In 1971, then-Superintendent/President of Citrus College Robert D. Haugh achieved a dream 11 years in the making: opening a performing arts center at Citrus College.
On Oct. 13, the Haugh will celebrate its 50th anniversary. It was renamed the Robert Haugh Performing Arts Center or Haugh in 1981 to honor the retiring superintendent/president.
The Haugh website said it has 1,400 seats, a black box theatre and classrooms, keeping the building busy while hosting 200 performances annually before COVID-19.
Throughout the years, the Haugh has added a recording arts and video studio, a dance and piano laboratory, dressing rooms, a state-of-the-art sound system and a new stage light system.
“The Haugh is a theatre for the community,” Dean of Visual and Performing Arts John Vaughan said.
Vaughan said he is proud of the college for maintaining up-to-date technology and continually renovating the Haugh.
“When you walk into the Haugh it feels very much state-of-the-art,” he said.
Although the Haugh can be rented out to showcase anyone’s work, it is dedicated to spotlighting performing artists at Citrus. Many of the performances are presented by the Citrus College Visual and Performing Arts Department.
Tiina Mittler, who has been with Citrus for four years and is currently the director of the Haugh, said, “Not only is this a stage for world class artists, it’s also a stage for theater professionals who are starting their career.”
Mittler said overseeing the logistics of the rental program, the staffing, programming and everything that goes into the Haugh is “an absolute pleasure” and that “It is so much fun. It is challenging in all the right places.”
She said that because there is nothing like the Haugh nearby, it draws attention from across the region and highlights the college and its performers.
The Haugh has appeared in the 2017 movie The Circle starring Emma Watson and Tom Hanks, hosted the Gumby fest in 2015, had Charo perform in 2011 and has been in episodes of Glee.
Mittler said one of her favorite memories at the Haugh was having Latinx group La Santa Cecilia and La Marisoul debut their award winning show right before the pandemic hit and almost sold out.
“It had exceptional energy in the audience and it was a fantastic opportunity to be able to debut a new show at the Haugh with an artist that I admire and so many people love,” Mittler said.
A week later, Mittler said, La Marisoul came in to talk to pop-rock students at Citrus.
Around the time when Mittler first joined Citrus, she recalls experiencing her first sold-out show, The Temptations. It was the first show to sell out in 10 years.
Usually the Haugh is busy, but the stage hasn’t seen action in a while.
“It’s been over 19 months that we have not had a show on our stage and that’s been tremendously hard on our whole team,” Mittler said. “We thrive on an aggressive production schedule.”
Through COVID-19, the Haugh has transferred to a more online-centered approach. Over the summer, they made a Spotify playlist to celebrate Elvis and gave birthday shoutouts to prominent performers.
Instead of honoring the Haugh’s 50th anniversary with a more traditional celebration, Mittler said, the Haugh will debut its next season, starting in January 2022.
The two featured headliners next year will be Big Bad Voodoo Daddy and Los Lobos, Mittler said. The Modern Gentlemen, a musical group composed of Citrus alumni, will also perform.
In the spring, they will be working with the musical theatre workshop program to produce Rodgers and Hammerstein’s “Cinderella.”
