Welcome to Harper
Joy Theatre
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The Harper Joy Theatre complex houses the Alexander Stage and the Freimann Stage. HJT produces quality theatre for the Whitman and Walla Walla communities while providing a practical laboratory for student actors, directors, designers, and technicians. The original Whitman Theatre was constructed in the Fall and Winter of 1949-1950 from an unused barracks building which had been a part of the McCaw Hospital Unit just west of Walla Walla. It first opened its doors to the public on March 9, 1950 with a production of Shakespeare's "The Comedy of Errors." When the original Whitman Theatre burned in 1958, Rod Alexander (Professor of Dramatic Arts and Director of Whitman Theatre from 1948-1967) was instrumental in the design and construction of a new theatre. Productions relocated to other venues until the new and unfinished Whitman Theatre opened in September of 1959. This building, dedicated in1967 to Whitman alumnus and benefactor Harper Joy, remains the core of the present-day facility. |