Welcome to the Hammer Theatre!

We are thrilled to share some very exciting news with you:

Coming this  April 2024, after  a successful run on Broadway, “The Kite Runner” will perform – for one week only – here at the Hammer Theatre! 

Khalid Hosseini’s 2003 best-selling novel, adapted for the stage by SJSU professor Matthew Spangler, comes home to San Jose and the stage it made its professional debut on back in 2008 after a successful run on Broadway and the West End. 

Mark your calendars for this powerful production and life-changing story – one that Variety called “Beautiful, inventive and uplifting” and the Wall Street Journal said was “Enormously moving, satisfying and soulful.”

The Hammer is committed to presenting the best in music, dance, theatre and compelling performances. The opportunity to share a Broadway tour feels like some measure of success in fulfilling that promise. We hope you agree!

As we prepare to share this incredibly meaningful event with you, our community, we are also excited for a number of other reasons:

 

• Adapted for the stage by Matthew Spangler, professor of immigration and performance studies, this tour will be a homecoming of sorts: the play was first produced on campus by San José State’s Theatre Department in 2007 and premiered professionally inside this very building (!) by the San Jose Repertory Theatre in 2009. 
• This combined work of both Hosseini and Spangler, both locally recognizable names, are in keeping with the Hammer Theatre’s mission: To serve our community through works that illustrate the unique culture of creativity, diversity, and innovation in Silicon Valley.
• This partnership with EnActe Arts represents our history of collaboration with local producing companies to provide them with a quality affordable venue to share their stories with the greater Bay Area audience.                                                                                          
• The timeliness of this story has only grown since its publication as a novel in 2003 and its adaptation to the stage in 2007; produced at theaters worldwide, including the Dubai Opera House, London’s West End (twice), and most recently, on Broadway, “The Kite Runner” is a compelling portrait of life in Afghanistan and its immigrant community in the United States. 

 

“’The Kite Runner’ sits at that intersection between adaptation and my own teaching and research in how refugees and asylum seekers are represented.”  -Matthew Spangler, playwright and SJSU professor.

 

We are delighted to offer each of you the opportunity to experience this unique performance. Our ability to do so is in part due to funding from the Hammer Presents’ Programming Fund. This fund is sustained by patrons like you who believe in and appreciate what the Hammer brings to our community. 

 

Funds from the Hammer Presents Programming fund go towards events such as “The Kite Runner” as well as other familiar Hammer Presents programs. Launched in 2016, Hammer Presents has brought artists such as Tandy Beal and Nutz-Remixed, MOMIX, Actors from the London Stage and National Geographic Live to our stage.

 

We are thankful for many things this holiday season, one of which is you, our loyal audience.  Thank you for embracing our programming and sharing your love of live performances with those closest to you. We hope you will consider supporting this very special production by making a gift of any amount of your choosing. $1,000 or more will truly help move the needle in our efforts.  

 

You may contribute through the link below and choose between either the Hammer Presents Programming Fund OR the more general Hammer Theatre Center Annual Giving Fund which supports operations beyond programming.

 

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to call or email me directly. My email and phone number are listed below. I’d be happy to assist you.

 

Warmest wishes to you and yours and a joyous holiday season!  I hope to see you here at the Hammer Theatre very soon!

 

Christopher Burrill

Executive Director

Hammer Theatre Center

telephone:  408-924-8504

email: chris.burrill@sjsu.edu

 

The Broadway production of The Kite Runner will begin their U.S. National Tour in April 2024 at the Hammer Theatre. 

 

Mark your calendars for this powerful production and life-changing story – one that Variety called “Beautiful, inventive and uplifting” and the Wall Street Journal said was “Enourmously moving, satisfying and soulful.”