Places: Secret Mondavi

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By Russell Nichols
Photos by Marc Kallweit

“You want to see something that nobody gets to see?”

The question is rhetorical, as Dale Kilpatric, with a harness strapped to his body, ascends a ladder into a dark room with a slanted window. Kilpatric is the stage manager of UC Davis’ state-of-the-art Mondavi Center. He enters the follow spot booth and stands between two massive xenon spotlights pointed at the theater’s stage.

Although Kilpatric, 49, manages all activity behind the scenes, this is his favorite room in Jackson Hall. After switching on the light, he peers through the semi-soundproof window, which provides a grand panorama of the whole theater from nearly 70 feet above. 

“This,” he says, “is the top of the world.”

From I-80, the Mondavi Center for the Performing Arts appears as a massive sandstone structure, a sign of the times that represents the school and the cultural potential of Sacramento and its surrounding area. Since opening five years ago, the $57 million complex (named for famed vintner Robert Mondavi and his wife, Margrit, who gave $10 million to the project) has attracted diverse local and world-class performances such as the musical “Rent,” the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra and jazz saxophonist Branford Marsalis.

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