Broad Stage

Under the leadership of Director Dale Franzen and Artistic Chair Dustin Hoffman, The Eli and Edythe Broad Stage at the Santa Monica College Performing Arts Center opened its doors in Santa Monica in October 2008. Inspired by Italian 'horseshoe' theaters, yet conceived in an absolutely contemporary vernacular, The Broad Stage is an artist's dream and an audience's delight. Unlike any performance space in the country, it is sublimely intimate with 499-seats and strikingly grand at the same time allowing eye contact with artists from the boxes to the back row forging a new kind of artist and audience experience in Los Angeles. Theater, dance, film, operas, musicals, symphony and chamber orchestras will be presented on one of the city's largest proscenium stages.

Before becoming founding director of The Broad Stage at the Santa Monica College Performing Arts Center, Dale Franzen enjoyed a 20-year career as a celebrated professional opera singer (lyric soprano), performing in the world's great opera houses and concert halls. Now she devotes her considerable experience as an artist and leader in non-profit administration, arts education and community advocacy to establishing The Broad Stage as a world-class venue for the performing arts and film, as well as a community crossroads of arts education and creative experimentation.

As an advocate and contributor to other arts organizations, Dale has served as a member of the advisory committee for the World Sacred Music Festival LA; as a judge at the prestigious Julian Gayarre (Jose Carerras) International Vocal Competition in Pamplona, Spain; and on the Education Commission of the States of Arkansas' initiative 'The Arts A Lifetime of Learning.'

In her spare time she likes to study hula, sing Irish ballads and eat dark chocolate. She is married, has three children and lives in Los Angeles.