By Kristen Nevarez Schweizer 

September 5, 2025

Eight years ago, philanthropist and arts luminary Dorothea “Dottie” Laub gazed across Liberty Station, pointed at a former Navy commissary, and said: “That should be a theater.”

Fast-forward to September 2025, and her prophecy has been fulfilled. The long-anticipated Joan and Irwin Jacobs Performing Arts Center—affectionately nicknamed The Joan—has opened its doors, instantly joining the ranks of San Diego’s cultural crown jewels.

Cygnet Theatre’s founding artistic director Sean Murray stood at the ribbon-cutting with the same open emotion and compelling conviction that carried this theater through decades of risk, grit, and pure stubborn faith. “We didn’t know it would grow,” he admitted of those early warehouse rehearsals, “but we knew we were following our art, expressing ideas that people needed to talk about.”

That relentless heartbeat carried Cygnet through El Cajon (now home to Moxie Theatre), then Old Town, and now into a gleaming new $43.5 million home at Liberty Station. Their commitment to staying true to their beginnings is represented via a small red heart that has followed the company along every step of the way. Through it all, Murray kept the company’s core promise intact: theater that is rooted in San Diego, relevant to its people, and fearless in its storytelling. (And a lot of Sondheim.)

Mayor Todd Gloria, flanked by civic leaders and arts patrons, reminded the crowd that San Diego’s ability to attract and keep top talent must be earned, not assumed. “Our weather is great—but we can’t skate by on good looks alone,” he said. “We’re in a golden age of the arts in San Diego—with The Conrad, The Shell, the Museum of Contemporary Art in La Jolla, Jacob’s Music Center, the new Mingei… and now, Cygnet.”

For locals, Gloria’s words resonated more than political rhetoric. They felt like affirmation: San Diego doesn’t just deserve world-class culture—it is creating it.

“We hire local talent because they’re invested in this community,” Murray emphasized. Designers, technicians, actors—you’ll see your neighbors onstage and behind the scenes.

Cygnet’s journey is proof that when vision meets persistence, and when a city chooses to invest in its own stories, the results are electric. The Joan is not just Cygnet’s permanent home. It is San Diego’s stage—built on history, sustained by heart, and echoing with applause that belongs to us all.