Theatricum Botanicum, Topanga

The Will Geer Theatricum Botanicum, named for the English botanist John Parkinson's herbal, Theatrum Botanicum, is an open-air theater founded in Topanga Canyon, near The Getty Villa by Will Geer in 1973. In the 1950s Will Geer was blacklisted for refusing to testify before the House Committee on Un-American Activities. He had to sell his large Santa Monica home and move his family to a small plot in the canyon where they could grow their own produce. Geer's friend Woody Guthrie had a small shack on the property. They unintentionally founded what became an artists' colony. Since its founding in 1973, the Geer family has continued to operate the Will Geer Theatricum Botanicum. Geer's former wife, Herta Ware, helped develop the outdoor summer theatre and continued to appear in plays there after her husband's death in 1978. The company features Shakespeare, as well as modern and contemporary authors. The theater, set in the natural amphitheater of a mountain canyon, is also used for occasional concerts. ()