Sonoma County Repertory Theater

By Kim Taylor

Sonoma County Repertory Theater

SEBASTOPOL, CA – Traveling down North Main Street in the little hamlet of Sebastopol, California one could easily pass by one of its most valued treasures.

Built in the 1870’s, the storefront location at 104 N. Main Street was originally the town’s general store. Today, this vintage gem is an intimate 80-seat theater venue and home of the Sonoma County Repertory Theater.

Founded in 1993 as the Main Street Theater, its first production, Oscar Wilde’s “The Importance of Being Ernest,” set the standard for professional quality theater in Sonoma County.

In 1995, a second theater was opened in Santa Rosa, prompting a name change to Sonoma County Repertory Theater, fondly referred today by locals as “The Rep.” Economic challenges of operating two theaters forced the closing of the Santa Rosa location in 2000.

But, the best things do come in small packages. During the past decade the theater company has garnered respect and accolades with bold play selections and a talented roster of company players.

Without a wing space or fly system, the artistic staff of the Sonoma County Repertory Theater takes a positive approach at its main stage location with creative and inventive staging. Storage is located at an off-site facility, but administration offices and dressing rooms are conveniently located on the second floor, above the theater.

During the summer months the Sonoma County Repertory Theater can spread its wings, its vision and its audiences presenting its annual Sebastopol Shakespeare Festival with outdoor productions at Sebastopol’s Ives Park, also located downtown at 7400 Willow Street.

Featuring beautiful trees surrounding the stage, easy accessibility and a large grass area, the park venue can accommodates over 300 patrons each performance. The Ives Park location offers a family-friendly environment and Sonoma County tourists a fun, cultural destination, making The Rep’s Shakespeare fest a favorite Sebastopol summer tradition.

Sonoma County Repertory Theater has an annual audience of about 10,000 patrons. The theater company presents seven to eight productions per year including its critically acclaimed annual holiday presentation of “A Christmas Carol” and two productions for its annual Sebastopol Shakespeare Festival.

Sonoma County Repertory Theater also serves over 5,000 young people annually through its arts education and outreach programs.

Additional information about Sonoma County Repertory Theater can be found at www.The-Rep.com.

Mary Gannon-Graham and Wendel Wilson in Midsummer Night's Dream at Sonoma County Repertory Festival's Sebastopol Shakespeare Festival 2009

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A former entertainment calendar editor and features writer at the Marin Independent Journal, Kim Taylor, combined her media experience and appreciation for arts and entertainment and established herself as a successful and award-winning publicist.

Additional articles by Kim Taylor include:

• 6th Street Playhouse
• Cinnabar Theater
  
• The Mountain Play’s Sidney B. Cushing Amphitheatre

6th Street Playhouse

By Kim Taylor

6th Street Playhouse architectural drawing (Paul Gilger, Architect)

SONOMA COUNTY, CA – A theatrical marriage took place in Santa Rosa in February, 2005 when two established theater companies, The Santa Rosa Players and Actors Theatre, joined forces and moved into the newly renovated 6th Street Playhouse and presented their first joint production. Jerry Herman’s popular and beloved musical Mame was performed to sell out crowds.

In less than five years the newly formed theater company, which adopted the name of the 6th Street Playhouse, has garnered critical acclaim for its productions and West Coast premieres, received preservation awards, theatrical award nominations and noted internationally for revered talent on its main stage.

The 6th Street Playhouse partnership between the Santa Rosa Players and Actors Theatre was formed in 2004. Managed by one board of directors, the 6th Street Playhouse venue emerged from the renovated 107-year old Del Monte cannery. The renovation project received the City of Santa Rosa Award for Cultural Enrichment and the Sonoma County Historical Society Award for Preservation of a Historical Building.

American architect, set designer and playwright Paul Gilger of Sonoma County, orchestrated the conversion turning the large brick structure, located in the historic Railroad Square district, into a 186-seat professional, state-of-the art theater facility theater.

The project included excavation to create the seating terraces and an orchestra pit; the installation of interior walls, new mechanical, electrical and plumbing systems; and new theatrical equipment including sound, lighting and stage rigging. The renovation also included the installation of refurbished seats acquired from a former Santa Rosa movie theater and the tireless job of cleaning old brick.

The theater facility features a lobby, box office, wing space, lighting, rigging, scrims, flies, backdrops, storage, dressing rooms and sound booth. The main theater is an intimate venue with excellent sightlines, acoustics and flexibility. In January 2008, 6th Street Playhouse completed its 99-seat black box Studio Theatre and where it presented the West Coast premiere of Public Exposure, by Robert B. Reich.

Since its debut in 2005, the 6th Street Playhouse has flourished presenting full seasons in both theaters including popular musicals, American classics, comedies, the avant-garde and productions featuring the students of its School of Drama. The 2008 6th Street Playhouse production of Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman received international attention as it featured noted actor of stage and screen, Daniel Benzali, in the role of Willy Loman.

In 2009, the 6th Street Playhouse received six outstanding award nominations from the San Francisco Bay Area Theater Critics’ Circle.

Additional information about 6th Street Playhouse can be found at www.6thStreetPlayhouse.com.

6th Street Playhouse architectural drawing (Paul Gilger, Architect)

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A former entertainment calendar editor and features writer at the Marin Independent Journal, Kim Taylor, combined her media experience and appreciation for arts and entertainment and established herself as a successful and award-winning publicist.

Additional articles by Kim Taylor include:

• Cinnabar Theater
  
• The Mountain Play’s Sidney B. Cushing Amphitheatre
• Ross Valley Players’ Barn Theatre

Cinnabar Theater

by Kim Taylor

Cinnabar Theater photo by Scott Hess Photography

SONOMA COUNTY, CA – Cinnabar Theater, sometimes referred to as “the charming little theater on the hill”, was originally built in 1908 as a Mission Revival style schoolhouse.

The transformation of the schoolhouse into Sonoma County’s only venue producing opera and musical theater, dramatic theater, chamber series, dance and special festivals sprouted in the imaginative mind of a North Dakota farm boy named Marvin Klebe.

In a 1998 Sonoma County Independent article Klebe said, “In the summertime, you’d go around and around the field on the tractor. So there I was, with the muffler blazing, just singing away.”

Klebe went on to become a successful classically trained baritone, working as an international opera singer who performed with San Francisco Opera and was featured at the Spoleto Festival of Two Worlds. The grand opera scene became disenchanting for Klebe who fretted that it offered “too little rehearsal and innovation [and was] too traditional, very regimented with no regard for the needs of a family.”

So, Marvin and his wife Jan bought the little school house on the hill in 1970. With carpentry skills and the help of his four sons, the building was turned into a theater with the goal of creating a performance venue for the local community to collaborate and experiment. Klebe invited like minded artists from other disciplines to join him in that mission. Performing artists, dancers, opera singers and musicians and actors inspired and supported each other to achieve that goal.

Cinnabar Arts Corporation received its nonprofit status in 1974 and nine years later established Cinnabar Young Repertory Theater and remodeled the venue to accommodate Cinnabar’s growing audience. In 1986, Nina Shuman joined Cinnabar Theater as Music Director.

After Klebe’s death in 1999, the Cinnabar Theater continued under the leadership of his friend and protégée Elly Lichenstein, wife Jan and son, Aloysha Klebe, who now serves as Technical Director.

Cinnabar Theater offers an intimate experience in its 99-seat theater with audience pleasing and critically acclaimed performances of opera, theater, Youth Theater, choral ensembles, the Petaluma Summer Music Festival and associate performing artists.

Additional information about Cinnabar Theater is available at www.CinnabarTheater.org.

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A former entertainment calendar editor and features writer at the Marin Independent Journal, Kim Taylor, combined her media experience and appreciation for arts and entertainment and established herself as a successful and award-winning publicist.

Additional articles by Kim Taylor include:

• Belrose Theatre
• The Mountain Play’s Sidney B. Cushing Amphitheatre
• Ross Valley Players’ Barn Theatre

Shop ’til You Drop, or Find the Right Prop for Theater (or Theatre)

by Phil Gravitt

Holding the Trophy photo by Yuri Arcurs

SONOMA COUNTY, CA – When Stephanie Lisius goes shopping, there is no telling what she’ll come home with — an antique suitcase, a salesman’s sample case, a 1930’s football, a leather basketball.  She shopped for all those things recently in her role as prop master.

Asked to describe what falls under the responsibility of the prop master, Stephanie replied, “Anything that gets picked up and moved around by an actor in the show.   The set designer is responsible for items that remain in one place, like a bed, refrigerator, or piano.”

Previously, Lisius had schedule intense roles like stage manager, with rehearsals four days a week, working late into the night, plus the run of the production.  As a full time social worker, committing to the long hours and specific times was no longer feasible for her.   Becoming a prop master allowed her to stay involved in theater while being fully present as a social worker.  Now she attends a few rehearsals, in case the director adds a prop or two, and weekly or biweekly 6 P.M. production meetings, which last no more than ninety minutes.    “I can do the rest of the prop master responsibilities on my own time,” she says, “instead of being tied to specific times and many meetings.”

Stephanie has what it takes to be prop master.  She is detail oriented, cares about authenticity, and is relentless in finding just the right item without going over budget.    In addition to forays into the property rooms of local theater groups, Lisius scours Craigslist and eBay, where she found the 1930’s football for ten dollars.   Shopping at antique and second hand stores on weekends, Stephanie always mentions the various things she is looking for.  “People are always eager to help and make suggestions when they know it is for a theater production.”

Another great resource is the Sonoma County theater community.  Lisius says, “There are many people with three or four decades of theater experience.   After an unsuccessful search for the leather basketball, a theater veteran suggested “Pick up an inexpensive rubber one, and spray paint it brown.”   An involved local actor and antiques collector generously offered to loan period suitcases.  “I keep many lists,” she says. “Since many props are borrowed, it is important to make sure an item gets back to where it came from, and in the same condition.”

Sometimes not finding the exact prop works out fine.  In one musical comedy, the store scene called for an old cash register.  Not finding one, a child’s plastic register was spray painted to look metallic.    Since the store in the scene wasn’t making any money, having a cheap sounding cash register was realistic.  For a drama, sports pennants were to be carried in one scene, and a megaphone was substituted.

To determine what props are needed for a show, Lisius explains, “I go through the script and notice anytime an item is handled or mentioned—an actor buying a trophy, carrying shoulder pads, asking ‘Where are my stockings?’   Knowing how and when an item will be used on stage, how visible it will be, and if it will be noticeably from the time period the play is set, are also important.  When the prop fits the scene, attention stays on the actor.”

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Phil Gravitt is a freelance writer whose articles have appeared in the San Francisco Chronicle and Examiner, the Noe Valley Voice & other San Francisco neighborhood newspapers, and the Bay Area Visual Arts Blog http://www.BAArtQuake.com.