Victoria Gardens Cultural Center
Encyclopedia
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 links the Lewis Family Playhouse, Paul A Biane Library and the 4500 square feet (418.1 m²) Celebration Hall under one roof, it opened officially on August 19, 2009 . 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 fundrasing events: the Rancho Cucamonga Public Library Telethon and the Community Foundation Gala for the sole benefit of the PAL campaign.
The $33.8 million project was completed without the use of any City of Rancho Cucamonga's General Fund. Instead it was financed through a $7.8 million State Library Grant, $5.7 million partnership with Victoria Gardens regional town center developer Forest City Enterprises
, private partnerships, Community Development Block Grant funds, and Redevelopment Agency Tax Allocation Bond Funds.
. The Playhouse is unique in that 65 percent of its shows are also owned, operated and produced by the city.
The 536 seats are distributed as follows:
190 Lower Orchestra (including 6 wheelchair spaces)
196 Upper Orchestra/Mezzanine
150 Balcony (including 2 wheelchair spaces)
Stage Width: 78' - 5" clear from fly rail stage left to stage right wall
Stage Depth: 34' - 9' clear from smoke pocket to face of rear wall.
Grid Height: 57' - 6" from finished floor
SR Wing: 21'-1 from Proscenium to SR Wall
SL Wing: 17' - 4" from Proscenium to Locking Rail
Fixed Stage Apron: 7' - 10-1/2" depth from face of main drapery to edge of pit
Orchestra Pit (Covered): 9' - 11-1/2" deep, maximum radius point at center line
Orchestra Pit (Open): 9' - 0" below stage, 18' - 4" depth (6' - 10"' apron overhang)
The Library features a 21 computer technology center, 5 study rooms available for public use that accommodate anywhere from 2 to 6 people, a quiet reading room a 'Boutique Bookstore' and free wireless internet provided by the city of Rancho Cucamonga. The library also has a wide variety of programs designed especially for children and adults. They also occasionally team up with the Lewis Family Playhouse to put on events that use the 4500 square feet (418.1 m²) Celebration Hall rental facility, The Lewis Family Playhouse, the imagination courtyard and the library itself.
Victoria Gardens (shopping center)
Victoria Gardens is a pedestrian-oriented, open-air, mixed-use town center in Rancho Cucamonga, California. Located North of Foothill Boulevard between Day Creek Boulevard and Etiwanda Avenue by the Interstate 15 freeway, the...
lifestyle center
Lifestyle center (retail)
A lifestyle center is a shopping center or mixed-used commercial development that combines the traditional retail functions of a shopping mall with leisure amenities oriented towards upscale consumers...
in Rancho Cucamonga, California
Rancho Cucamonga, California
Rancho Cucamonga is a suburban city in San Bernardino County, California. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 165,269, up from 127,743 at the 2000 census. L. Dennis Michael was elected as Mayor on November 2, 2010. Jack Lam is the City Manager...
. The building links the Lewis Family Playhouse, Paul A Biane Library and the 4500 square feet (418.1 m²) Celebration Hall under one roof, it opened officially on August 19, 2009 . 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 fundrasing events: the Rancho Cucamonga Public Library Telethon and the Community Foundation Gala for the sole benefit of the PAL campaign.
The $33.8 million project was completed without the use of any City of Rancho Cucamonga's General Fund. Instead it was financed through a $7.8 million State Library Grant, $5.7 million partnership with Victoria Gardens regional town center developer Forest City Enterprises
Forest City Enterprises
Forest City Enterprises is a $9-billion diversified real estate management and development company based in Cleveland, Ohio, United States. Its portfolio includes interests in retail centers, apartment communities, office buildings and mixed-use projects in the U.S...
, private partnerships, Community Development Block Grant funds, and Redevelopment Agency Tax Allocation Bond Funds.
Lewis Family Playhouse
Lewis Family Playhouse is a city owned and operated performing arts center in the city of Rancho Cucamonga, CaliforniaRancho Cucamonga, California
Rancho Cucamonga is a suburban city in San Bernardino County, California. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 165,269, up from 127,743 at the 2000 census. L. Dennis Michael was elected as Mayor on November 2, 2010. Jack Lam is the City Manager...
. The Playhouse is unique in that 65 percent of its shows are also owned, operated and produced by the city.
Resident Theatre Companies
The resident companies, which are owned and operated by the city, include the following:- The MainStreet Theatre Company is an EquityActors' Equity AssociationThe Actors' Equity Association , commonly referred to as Actors' Equity or simply Equity, is an American labor union representing the world of live theatrical performance, as opposed to film and television performance. However, performers appearing on live stage productions without a book or...
theater company producing theatrical productions especially for children and families. Previous shows included Ferdinand the Bull, Suessical, James and the Giant PeachJames and the Giant PeachJames and the Giant Peach is a popular children's novel written in 1961 by British author Roald Dahl. The original first edition published by Alfred Knopf featured illustrations by Nancy Ekholm Burkert. However, there have been various reillustrated versions of it over the years, done by Michael...
and If You Give a Mouse a CookieIf You Give A Mouse A CookieIf You Give a Mouse a Cookie is the title of a 1985 book illustrated by Felicia Bond. It is the tenth and best-known book written by Laura Numeroff. Its plot deals with a boy who gives a cookie to a mouse. After eating a cookie, the mouse has some milk. Then he decides to clean his face... - The Rancho Cucamonga Community Theatre program is designed to provide a quality learning and performance experience for youth, teens, and adults in the community. Previous shows include A Christmas CarolA Christmas CarolA Christmas Carol is a novella by English author Charles Dickens first published by Chapman & Hall on 17 December 1843. The story tells of sour and stingy Ebenezer Scrooge's ideological, ethical, and emotional transformation after the supernatural visits of Jacob Marley and the Ghosts of...
, Oliver!Oliver!Oliver! is a British musical, with script, music and lyrics by Lionel Bart. The musical is based upon the novel Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens....
and Steel MagnoliasSteel MagnoliasSteel Magnolias is a 1989 American comedy-drama film directed by Herbert Ross that stars Sally Field, Shirley MacLaine, Olympia Dukakis, Dolly Parton, Daryl Hannah and Julia Roberts.... - Broadway at the Gardens presents a single high quality, high tech, high energy musical theatre production each year. Their opening year production was Sweeney ToddSweeney ToddSweeney Todd is a fictional character who first appeared as then antagonist of the Victorian penny dreadful The String of Pearls and he was later introduced as an antihero in the broadway musical Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street and its film adaptation...
- The Black Box Productions are presented in the Studio Theatre and offer more intimate, more dramatic works. Shows include The Diary of Adam & Eve and ProofProof (play)Proof is a play by David Auburn originally produced by the Manhattan Theatre Club on 23 May 2000. It then went to Broadway on 24 October 2000 at the Walter Kerr Theatre, and was directed by Daniel J. Sullivan, with Mary-Louise Parker as Catherine, Larry Bryggman as Robert, Ben Shenkman as Hal, and...
.
Seating
The Playhouse has a total of 536 seats. This includes 8 spaces for wheelchairs. Additional assisted seating is available by removing seats in row G. An additional 24 seats are available when the apron of the stage is at floor level.The 536 seats are distributed as follows:
190 Lower Orchestra (including 6 wheelchair spaces)
196 Upper Orchestra/Mezzanine
150 Balcony (including 2 wheelchair spaces)
Stage
Proscenium Opening: 40' wide x 22' highStage Width: 78' - 5" clear from fly rail stage left to stage right wall
Stage Depth: 34' - 9' clear from smoke pocket to face of rear wall.
Grid Height: 57' - 6" from finished floor
SR Wing: 21'-1 from Proscenium to SR Wall
SL Wing: 17' - 4" from Proscenium to Locking Rail
Fixed Stage Apron: 7' - 10-1/2" depth from face of main drapery to edge of pit
Orchestra Pit (Covered): 9' - 11-1/2" deep, maximum radius point at center line
Orchestra Pit (Open): 9' - 0" below stage, 18' - 4" depth (6' - 10"' apron overhang)
Fly system
The Playhouse has a single purchase Counterweight fly system with 33 lines available. These general purpose battens are 54' long, 1.5" schedule 40 black pipe, with a loading capacity (live load/arbor space) per batten approximately 30#/linear foot.Paul A. Biane Library
The Paul A Biane Library opened along side the Lewis Family Playhouse with the Victoria Gardens Cultural center in August 2006. The building was named after San Bernardino County Supervisor Paul Biane who secured more than $1 million USD in tax money to build the library. Currently there are talks to expand the Biane Library, which has 14000 square feet (1,300.6 m²) of space on the second floor that is not utilized. The proposed concept for the space is a children's center.The Library features a 21 computer technology center, 5 study rooms available for public use that accommodate anywhere from 2 to 6 people, a quiet reading room a 'Boutique Bookstore' and free wireless internet provided by the city of Rancho Cucamonga. The library also has a wide variety of programs designed especially for children and adults. They also occasionally team up with the Lewis Family Playhouse to put on events that use the 4500 square feet (418.1 m²) Celebration Hall rental facility, The Lewis Family Playhouse, the imagination courtyard and the library itself.