About LGT

Looking Glass Theatre is celebrating its 30th season! Its first production, the West Coast premiere of Alice in Blunderland, an antinuclear, big-business musical allegory that ran for two years traveling throughout Southern California. In April 1986 one of the premises of the play came true with the Chernobyl nuclear accident. Looking Glass was featured on several local television news programs because of the its production.

Looking Glass Theatre then presented the Southern California premieres of an adaptation of Stud Thekel’s The Good War and Rose & Conlon’s Yanomamo, the rain forest musical. This play had featured Sir David Attenborough in the original recording. Filmed as “Song of the Forest,” the show featured the popular singer, Sting.

In recent years, Looking Glass Theatre has performed Broadway favorites such as The Music Man, The Wizard of Oz, Ayn Rand’s Night of January 16th, Androcles and the Lion, Oklahoma! and Fiddler on the Roof.

On March 3, 2003 the group participated in the staged reading of Lysistrata. This coincided with other theater groups in the United States as well as in some 70 other countries who all performed this play on the same day.

The group has performed Speak Truth to Power, the adapted narration of people from around the world who promoted justice and were tortured. This ran in concurrence with the touring photo exhibition at the Museum of Photographic Arts in Balboa Park in 2003.

Looking Glass Theatre has also created many of its own musical variety shows, including Thanksgiving Extravaganza, Get In On The Act! and this season's Sundown Broadway Revue.
In addition, it has produced concert venues for local singers such as Chris Hassett, Peggy Watson, Debra Liv Johnson, Sam Hinton and Kay Etheridge.

During the production of A Christmas Carol, a madrigal group formed under the direction of Andrea Newall. The group sang before each show and during the intermissions. They enjoyed singing together so much that they formed the a capella group The JUUL Tones. They are now one of the performing choirs of the church and are also available for bookings for all occasions.

In 2008, Looking Glass Theatre formed a cultural partnership with San Diego LGBT Pride. In the summer during Pride Week the group has presented LGBT-themed theatre, including The Most Fabulous Story Ever Told in 2008 and Jeffrey in 2009. Get In On The Act! benefited the Hillcrest Youth Center.

This diverse inter-generational group encourages community participation. Looking Glass Theatre produces approximately three shows a year and performs on the campus of the First Unitarian Universalist Church of San Diego in Hillcrest.

Looking Glass Theatre is managed by a Steering Committee and its members. Gay Hybertsen is Chairperson. Steering Committee meetings are open to all. Please contact us if you would like to find out more!

Future Directions: We are interested in collaborating with other theatres in the San Diego region producing an evening of one acts on social concerns of our community. Please contact us if your group is also interested.