The show, as they say, must go on. In Sonoma County, that maxim has been slightly adjusted due to the theater-oblivious wildfires. Here’s a roundup of how our local theater companies have been affected, and which shows are going on as planned and which are postponed.
6th Street Playhouse (Santa Rosa) Steel Magnolias‘ delayed opening will take place Friday, Oct. 20.
The playhouse has reportedly become a temporary shelter, taking in a number of displaced cast members.
Cinnabar Theater (Petaluma) The comedy-drama Quartet opened last Friday as planned, despite
the displacement of some cast members and the loss of lighting designer Wayne Hovey’s Santa Rosa home.
Left Edge Theater (Santa Rosa) Located in a wing of the fire-damaged Luther Burbank Center, Left Edge Theater’s black box space remains intact, though it did suffer extensive smoke and water damage, and the company has therefore postponed its Nov. 3 opening of the comedy Bakersfield Mist. The play will be rescheduled for later in the season.
Lucky Penny Theater Company (Napa) The opening of The Crucible, by Arthur Miller, originally scheduled for Oct. 20, has been postponed until Oct. 27.
Main Stage West (Sebastopol) The one-woman show Mary Shelley’s Body (written by yours truly) was postponed, and will now debut Thursday, Oct. 19. Two Saturday matinees, at 2pm, have been added to the run on Oct. 21 and 28.
Roustabout Theater (Santa Rosa) Also based at the LBC, Roustabout lost its costume storage area to the flames. The company is currently rehearsing offsite, and expects to return to the LBC’s Carston Cabaret room on Nov. 5.
Santa Rosa Junior College The SRJC’s theater department canceled its final weekend of the drama It Can’t Happen Here. The college’s Nov. 17 opening of Disney’s The Little Mermaid, to be staged at Maria Carrillo High School, will take place as planned.
Sonoma Arts Live (Sonoma) Following the postponement of its opening weekend, the classic drama The Rainmaker is expected to open this Thursday, Oct. 19, at Andrews Hall in the Sonoma Community Center.
Spreckels Theater Company (Rohnert Park) Spamalot—with its timely anthem “Always Look on the Bright Side of Life”—opened its planned three-week run last Friday. Director David Yen stepped in, script in hand, for cast member Riz Gross, hospitalized due to burns suffered when escaping the fire. Her home was lost in the blaze.
