old city hall arts center

For the past two years (and again this year) we have had our production of The Vagina Monologues at Old City Hall. The stage is temporary platforms, the room is small and cramped and the audience capacity is very small but it is so intimate you can look each audience member in the eye. The lighting and sound systems are serviceable, the dressing and greenroom areas are very nice.

This is a great 10 - 20 minute visit of local artists. Stop by if you are in the neighboorhood (good restaurants are nearby)

The old city hall in Redding was also the police station until the 60's, and although it's now an arts center, it still feels like a municipal office building to me. It's a brick box without a lot of character-- it seems its major claim to fame is that it's old. The artwork shown there is mostly local and not much is worth seeing. Occasionally there are shows of local photographers, which are often worth seeing, but I'd skip most of the other shows of local painters as they are as amateurish as you'd expect in a local art gallery. The truth is that there isn't much more to do after you've visited the Arts Center. There is the downtown mall, finally re-opened to the sky after a few decades of being roofed in, and there are a few places to eat and drink in the mall and nearby, but there isn't much else to see of any import. The Arts Center is, to me, the sort of place you drop into when you're early for another appointment and want to spend 20 minutes. I don't see it as a "destination." Others probably feel differently...

I am part of the Artist's Rennicance Theater. There are three play's on every year, one for little kids, one is avereage, and one is advanced. I was in the Advanced class a couple months ago and we did the play Romeo and Juliet. Now I'm in Taming of the Shrew. We do a variety of plays, not only Shakespeare. And Old City Hall has a variety of dance classes also.