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…
My guest on the 08/06/26 “Theatre Thursday” segment on The Drive on 95.5 FM was Lori Haley Fox from the upcoming Transcendence Theatre Company presentation of Mamma Mia! Lori appeared in the original West End production, the National Touring company, the Broadway production, and the Meryl Streep movie version of the musical! The ABBA musical…
by Harry Duke * Sandy Rustin’s The Cottage, now running at the Cloverdale Performing Arts Center through August 16, has all the hallmarks of a classic Noël Coward comedy: an early 20th-century setting, an English countryside abode, philandering spouses, lots of drinking and smoking, and witty banter delivered in British accents. That it was written…
My guests on the 07/30/26 “Theatre Thursday” segment on The Drive on 95.5 FM were Nicola Vann and Josh Wolonick from the Los Angeles-based Bardfly Theatre Co. for a chat about their production of Shakespeare’s As You Like It. They’re bringing their site-specific production of the bard’s comedy to two North Bay venues – Kenwood’s…
My guests on the 07/23/26 “Theatre Thursday” segment on The Drive on 95.5 FM were Lukas Raphael and Amanda Vitiello from the Jacobethan Theatre Workshop to talk about their season of “Shakespeare in the Park(ing Lot)”. They’ll be bringing a stripped-down, modern-dress version of Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar to three locations this year – Santa Rosa…
by Cari Lynn Pace * Sonoma Arts Live’s season-closing Once Upon a Mattress holds plenty of delights. This Tony-award nominated 1959 musical with a book by Jay Thompson, Dean Fuller & Marshall Barer and lyrics by Barer and music by Mary Rogers runs through August 2. Based on the ageless fairy tale The Princess and…
My guest on the 07/09/26 “Theatre Thursday” segment on The Drive on 95.5 FM was Michael Gene Sullivan, writer of and performer in the San Francisco Mime Troupe’s latest theatrical poke in the eye of the establishment called WRECKAGE: A Musical Tragicomedy. The show is on tour throughout Northern California with stops in Sonoma County…
My guests on the second of two 07/02/26 “Theatre Thursday” segments on The Drive on 95.5 FM were writer/director Maureen O’Neill and performer Gregory Bailey from the 6th Street Playhouse workshop production of The (Unbelievably True) Story of Nicky O. The original rock musical has three performances at 6th Street Playhouse in Santa Rosa on…
My guests on the first of two 07/02/26 “Theatre Thursday” segments on The Drive on 95.5 FM were Aaron LaVigne and Jenna Rubaii from the Transcendence Theatre Company presentation of Radio Recall: The Soundtrack of Your Life. I also had time to get Aaron to share a few thoughts on his working on the infamous…
Cites “cumulative effect of years of cuts, instability, neglect, and diminishing support”. by Harry Duke * Santa Rosa High School’s award-winning ArtQuest Theatre program has lost Jereme Anglin as a Theatre Arts teacher. In a lengthy letter of resignation submitted to the Santa Rosa High School Administration and Santa Rosa City Schools on June 29,…
