Gayle Cornelison, founder of California Theatre Center, has been general director of the company since 1976. Under his leadership, the company has given more than 10,000 performances in its 23-year history and has twice been awarded Best Children's Theatre in America. Each year Dr. Cornelison selects and produces 12 to 14 plays for young audiences and three to four plays for adults. He has written more than 25 plays, which have been professionally performed in the United States, Australia, Fiji, Japan, Kenya, New Zealand and Russia, and he personally directs two to four plays every season. His adaptations include such classics as Tom Sawyer, Heidi, Just So Stories, Robinson Crusoe, A Little Princess and Arnold Lobel's Frog and Toad books. Dr. Cornelison has a Ph.D. in theater and is a past university teacher of acting, children's literature, directing and theater history and sat on the American Theatre Association Board, the California Theatre Council and the Children's Theatre Association of America.
