Smithwick Theatre - A Stage for a Founder
A stop on Foothill College Campus Walk, a free self-guided tour.
The large building in front of you is the Smithwick Theatre, building 1000, the biggest performance hall on campus with 941 seats. It went up with the original campus as the Foothill College Auditorium and today hosts college productions, concerts and community events. The buildings around it, numbered 1100 through 1800, hold Fine Arts and Communication classrooms, and Appreciation Hall in building 1500 is a 168-seat recital space.
The theatre carries the name of Dr. Robert C. Smithwick, one of the trustees appointed in 1957 to launch the new college and chair of its first elected board that same year. He served the district for nearly 35 years and is often called the father of the Foothill-De Anza district. When he died in 2013 at age 92, his memorial celebration was held right here on this stage.
If you are interested in theatre, music or art, check the Fine Arts calendar: performances here are open to the public.
Getting here: From the Lower Campus, walk east and uphill to the large theatre building beside Lot 1A.
Did you know?: Robert Smithwick took part in the campus groundbreaking on July 1, 1960, more than a year before the first students arrived.
Photo op: Step back across the plaza in front of the theatre so the whole entrance and roofline fit in the frame.
More on Wikipedia: Foothill-De Anza Community College District
Stops on this tour
- Lower Campus - Where Every Owl Starts
- Smithwick Theatre - A Stage for a Founder
- Campus Center - The Hilltop Crossroads
- Footbridge and Athletics Hill - Two Hilltops
- Semans Library - Books, Tutors and the Quad
- STEM Center - Help with the Hard Problems
- Space Science Center - Planetarium and Telescopes
- Physical Sciences and Engineering Center - A New Quad
- Japanese Cultural Center - Tea and Bamboo
- Language Arts and KFJC - Radio on the Hill