My guests on the second of two 10/01/26 “Theatre Thursday” segments on The Drive on 95.5 FM were Emily Hansen and Haley Ayyad from the Santa Rosa Junior College Theatre Arts production of Emilia. The reimagining of the life of 17th-century poet and musician Emilia Bassano runs in the Studio Theatre in the Burbank Auditorium…
My guests on the first of two 10/01/26 “Theatre Thursday” segments on The Drive on 95.5 FM were Drew Bolander and Laura Downing-Lee from the 6th Street Playhouse production of George Bernard Shaw’s Misalliance. The turn-of-the-20th-century comedy runs on the Monroe Stage at the Playhouse in Santa Rosa through October25. Click HERE for more info.
by Cari Lynn Pace * Death of a Salesman, Arthur Miller’s powerful drama about a man spiraling into oblivion, is the latest triumph for Ross Valley Players at The Barn Theater above the Marin Art & Garden Center in Ross. Director Adrian Elfenbaum notes that nearly 100 actors auditioned for roles, an amazing turnout yet…
by Harry Duke * To many, Death of a Salesman is the classic American play. From its Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award-winning Broadway debut in 1949 through multiple revivals, theatre companies return again and again to Arthur Miller’s dissection of the American dream to draw audiences. The Ross Valley Players open their 97th season with…
by Cari Lynn Pace * Spreckels Theatre Company opens their 2026/27 season with the North Bay premiere of the contemporary musical Dear Evan Hansen. Written by Steven Levenson, with music and lyrics by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, this multi-Tony-Award-winning show exposes the teen angst so prevelant today. It runs in the Nellie W. Codding…
by Cari Lynn Pace * Welcome to Putnam County, where a middle school spelling bee championship takes place with a ragtag collection of juveniles and two clearly biased judges. William Finn wrote the clever words and music to two dozen numbers based on Rachel Sheinkin’s book presented onstage at the Novato Theater Company. Adults play…
My guests on the 09/24/26 “Theatre Thursday” segment on The Drive on 95.5 FM were director Kim Bromley and lead actor Addison Brown from the Spreckels Theater Company’s production of Dear Evan Hansen. The Tony Award-winning musical has its North Bay premiere run in the Codding Theater at the Speckels Performing Arts Center in Rohnert…
by Harry Duke * Musical theatre is an art form that rarely comes with a trigger warning. One wouldn’t think that a show as innocuous as The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee would need an alert that the show’s subject matter may cause distressing psychological or physiological reactions, especially in people who have previously…
by Cari Lynn Pace * Cinnabar Theater opens its 54th season with the nostalgia-filled musical Bye Bye Birdie, now running in the Warren Auditorium at Sonoma State University through Oct. 4. The Broadway musical (with book by Michael Stewart, music by Charles Strouse, and lyrics by Lee Adams) won several Tony Awards in 1961 including…
The Marquee Theater Journalists Association has announced the nominees for their 2026 MTJA Norbay Theater Awards. The Association was originally formed by a group of Sonoma County-based theater journalists in 2015 with the intent of developing a critically-based awards program to acknowledge outstanding work done by the local theater community. It held Awards ceremonies from…
