What Was the Highlands Playhouse?
First Theatre on Campus Created from Relocated Highlands School Buildings
As construction proceeded on the CSUH campus between 1961 and 1966, several new structures came online, including the Science Buildings, the current AE Building (then called Fine Arts), Music, and PE buildings. By 1967, the original Cafeteria structure and Meiklejohn Hall were added. Still several years in the future, however, was a Theatre Arts complex, to say nothing of dedicated Administration and Library edifices. To solve this issue, two old buildings from nearby Highlands School were moved onto campus, paired together, and put to use as The Highlands Playhouse. The theatre’s tenure was cut short when Robinson Hall and the Theatre Complex arrived in the early 1970s. The Playhouse was eventually demolished, but each summer at CSUEB, the theatre company is called "The Highland Players" in honor of our original Playhouse.
The color photo (above) was marked at one point in time, to show the location of the new Highlands Playhouse on campus. Directly behind the playhouse the Fine Arts Building is visible (it was later named Arts and Education).