidt said, adding, “They feel a sense of ownership about it beause it’s in their back yard.”
The vast number of free parking spaces at Arts District Liberty Station has been a popular amenity for theatergoers. But Murray said the many other attractions in the arts district have also made it a destination for both local residents and visitors seeking culture and entertainment.
“It’s an arts hub,” Murray said. “There are so many art studios here where people are making things by hand, like paintings, pottery and quilts. Theater is a hand-made art, too.”
The Dottie Studio Theater is a flexible black-box space that can accommodate 130 to 155 audience members at The Joan and Irwin Jacobs Performing Arts Center, better known as The Joan, at Arts District Liberty Station. (Ana Ramirez / The San Diego Union-Tribune)
Cygnet concluded its seven-show first season at the Joan in July. It began with the musical “Follies,” followed by the plays “Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike” and “A Christmas Carol,” the holiday revue “Cygnet’s A Magical Holiday,” the musical “Somewhere Over the Border,” the play “The Lehman Trilogy,” and finally “The SpongeBob Musical.”
Edward Padilla, left, Luis Sherlinee, Vanessa Orozco and Luzma Ortiz in a scene from Cygnet Theatre’s “Somewhere Over the Border.” (Karli Cadel)
Murray said all of the shows sold well, but he and Schmidt were particularly pleased with the success of “Somewhere Over the Border” and “The Lehman Trilogy.”
“Somewhere Over the Border” is a “Wizard of Oz”-inspired musical about a group of Mexican and Latin American immigrants making a perilous journey to the United States in search of the American Dream. Murray said he and Schmidt weren’t sure if audiences would be interested in the little-known musical but it ended up being one of the most popular shows of the season.
The second big surprise was the success of “The Lehman Trilogy,” a complex, three-hour, three-actor drama inspired by the 163-year history of The Lehman Brothers brokerage firm, whose collapse helped trigger the 2008 recession.
“It showed us our audience would support these kinds of plays,” Murray said.
Steven Lone, left, Jacob Caltrider and Bruce Turk in Cygnet Theatre’s production of Stefano Massini’s play “The Lehman Trilogy.” (Karli Cadel)
Season 22
Cygnet is preparing to open the second show of its 2026-27 season. Schmidt and Murray said it was a dauntin prospect to plan a second season last year when they didn’t know how the first season would do. But everything is working out well.
In mid-July, they opened “Arcadia,” their third production of the Tom Stoppard play since 1999. And on Saturday, they will open the Tony-winning musical “Dear Evan Hansen,” which Schmidt said is selling right on target with their projections.
Murray previewed some of the other shows coming this season.
“JOB,” running Oct. 7 through Nov. 1, is a psychological thriller about a social media content moderator meeting with a therapist to obtain permission to return to work. “It’s not about what you think it is,” Murray said. “It goes in an unexpected direction and has a huge twist at the end.”
“One Man, Two Guvnors,” Feb. 17 through March 14, is a modern English take on the18th-century commedia delle’arte comedy “The Servant of Two Masters.” Murray said the play is wacky physical farce about a man precariously balancing jobs for two bosses.
“John Proctor Is the Villain,” March 17 through April 11, is set in a contemporary AP English classroom in rural Georgia. While studying Arthur Miller’s 1953 play “The Crucible,” the students re-evaluate John Proctor’s depiction as the hero of Miller’s Salem witch trials drama. Murray said he was thrilled to secure the local premiere rights to Kimberly Belflower’s play, which was a smash on Broadway last year. Murray said the play is tremendously popular with female audiences.
“Bat Boy: The Musical,” May 26 through June 20, is a 1992 horror rock/comedy musical about Edgar, a half boy/half bat creature. Raised lovingly by a West Virginia family, Edgar encounters prejudice and suspicion from the community. Murray describes it as “weird, funny, ‘Rocky Horror’ kind of musical” that hasn’t been produced professionally in San Diego in many years.
Irwin Jacobs (second to left) stands above “The Joan” sign outside of The Irwin Jacobs Performing Arts Center at Liberty Station in Point Loma on opening day, Sept. 5, 2025. (Ariana Drehsler / For The San Diego Union-Tribune)
Year two
Schmidt and Murray said that while they’ve successfully completed their first year in The Joan, they’re still learning how to staff it, how to manage load-ins, how to run two shows at a time, and how to fine-tune their budgeting.
They’re also building relationships with several other nonprofits who are using The Joan theaters whenever Cygnet is not in production, including Malashock Dance, The Rosin Box Project dance company and the KSDS Jazz Orchestra.
“We’re now in the second half of our moving-in phase,” Murray said. “We’re still figuring things out.”
To manage the much larger building and its two theaters, Cygnet’s staff has grown by six to eight full- and part-time positions, including the recent hiring of Katie Banville as associate artistic director.
They’re facing much higher air-conditioning and electrical bills in the much-larger new space than they paid in Old Town. And production expenses continue to rise, with the cost of scenery components alone up more than 40 percent since the pandemic.
To help plan for the long-term, Cygnet recently embarked on a six-month strategic planning process with Amplified Impact Partners. The all-volunteer, all-women nonprofit offers pro-bono consulting to local nonprofit organizations.
Murray said that even though he’s been working at The Joan for a full year, he still gets choked up thinking about what the building represents to the citizens of San Diego.
He’s heartened that The Joan was created by a widespread coalition of philanthropists, community members and theater-lovers who were willing to invest in Cygnet and the art of theater.
“Sometimes I come to work in the morning and I get tears in my eyes just thinking about it,” he said.