With summer drawing to a close, local theater companies are prepping their houses for a robust 2026/27 season. Live theater productions in Northern Sonoma County will include the usual mixture of the tried and true along with a sprinkling of newer works to keep things interesting for the frequent theatergoer.
Healdsburg’s Raven Players open their season with macbitches, a sort of Mean Girls-meets-Shakespeare mash-up. Jeanette Seisdedos directs the dark comedy that follows a group of high school girls vying for the role of Lady Macbeth in their Scholastic Shakespeare production. Treachery abounds at the Raven Performing Arts Theater starting Sept. 11.
The Players follow that in October with Stephen Sondheim’s classic musical Sweeney Todd, The Demon Barber of Fleet Street. Steven David Martin directs the tale of lost love, revenge and original recipes. The slicing, dicing and baking opens on Oct. 23.
The Strongest Man in Town: A Vintage Tale takes place in Sonoma County. Local playwright Tony Sciulla spins a tale about vintners looking to open a new, high-end Wine Country resort to the consternation of their neighbors. Inspired by Ibsen’s An Enemy of the People, the classic conflict between people and profits takes the Raven stage on Jan. 22.
Hurricane Diane lands in Healdsburg in February ’27. Athena Gundlach directs Madeleine George’s comic reimagining of the classic Greek tragedy, The Bacchae.
Harry Potter gets parodied in Puffs: or Seven Increasingly Eventful Years at a Certain School of Magic and Magic by Matt Cox. The play looks at a group of young wizards not named Harry, Hermione or Ron who are not destined to save the world. It will run for three weeks in May.
The Raven Players circle back in June for more high school hijinks with the season-closing production of Mean Girls. It’s the musical adaptation of Tina Fey’s popular 2004 movie about an outsider taking on a high school clique. Tickets at raventheater.org/buy-season-tickets.
The 222 begins an extended season of small-scale theatrical offerings for local audiences with Red, John Logan’s Tony-winning play that explores the intense, tumultuous relationship between abstract expressionist painter Mark Rothko and his fictional assistant, Ken, in the late 1950s. It will debut at the Paul Mahder Gallery on Sept. 11.
The Aldo Billingsley-programmed season continues in October with True West, Sam Shepard’s classic drama about battling brothers, while December brings a weekend run of Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar. Shakespeare’s tale of tyranny and assassination is a popular choice for North Bay theater companies this season, following the Jacobethan Theatre Workshop’s staging of a modern adaptation at three Sonoma County venues this summer.
The New Year brings productions of Lauren Gunderson’s I and You, Neil Simon’s The Good Doctor and Harold Pinter’s The Betrayal to downtown Healdsburg. Other productions are scheduled as well; see the222.org for the full list.
The Cloverdale Performing Arts Center has scheduled four productions for its 2026/27 season beginning with The Business of Murder by British playwright Richard Harris (not the actor). Christopher Johnston directs the murder mystery, which enjoyed a long eight-year run in Britain’s West End beginning in 1981. It opens Nov. 13.
Comedian Steve Martin wrote a few plays over the years, including Meteor Shower. Two couples gather at an Ojai home to watch the title event, and all hell breaks loose. Theatergoers can join them in the Shower in February.
Things go a little darker with the May presentation of The Girl on the Train. Based on the international bestselling psychological thriller by Paula Hawkins and the 2017 movie, this Train is scheduled to depart in May.
CPAC ends the season on a somewhat lighter note with Christopher Durang’s Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike. Three middle-aged siblings and a Hollywood “himbro”—rhymes with “bimbo”—deal with several Chekhov-ian situations in this popular comedy. Tickets at cloverdaleperformingarts.com/season-pass.
Season tickets are available from all these companies (see links above) and I know they’d appreciate any purchases for oneself or as a gift for others. It’s one of the best ways to support local theater.
