Recently, I had the opportunity to sit down and interview Stephen Muterspaugh, Executive Artistic Director of Hillbarn Theatre in Foster City, and learn a great deal about our local venue. It has brought so much entertainment and lasting memories to so many in our community since 1968.

Stephen refers to himself, at heart, as an actor. However, he has accumulated an incredible amount of experience in the management end of the theatre, including having worked in other locales like New York, Phoenix, and the Los Angeles area before coming to the Bay Area in 2010. He first worked at the San Francisco Shakespeare Festival before the opportunity was presented for him to come to Hillbarn.

The Heart of the Community

I asked Stephen, based on the time he has been here and his interaction with the other staff and longtime benefactors, what makes Hillbarn Theatre such a special part of the Foster City community over these many decades. Stephen believes it is primarily a tribute to the Foster family and their desire for an arts and community theatre rooted in the community from the very beginning.

A Traveling History

As a backdrop to its history here, recall that the Hillbarn Theatre was first founded in 1936 as the Peninsula Little Theatre and then established as the Hillbarn Summer Theatre in 1941 by Robert Brauns, Sam Rolph, and Ralph Schram. It literally first existed in a barn structure located slightly up the hills on the San Mateo and Belmont borders. Today, there is a Hillbarn Court right at or very close to this original site.

In a few short years, the theatre moved to the Borel Estate in San Mateo. When that area was impacted by the removal of the estate and the building of Highway 92 in the early 1960s, the Hillbarn Theatre was moved again—this time to a building at the Carlmont Shopping Center in Belmont that would eventually house the Pine Brook Inn. However, it was then T. Jack Foster who donated the land in Foster City, with the theatre then being built and opened in May 1968 (so the theatre is owned by itself). The theatre officially opened on May 27, 1968, featuring the play Dark of the Moon.

Leadership and Resilience

Stephen pays special thanks to Lee Foster, granddaughter of T. Jack Foster, who helped lead the theatre, especially during some turbulent times in the 1990s. She led the effort and helped raise the funds to repair a leaky roof that had become a major concern. She directed a major capital campaign that was successful in securing the funds to make the needed repairs. Stephen noted that United Airlines donated airplane seats to be used as seats for the theatre; in fact, UAL airplane seats were dedicated for use by the theatre. He notes that she still makes visits to the theatre when traveling back here from her new home in Atlanta, GA.

Stephen noted many of the epic plays that have been performed over the years. One he mentioned was the Tony Award-winning musical Something Rotten!. He also noted both Ragtime and The Color Purple as two of the other really big ones. Incidents at a theatre, whether backstage or, even worse, front stage, are ones that any theatre prefers to avoid. However, even Hillbarn is not immune to this; Stephen mentioned the rain (combined with the bad roof) impacting some performances in the 1990s. Also, as the electrical panel is the original, it is not easy to fix or modify. It has never failed, but sometimes outages are experienced during the rainy season, as any Foster City resident can relate to.

Evolution of the Stage

I asked Stephen how the kinds of plays presented at Hillbarn changed over the previous decades and if that reflected general changes in society. He pointed out that, indeed, the early 1940s featured the favorite plays of the two founders and had a summer theatre emphasis. These included Arthur Miller plays, which remained a standby even into the 1950s. By the 1960s, more comedy-type shows took the lead, and this led to the later 1960s and 1970s featuring Broadway-style plays integrated with the social concerns of the time. Musical comedies became the favorites in the early years of the new century.

The Next Generation

I marveled at one of the performances of The Unsinkable Molly Brown this past summer, especially how the high schoolers acted so well to make this updated version of the play so memorable. Stephen noted that the tradition of young people doing plays went all the way back to Robert Brauns, who started his stock version of plays mainly using College of San Mateo (CSM) students. The conservatory was a natural outgrowth of this, created by Lee Foster in the year 2000. So, all of the young people’s education programs, headed by the conservatory, continue to be an important part of Hillbarn. These include not only the summer stock performances but additional presentations in the fall and spring.

I noted that this was the first performance ever of The Unsinkable Molly Brown at Hillbarn and asked about other famous plays that, due to contractual, licensing, or other issues, might never be shown here. He noted Les Misérables and Wicked both fall into this category. Anastasia was presented in 2024–2025 pending the rights to present Cinderella. Once secured, it was performed in December 2025.

Looking Toward the Future

I finally asked Stephen what the future might bring to acting and what we see at Hillbarn. He indicated we expect to see more plays connected with history, more action on the stage, and even a trend of audience participation—perhaps even decision-making in the plot—becoming more common.

If you have never attended Hillbarn, please consider coming for a play. There is always something either running or about to open. Just visit the website or box office to learn more. The Thursday night performances offer a very good price break for those who may be challenged by the pricing. There is also a seasonal flex pass that saves money.

Thank you again, Stephen, for this incredible look at the tremendous history of the Hillbarn Theatre. I can truly understand why it has become one of our community’s special treasures!