A leaf blower hums as a paintbrush traces the worn-in walls. On Feb. 21, Theatre Palisades was reoccupied by volunteers and community members eager to prepare for the rebuilding after the devastating Palisades fires. The Pacific Palisades was engulfed in flames Jan. 7, 2025, burning around 16,000 structures over 31 days. Among those structures was the Pierson Playhouse, where Theatre Palisades rehearsed and performed.

Three television writers, Ken Rosen, Sheldon Stark and Jacquie Chester, founded Theatre Palisades in 1963. Four years later, in 1967, the theater became a staple of the Palisades community with popular performances and a growing collective. In search of land and funding to build a larger theater, Pacific Palisades resident and Theatre Palisades employee Kate Ahrens received an offer for funding from Lelah and J. Townley Pierson. The Piersons went on to donate extensively to the theater. 

For its 25th anniversary in November 1988, the theater opened a new, 125-seat space and was renamed the Pierson Playhouse, in honor of its first donors. Ever since, the Pierson Playhouse has been home to Theatre Palisades. It has been used for Theatre Palisades Youth, Theatre Palisades Actors’ Troupe and for many more theater performances.  

“Honestly, the most impactful part of it is that our theater company didn’t fall. It burned to the ground and the physical theater fell, but the theater company didn’t,” Barragan said. “Although it was a remarkable space and perfect for children’s theater, the kids rallied, figured it out and realized it’s more the community that is important than the building — although we miss it terribly.”

The Pierson Playhouse was a theater full of community, shared bonds and a safe space for children to turn to, according to Theatre Palisades choreography and dance teacher Rebecca Barragan. Barragan has taught with Theatre Palisades since 2023, and she said the time she spent with the community was powerful and “overflowing with passion.”

After the fires, Theatre Palisades prevailed, Barragan said. Relocating performances and rehearsals, they moved between Paul Revere Middle School, Saint Monica Preparatory or Palisades fire relief locations. Since the fires, Theatre Palisades Youth has produced three shows, including “Guys and Dolls Jr.,” held Feb. 25 to Mar. 1 at Paul Revere Middle School.

“When we were watching the television live of what was happening, we were saying, ‘I think it’s that street,’ ‘I think it’s this,’ and then we saw the theater, and I couldn’t believe it because it was happening live,” Barragan said. “We literally watched it engulf and fall to the ground. We watched the whole thing happen live. I just couldn’t believe it. I couldn’t wrap my head around what was happening.” 

Barragan said she’d seen many photos of the site but had yet gone to visit it in person. A year after the fires, she drove to the Palisades for the first time and said it was shocking to see the “bones of the town.”

“It was a very small theater that held so much love and so much passion for theater that I couldn’t believe we had done all of that in the footprint of what it was,” Barragan said. “It was crushing, and I felt so bad for the children who felt like they had nowhere to go.”

In front of the theater, surviving plants and succulents sit within the staircase, which once led to the theater entrance. In 1944, The Palisades Garden Club was founded. It focuses on different aspects of gardening, such as the origins of plants, environmental awareness, renewable sources and California native plants. Club President Mary Schulz originally placed the plant bed in front of the theater in the 2010s.

“We are still here, and we are still strong, and we’d like to keep thinking that we are going to continue the things that we have done since 1944,” Schulz said. “That’s when we were founded, right here in the Palisades.” 

On Feb. 21, the Theatre Palisades board organized a cleanup to prepare the space for rebuilding. Volunteers raked leaves, repainted walls, gathered trash and swept away the ash. Schulz said that coming back to the theater to find it stripped was sobering, and seeing some of the plants survive inspired her to keep gardening and restore the Palisades to its previous beauty and charm. 

Hahnah Jackson began to volunteer at Theatre Palisades in 2023, initially working with lighting and sound systems. Later, Jackson branched out into costumes and joined the board of directors. Jackson not only organized the cleanup but also helped repaint the wall that had been covered in ash and dirt.

“Raking all the stuff out, there will be leaves again. Painting this, it will get dirty again,” Jackson said. “But the goal is, this is a way to say we are here to stay, we are happy to be here, and we are proud to be here.” 

Jackson said the community participation in the cleanup was encouraging. When facing challenges, Jackson said she knows she can always turn to the Theatre Palisades community.

“We are still working on a lot of challenges, but especially today, just getting people out and being active is a way to be like, ‘Yeah, I’m still here; we are still doing things,’” Jackson said. “It makes the members feel like there is still a Theatre Palisades.” 

Jackson said community days, such as the cleanup, ensure that the Theatre Palisades community can still lean on each other. Similarly, Schulz said she supports rebuilding the theater — and the Palisades overall — because she wants the neighborhood to remain a vibrant place to live.

“We are here to support the efforts by nourishing the soil so there are wonderful things to look at and live among,” Schulz said. “Because people don’t just live in their homes. I’m happy to be here, and obviously, the Pacific Palisades Garden Community supports the efforts of rebuilding and recapturing the plants.”

Richard Johnson attended the cleanup to assist with painting. In the 1970s, Johnson appeared on “The Dukes of Hazzard.” When the show concluded, Johnson found it hard to provide for himself and began painting and building houses. With his love for singing, Johnson started a company called The Singing Painter Development and Construction, where he bought destroyed houses in Malibu, then designed and rebuilt them. 

“So when it came to being involved here, it happened by coincidence. I know a lot about building houses and architecture, and I also know a lot about theater,” Johnson said. “It seems to me a terrible tragedy that the theater burned down, but it was nice to have spent my life doing theater and films and television, and then simultaneously having learned how to build houses, and pull building permits, and draw homes, and so it happens that coincidentally, the things I’ve learned over my lifetime became valuable.”

In the audio clip below, Richard Johnson sings a melody as he paints the Theatre Paslisades front staircase walls.

Archer Oracle · Audio Richard Johnson

Johnson said it felt great to be “relevant” again. He said that as a teenager, it is easy to have a purpose, but as he grows older, he struggles to find one. 

“I think about every morning right now, I wake up and say thank you God for making me relevant again,” Johnson said. “At my age, you don’t win about 90% of the roles you go out for, and then suddenly you matter.” 

The Theatre Palisades has not only provided Johnson with an immense sense of belonging and purpose, but also everyone in the community, Barragan said. The theater was one of the places actors, audience members, and voulenteers longed to come to, highlighting the grief for their space. 

“So many kids that worked within our company are from the Palisades, and so not only did they lose their home and their school, but they also lost their favorite place to go after school,” Barragan said. “It was tough, and we had a lot of circles talking about how they are feeling and a lot of that sort of thing as you know us theater nerds do, but we got through it and did it together.”

Barragan said the endurance with which the kids approached the displacement was mature and commendable. Although the kids were heartbroken, she was so proud of the strength they displayed — the group still rehearsed two days after the initial fire, she said. With perseverance, Barragan said they sorted things out and found a space for the kids to be together in times of distress.

“The kids were so resilient. They were most heartbroken because of the memories. It was honestly more the community we built that stayed together,” Barragan said. “Of course, the building was gone, the costumes, the sets— I mean, everything. And although it was all gone, the kids just kept going, and the kids knew we were in a new space and just were very resilient.” 

While Theatre Palisades burned down, the community held together. Johnson, who has been through the entire process of helping to rehabilitate the theater, said that how you handle the problem is more important than what you have lost. 

“You know, you have got to roll with the punches,” Johnson said. “Do you get up? Or do you stay lying when you are down? So we are getting up again.”