Attending live theater increases empathy and changes attendees’ political attitudes, according to a study published in the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology. It’s also common knowledge that theatergoers are intelligent and attractive, not to mention generous, which is good news for SLO Repertory Theatre (aka SLO REP) as the long-running theater company enters its next stage of fundraising for its new venue.
“We’ve been working on this capital campaign partnering with the city for over 10 years,” SLO REP Managing Artistic Director Kevin Harris explained, “and now that the [Cultural Arts District parking] garage is nearing completion, we plan to break ground the moment it’s completed, so first quarter of 2026.”
This parking garage and its connection to a Cultural Arts District in downtown San Luis Obispo has long been a city dream, first voted on in 1991, and the plans to build a new venue for SLO REP are also long in the making.
“But in order to break ground, we have to raise an additional $2.4 million,” Harris said.
Cue the Harold J. Miossi Charitable Trust, already a major donor to the project, which recently promised another $500,000 in matching funds for donations received by June 30.
If you want to see a state-of-the-art venue hosting everything from new and classic plays, jazz combos, poetry readings, and black box experimental theater and performance art, start digging through those couch cushions because every cent counts.
What started as the SLO Little Theatre in 1947 has morphed over seven decades from its first staging of Noel Coward’s Blithe Spirits at the SLO High School auditorium in early 1948 through 27 locations and more than 1,400 productions. SLO REP is now one of the longest running nonprofit theater companies in the nation, and the only professional nonprofit theater company in SLO County.
That’s right. They pay their actors, and they bring in talent from outside our area.
“This year, we’re going to hire about 170 artists from around the country,” Harris said, “and these are all people that we bring into San Luis. For four to six weeks, we house them. We pay them. These are nationally recognized actors who are on the circuit, and we’re really proud of that.”
The original plan for the new theater was actually more ambitious than its current iteration.
“Our first design for this building was 22,000 square feet on three stories, with all of our administrative offices, all of the rehearsal spaces, storage, everything was going to be there,” Harris said, “and our first campaign goal was less than $8 million, and the theater was supposed to be open in fall of 2018.”
Ah, the best-laid plans of mice and men. Constructing the garage was delayed, then COVID hit, then building prices skyrocketed, so SLO REP decided to downsize the design and purchased a building on Empleo Drive off of South Higuera to house administrative offices, rehearsal spaces, and classrooms for its Academy of Creative Theater (ACT) program.
“It turned out to be the best thing that we ever did because we were able to immediately start growing our acting program, which was at capacity,” Harris explained. “We had no more space for that, but by moving out to Empleo, we have five classrooms and rehearsal spaces. So, we went from having 25 classes a year to well over 50 this year.”
Since moving its classroom space, ACT has gone from serving 250 students a year to serving 800 in a year-round program.
Currently, SLO REP is in a city-owned building that formerly housed the library, and it pays the city $1 a year to lease the building. Since this new project is funded in part by the city—about 30 percent of its entire cost, according to Harris, with 70 percent funded by private donations—and because the city retains ownership of the land underneath the new theater, which they’ll lease for $1 a year for 99 years, who actually owns the building?
“I mean, technically, we own the building,” Harris said. “If we wanted to pick it up and move it, we could legally. But basically, what we’re getting is a 99-year land lease, so we’ll be completely responsible for the upkeep of the building. Anything within those walls.
“It’s been a very complicated process, and one that I didn’t really sign up for when I got here 18 years ago,” Harris chuckled. “This is working with the city on a huge municipal project, but obviously it couldn’t be happening without the city. Every time that we’ve gotten into major inflationary challenges, the City Council and the administration really stepped up because the Cultural Arts District was a dream of [graphic designer] Pierre Rademaker and [former SLO City Manager] John Dunn and [former SLO Mayor] Ken Schwartz for 30 years.”
The project promises to tie together many of the city’s important resources near SLO REP and the new parking structure. The SLO Children’s Museum is across the street. Head down Monterey toward Mission Plaza and the History Center of SLO County is on your left with the SLO Museum of Art on your right.
Harris is excited about the new possibilities, in particular SLO REP becoming an incubator for new and experimental theater.
“That’s why I went to grad school,” Harris said. “The future of the art form is subsidizing playwrights and producing new work. And that’s not something we’ve ever been able to do in this space long term.
“There’s no better place for a Chicago or New York playwright to go for the summer than to spend four months in San Luis Obispo, staying with a host family and getting a stipend to workshop a new play. That’s what we’re excited to jump into.”
Contact New Times Arts Editor Glen Starkey at gstarkey@newtimesslo.com.
This article appears in Mar 20-30, 2025.