After nearly a decade, the Beverly Hills Unified School District (BHUSD) came together to celebrate the reopening of the K.L. Peters Auditorium at Beverly Hills High School (BHHS) on Jan. 28.
With nearly 1,200 seats, the newly renovated auditorium features state-of-the-art theatrical technology, including a multistory lighting catwalk, speakers, security cameras and ADA-accessible features. The theater is complete with an orchestra, balcony and a motorized orchestra pit that can be assembled or disassembled for any given performance. The facility also offers new dressing rooms, a green room and an engineering space for students to work on set construction while preserving the theater’s façade.
The renovation was funded over many years through local bond measures and was overseen by Executive Director of Maintenance, Operations and Construction Will Karrat and management firm Fonder-Solari.
Members of the Beverly Hills City Council, BHUSD Board of Education, parents, students, teachers, Parent Teacher Student Association leadership and Beverly Hills Education Foundation Board members came together for a ribbon-cutting ceremony followed by the opening night performance of Dance Company 2026.
“This reopening is the result of years of thoughtful planning and commitment to our students and community and of course, thank you to every community member here tonight,” said BHUSD Board of Education President Judy Manouchehri. “Your presence reflects how deeply this district, and these spaces matter to Beverly Hills. This reopening also represents something larger: it marks yet another accomplishment in BHUSD’s ongoing investment in world-class facilities for our students in our community.”
The reopened theater will not only serve as a performance space for the school’s music, theater and dance programs, but will finally serve as a place for the full school to gather for assemblies. The theater’s technology will help support the school’s theater tech pathway, where students learn lighting design, sound design and stagecraft. The auditorium will also help facilitate a hands-on approach with school shows, where students will build sets for each production.
Photo by Lisa Friedman Bloch
The auditorium’s stage was named after real estate agent Michael Libow, a BHHS alumnus, who donated the stage through the Beverly Hills Education Foundation.
“If somebody is a new parent coming into the Beverly Hills community, they will now be proud to call this their high school,” Libow said. “This is something that we can all be proud of in this community, and it brings people together.”
Students were at the forefront of every part of the theater’s reopening. A BHHS string quartet serenaded guests while Culinary Arts students prepared and served hors d’oeuvres. The main performance was led by the BHHS Advanced Dance Theatre Group, a group of 20 dancers who marked the theater’s first artistic performance with rousing and inspiring contemporary dance.
“It’ll elevate the quality of what we do. When you have great events like this, great venues like this, amazing kids will want to come here because of our dance, theater and arts, and it’s going to elevate all of our arts programs,” BHUSD Superintendent Alex Cherniss said. “I think what we have here is the best of the best. And any parent that brings their kid here would say, ‘Hey, I want my kid to go here.’”
The auditorium had its soft opening on Jan. 27, when it hosted an assembly of five Holocaust survivors for Holocaust Remembrance Day. The student body gathered for the first time in one space to hear the stories of the survivors.
The Peters Auditorium reopening coincides with other major campus construction projects, including the renovated Salter Family Theatre, six new tennis courts, a new softball field, classroom and performance spaces in the B3 and B4 buildings and the Grand Lawn, which is set to reopen in the coming months.
“Tonight marks more than the reopening of a theater—it marks the fulfillment of a promise,” Manouchehri said. “A promise that every student deserves a space that honors their talent, amplifies their voice and reflects their worth. Through the unwavering commitment of this district, that promise has been kept, creating a comprehensive home for arts education and performance within BHUSD.”
Photo courtesy of BHUSD
