It’s been a challenging year, hasn’t it? A year of change, division and loss And a year of hope, unity and bright accomplishments.
The Fountain Theatre ends 2016 soaring on the wind of uplifting achievements. Our world premiere stage adaptation of Citizen: An American Lyric has been chosen to be highlighted in CTG’s Block Party at the Kirk Douglas Theatre in April. Our premieres of Dream Catcher, My Mañana Comes and Baby Doll earned rave reviews and extended runs. Forever Flamenco sizzled this summer at the outdoor Ford Theatre. Bakersfield Mist returned to delight audiences through the holidays and is still running through January. We continued serving communities year round through our educational outreach programs. We broadened our long-term stability by partnering with new foundations and supporters.
For 26 years, The Fountain Theatre has provided a public space where a wide variety of citizens gather together to experience stories that illuminate what it means to be a human being.
The public discourse across our nation and on our stage in 2016 revealed many things. One being: words matter. What we say to each other, and how we say it, matters. As in the finest plays, language has power. Has impact. In soliloquy and in dialogue. On our intimate stage, and far beyond Fountain Avenue, our dialogue — our conversation — with YOU, our Fountain Family, matters.
Which words would you use to describe the Fountain Theatre? Which words express who we are, what we do? Co-Founding Artistic Directors Deborah Lawlor and Stephen Sachs share with you some words they’d choose. Take a look!
Reaching out to students and making theatre available to young people is vitally important to the Fountain Theatre. And we love it when students reach back. Such was the case on October 24th when the Fountain hosted teacher Alan Goodson and his students from 
How does theatre dramatize important social, political and cultural issues in a way that is compelling and meaningful? Can a play bring to life the challenges of immigration and the struggle of undocumented workers in a story that reveals the human being behind the stereotype? Isn’t it remarkable how the magic of theatre pulls us into the personal lives of these colorful characters in this play and then delivers a heart-stopping blow at the end that forces you to examine your own belief systems about yourself?
Another unforgettable afternoon at the Fountain Theatre. Thirty students from Ramona Elementary School around the corner on Mariposa Street walked over to the Fountain Theatre Friday morning for a special visit that included a lesson on Native American storytelling and the making their own colorful animal masks.
The Fountain Theatre was home to young actors this Sunday morning as actress/teacher Elizabeth Dennehy led teenage acting students through her inspiring class. The young people explored acting through exercises and monologues and learned how to further develop as young artists. It was an exciting morning of growth and discovery.
Elizabeth Dennehy trained at The London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art and Hofstra University. She is a stage, film and TV actress and acting teacher. She has been featured on many television series, including Star Trek: The Next Generation, Seinfeld, Without a Trace and The Young and the Restless, and such films as Clear and Present Danger, Red Dragon, and True Blood. Born into an acting family, she is the daughter of actor Brian Dennehy.
Students from our neighborhood 
At last night’s preview performance of 
