Forest Theater

Founded in 1910, the Forest Theater, in Carmel-by-the-Sea, California, was one of the earliest outdoor amphitheatres west of the Rockies. Actor/director Herbert Heron is generally cited as the founder and driving force, and poet/novelist Mary Austin is often credited with suggesting the idea. Numerous groups presented plays and pageants. Original works by California authors, children's theatre, and the plays of Shakespeare were the primary focus.

The property was deeded to the City of Carmel-by-the-Sea in order to qualify for federal funding and, in 1939, the site became a WPA project. After several years, the site re-opened as The Carmel Shakespeare Festival, with Herbert Heron as its Director, and, with the exception of the WWII years of 1943-44, the festival continued through the 1940s. In 1949, Heron, and others, created the Forest Theatre Guild and, while under the leadership of Cole Weston, the 60-seat Indoor Forest Theater was created. The guild remained active until 1961.

With the closing of the original Forest Theater Guild, the outdoor theatre lay unused and neglected for most of the 1960s. From 1968-2010, Marcia Hovick's Children's Experimental Theater leased the indoor theatre, which is now operated by Pacific Repertory Theatre's School of Dramatic Arts (SoDA). In 1972, a new Forest Theater Guild was created, producing musicals and adding a film series in 1997. In 1984, Pacific Repertory Theatre (PacRep) began producing on the outdoor stage, reactivating Herbert Heron's Carmel Shakespeare Festival in 1990. In 2005, PacRep presented the theater's highest-attended production, Disney's Beauty and the Beast, to a combined audience of over 10,000 ticket holders.