IRVINE : Sheridan Appointed to Theater Board

Come November, Mayor Sally Anne Sheridan will be replaced on the City Council because she is not running for reelection. But her ties to the city will linger through one of the major projects that helped build her political reputation.

Last week, the City Council unanimously appointed Sheridan to serve on the Irvine Barclay Theatre Operating Company Board of Directors, beginning Dec. 15. The construction and continuing operation of the theater has been one of Sheridan’s priorities since before her election to the council.

Sheridan lobbied for the theater while a member of the Community Services Commission in the 1970s and kept the idea alive after she was elected to the council in 1984. Even when the theater’s cost leaped from an estimated $9.5 million to $12.2 million and then to $17.6 million, Sheridan persuaded fellow council members to build it.

Three years ago, the city and UC Irvine broke ground on the 750-seat theater, making Sheridan’s longtime dream a reality. The theater now sits on the eastern edge of the campus and is run jointly by the city and university.

Sheridan was appointed to a three-year term as a director of the nonprofit operating company, which raises money for the operation and endowment of the theater.