By Daniel Larios
Staff Writer

September 26, 2014 – One of the driving forces behind the creation and cultivation of Santa Monica College’s Broad Stage has stepped down from her position as Director.

Heading the 499-seat Broad Stage since it opened in 2008, Dale Franzen leaves behind a legacy that established the theater as one of the most distinguished performing art venues in Los Angeles’ Westside.

“Sixteen years is a good run,” Franzen told the Lookout Thursday. “Everyone has a gut feeling when they should leave and this is it.

“I started as an artist and I’m not the person who stays in the same place for twenty or thirty years,” she added. “Who knows what I’ll do next.”

A professional opera singer before joining SMC in the late 1990s, Franzen was brought into the Broad Stage project at its infancy by former SMC President Dr. Piedad Robertson, who asked her what she would do with the vacant city block owned by the College.

Working with SMC alumnus Dustin Hoffman in fundraising for a new theatre, Franzen pushed for a performing arts center, enlisting the help of dancing legend Mikhail Baryshinkov and one of the Three Tenors, Placido Domingo, both of whom have performed at the Broad Stage.

“This has been such a fabulous experience,” she said. “How many people can say they built a theater?”

Since its opening, the Broad Stage has held widely accliamed performances that have drawn widespread attention to the six-year-old theatre, including notable performances by Bobby McFerrin, Ray Romano and Megan Mullaly.

“There have been so many incredible nights,” Franzen said.  “Our opening night with Placido Domingo; Baryshnikov; the first time Shakespeare’s Globe came.  There’s just so many great nights to remember.”  

In the meantime, Franzen will move into a consulting role as “strategic advisor” to SMC president Chui L. Tsang.

“The first seven years [at Broad Stage] have exceeded all expectations,” Tsang said in a statement. “Dale … is a creative force who looked for groundbreaking and compelling programming to challenge and engage audiences.”

The aim now, Tsang said, is “to build on the strong foundation that Dale helped create.”

As strategic advisor, Franzen will help search for her successor and work with the college administration and Broad Stage’s separate nonprofit board on longer-range plans for the theatre.

“Right now, I’m going to stay on with the college for a little while, around six months,” she said. “I’ve got a couple ideas of what I want to do. 

“I’d like to take a deep breath and do things I haven’t had time to do,” she added with a chuckle. “I’m trying not to make plans.”

The Broad Stage is currently expanding, recently breaking ground on a new $12.3 million wing with a 165-seat music hall, rehearsal spaces and classrooms for Santa Monica College arts students.

While Frazen will hand over the reins of the theatre to someone else, there is little doubt that her legacy will continue to guide the Broad Stage well into the future.

“It’s been an incredible ride,” she said. “But I think its time to let someone else carry the torch for the next ten years.”