by Harry Duke *

With summer drawing to close, North Bay theatre companies are prepping their houses for a robust 2026 – 2027 season. Live theatre productions in Sonoma and Napa counties will include the usual mixture of the tried and true along with a sprinkling of North Bay premieres to keep  things interesting for the frequent theatre-goer.

Santa Rosa’s 6th Street Playhouse comes out of the gate first with their production of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s South Pacific.The musical tale of South Seas love and prejudice is a stark reminder that not much has changed since it premiered in 1949. It opens on Aug. 21. (6thstreetplayhouse.com)

Mercury Theater opens its second full season with Intimate Apparel. Leontyne Mbele-Mbong directs Lynn Nottage’s play about the search for love by a black woman in early 20th-century America and all the difficulties that entails. The drama opens in Petaluma on Aug. 28. (mercurytheater.org)

Spreckels Theatre Company kicks things off with Equivocation. Bill Cain’s historical drama mixes art, politics, and the corruption of both. Oh, and it involves a guy named “Shagspeare”. The “alternate history” also opens on Aug. 28 in Rohnert Park. (spreckelsonline.com)

Speaking of Shakespeare, Healdsburg’s Raven Players open their season with macbitches. The dark comedy brings a Mean Girls vibe to the Bard as high school rivalries around the casting of Lady Macbeth turn treacherous. Something wicked this way comes to the Raven Performing Arts Theater on 09/04. (raventheater.org)

Five, count’em, five productions open in the North Bay on September 11.

Out on the Russian River, Curtain Call Theatre of Monte Rio is presenting Quartet. Ronald Harwood’s play about a group of opera singers living in a retirement home trying to put up a concert is an amusing bit of senior-centered theatre. (russianriverhall.com)

Somewhat similarly, the folks at Sonoma Arts Live are presenting Follies. This time it’s aging showgirls gathered in a crumbling theatre to hash out past regrets and complicated relationships. It’s an early Stephen Sondheim musical, best known for the defiant “I’m Still Here” number. (sonomaartstlive.com)

Healdsburg’s The 222 opens their season with Red. John Logan’s Tony-winning play about the tumultuous relationship between two artists plays, appropriately, at the Paul Mahder Gallery. (the222.org)

In Napa, the Napa Valley College Performing Arts Center will be presenting Barrio Hollywood, Produced by Teatro Alebrijes del Valle in partnership with Shakespeare Napa Valley, it’s a vibrant celebration of Latino culture and community.(performingartsnapavalley.org)

The Lucky Penny Community Arts Center will be hosting Freaky Friday, the Musical. If you know the book or the three Disney adaptations, you’ll know the show. Just add songs. (luckypennynapa.com)

September closes out with Cinnabar Theater’s production of the ol’ Bye Bye Birdie. Cinnabar continues to produce their “adult” shows at Warren Theater on the campus of Sonoma State University in Rohnert Park, where it will open on Sep. 18.(cinnabartheater.org)

And leave it to Santa Rosa’s Left Edge Theatre to stir things up a bit with their production of Jeremy O. Harris’s controversial Slave Play. Racial trauma, power dynamics, violence, and issues of intimacy between three interracial couples take center stage at The California starting Sep. 25. (leftedgetheatre.com) 

The Cloverdale Performing Arts Center’s next production isn’t until November when they’ll present The Business of Murder. (cloverdaleperformingarts.com)

From old chestnuts to modern musicals to in-your-face contemporary dramas, there seems to be something for everyone opening up the 2026/27 North Bay theatre season.  

This preview originally appeared in the North Bay Bohemian.