The stage is set for a big Santa Cruz summer theater season

For a while there, it felt like Santa Cruz theater had gone quiet.

Not completely gone – this is still a town built on artists, after all. But things got quieter. Thinner. The kind of hush that creeps in slowly.

Back in the 1990s and 2000s, stages across the county were alive with companies both large and small producing work that was ambitious, scrappy, weird, moving and often remarkably good.

Then came the slow drift. Artists priced out. Companies folding or scaling back. And finally, the full stop of COVID, which didn’t just dim the lights – it shuttered the venues entirely.

But this summer and fall, something feels different.

Live theater is popping up everywhere again: Shakespeare under the stars. Intimate black box productions. Big musicals. Political satire. Experimental opera. “Rocky Horror” chaos. Locally grown work finding fresh life.

In other words, your social life might be about to get significantly more theatrical.

And nobody seems more determined to raise the stakes this season than Santa Cruz Shakespeare, where Artistic Director Charles Pasternak has assembled an ambitious five-show season under the banner “’Til Death Do Us Part: The Thin Line Between Love and Hate.”

The repertory lineup moves fluidly between classic and contemporary, pairing Shakespeare’s “Much Ado About Nothing” and “Macbeth” (opening July 16 and 17, respectively) with August Wilson’s “Fences” (opening July 30), Noël Coward’s razor-sharp comedy “Private Lives” (opening Sept. 5), and the emotionally intimate musical “The Last Five Years” (opening Sept. 12).

Together, the productions explore relationships in all their complexity – romantic, familial, psychological – asking what binds people together and what ultimately tears them apart.

Santa Cruz Shakespeare’s evolution beyond its traditional summer festival roots is anything but accidental. Pasternak says broadening the company’s reach into more year-round programming has long been part of its vision, and what he was hired to do as artistic director.

“I have a fire in me for repertory theater and expansion,” he says. “The more I get to expand, the more artists I get to hire and the more I can offer this community.”

The shift is already visible. With the addition of this year’s spring production of “Vincent” and the return of “A Christmas Carol” this winter, Santa Cruz Shakespeare will have produced a seven-show season for the year. Last summer delivered record-breaking ticket sales for the company, suggesting that audiences clearly responded to each incremental step forward it has taken toward this new, big season.

Shakespeare’s investment in growth also includes a deeper commitment to local artists – something not always common in larger professional theater companies.

“There is controversy in a lot of cities when professional companies bring in outside artists while overlooking strong local talent,” says Pasternak. “It’s a delicate balance. To put on a world-class season, I need the best artists from across the country. But I’m learning some of those ‘best artists’ are already here in Santa Cruz.”

This season, audiences will see familiar local performers such as Avondina Wills and Patty Gallagher appearing alongside the incoming national artists. Pasternak says he has become increasingly impressed by the depth of talent in Santa Cruz.

That philosophy extends behind the scenes as well, with local creatives such as costume designer B. Modern and music director Luke Shepherd contributing to the seasons.

“I love investing in local artists,” Pasternak adds. “The money we spend on hiring them goes directly back into the community, which I take very seriously. There’s also a real love of these local artists by the community, so audiences get excited when they see their own artists onstage.”

That spirit of regional investment is also evident in its newly expanded Tuesday night Community Revels series at the Audrey Stanley Grove at DeLaveaga Park, which highlights performers and arts organizations from Santa Cruz County. This season includes Joe Ortiz’s cabaret “Smoke” starring Lori Rivera, on Sept. 15, along with Santa Cruz Opera Project’s production of “La Bohème” on Sept. 29.

Unlike the Monday Night Revels series, which invites touring acts and performers from outside of Santa Cruz County, Community Revels is designed exclusively to showcase artists who live and work in the region, strengthening the company’s connections with local talent.

Among five summer productions, Revels nights, Fringe intern readings and expanded community programming, there will be no shortage of reasons to spend an evening at the Grove.

But that’s just the tip of the Santa Cruz theater scene iceberg. Venture beyond the trees and you’ll find enough ambitious local storytelling to keep even the most devoted theatre nerd happily overbooked through the fall.

Actors’ Theatre, famous for the 8 Tens @ Eight Short Play Festival, continues its season with two upcoming productions.

Starting July 3, Actors’ Theatre will present a revised staging of “Escaping Queens: Over the Roof,” the musical memoir by local creative force Joe Ortiz. Best known to many as co-owner of Gayle’s Bakery & Rosticceria in Capitola, Ortiz has long embodied a kind of Renaissance spirit – baker, painter, composer, storyteller.

Set in the shadow of the Queensboro Bridge, “Escaping Queens” tells the comic and deeply personal story of an immigrant family in 1950s New York City, populated by colorful characters including a gambling father, a nurturing Italian mother, a neighborhood bookie, and Doo Wop kids harmonizing on the street corner.

“Escaping Queens” originally debuted at Cabrillo Stage in 2012. The show sold out quickly and returned the following season by popular demand. Over the past few years, it has been continually performed and reworked at the Producers’ Club theater and the Queens Theatre in New York, as well as the Shelton Theater in San Francisco.

“Rewriting the show has been a cathartic experience of my childhood years,” says Ortiz. “The universal themes of the show are about facing the challenges in one’s life and taking action to turn around the outcome.” Mix in a good dose of music, food and humor, and you have the sustenance to get through most situations.

This new iteration features revised material and additional songs that offer both nostalgia and reinvention. Watch for the return of two powerhouse original cast members: Lori Rivera (“Smoke”) and Adam Saucedo (“Sweeney Todd”) to ignite this revival.

Actors’ Theatre’s second full production this season takes place during the spookiest time of year. This October, it will bring Charise Castro Smith’s “Feathers and Teeth” to the stage. Director Miguel Reyna promises a bloody comedy with monsters, mayhem and just the right amount of nightmare fuel.

But Actors’ Theatre also continues to champion local voices through its venue rentals.

“Part of our mission is to be a venue resource for other production companies to perform and do their creative thing,” says Actors’ Theatre president Suzanne Schrag. “Theater is waking up again, out of its slump, and we are excited to support this new resurgence.”

Expect some political community engagement when Dangerous Neighbors presents “Aborting Fascism,” a benefit for Indivisible Santa Cruz County at Actors’ Theatre, running June 5, 6, 12 and 13. Following their highly successful show last year, they have brand-new material that blends political satire and random insanity. It’s a reminder that theater in the Cruz often extends beyond the stage and into civic life.

Actors’ Theatre also hosts the 36 North Playwrights’ Collective, a group with extensive theater and literary backgrounds dedicated to creating new works for the theater. With script-in-hand readings throughout the summer, it’s a great opportunity to see new shows workshopped and participate in audience feedback during a Q&A afterward with actors and playwrights. The readings are free on Mondays at 7 p.m. on June 15, July 20, Aug. 17 and Sept. 14. You’ll see plays written by local writers such as Wilma Marcus Chandler, Jim Schultz, Spike Wong, Kathy Chetkovich, Steve Capasso and more.

In August, director Simon Hayward brings Tom Stoppard’s “Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead” to the Actors’ Theatre stage, running Aug. 14 through 30. Stoppard’s existential comedy, which flips “Hamlet” on its head, offers a sharp, often hilarious meditation on fate, identity and the absurdity of being caught in someone else’s story.

The venue will also host Renegade Theater Company’s annual Pride benefit show. This year, it will perform “Street Theater” by Doric Wilson, a moving account of the tensions leading up to the Stonewall Riots, which sparked the beginnings of the gay pride movement. You’ll have two chances to catch this on June 20, at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m.

Renegade’s event has become both a celebration and a statement of support for the LGBTQ+ community. The proceeds of this performance benefit Trans Families of Santa Cruz and Renegade’s Casper Memorial Fund, which supports the company’s philosophy of not turning any child away during its yearly productions for 13- to 18-year-olds. 

Renegade Theater Company, meanwhile, continues its streak of high-energy, crowd-embracing productions with an adult cast of “The Rocky Horror Show,” opening July 31 at the Veterans Memorial Building downtown.

If past productions are any indication, this won’t be a sit-quietly-in-your-seat kind of evening. Renegade has built a reputation for leaning into the full experience – irreverent, interactive and unapologetically theatrical.

Izzy Pedego will direct the completely live performance, which includes a band and over 20 cast members bringing the cult classic to life. Be ready for a rousing experience where audience members can purchase goody bags filled with items to throw during the show’s call-outs. 

While we are on the subject of interactive theater, let’s talk about Santa Cruz Opera Project. It has been breaking the boundaries of traditional theatrical performance and expectations around what it means to experience an opera. Created by Lori Schulman and Jordan Best, the goal is to make opera accessible to everyone through fresh and unique interpretations. This is not your grandma’s stuffy old opera experience.

“Opera was not written for the elite,” explains Schulman. “It was originally the entertainment of the common people in public spaces. We aim to perform opera in immersive and interactive spaces, where the audience gets an experience that is high quality and one where they are placed in the middle of the action.”

Experience its version of Puccini’s “La Bohème” on June 12, 13, and 14 at Woodhouse Blending and Brewing at 119 Madrone St. in Santa Cruz.  Performed in English, the production includes pre-show poetry writing, mural painting, food and drinks, and opportunities for audiences to sing along during portions of the performance.

“The beauty of live theater is that it is never the same twice,” says Schulman. “Anything can happen, and the audience becomes part of that experience, which makes every performance unique.”

If you miss the June performances, Santa Cruz Opera Project will be performing “La Bohème” again as part of Santa Cruz Shakespeare’s Community Revels at the Audrey Stanley Grove on Sept. 29.

Over at Cabrillo College’s Crocker Theater, Cabrillo Stage will be producing “Sister Act” as its summer musical, opening July 9. Based on the 1992 film starring Whoopi Goldberg, “Sister Act” blends gospel music, comedy and big-hearted chaos at a convent turned into an unlikely musical powerhouse. With music by Alan Menken, it’s a perfect fit for Stage’s high-energy style. Audiences can expect the full orchestra, conducted by Dan Goldsmith, that always makes a Cabrillo Stage production special.

Directing this summer is Rebecca Haley Clark, who directed SC Shakes phenomenal 2025 production of “Master Harold.” It’s her first stab at musical theater, and she is collaborating with choreographer Babe Payne. Clark notes, “Music has always been a big part of my process, and I plan to let the music lead – and to strengthen my ‘glitz and glamour’ muscles.”

Mountain Community Theater is currently running a fierce production of “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” Powered by standout performances and emotional precision, Edward Albee’s classic play pulls audiences straight into the middle of one very dangerous late-night cocktail party. Catch it before it closes on June 7.

On Sept. 18, MCT brings Neil Simon’s “Rumors” to the stage, directed by MarNae Taylor. The fast-paced farce spirals into a classic Simon comedy when guests arrive at an anniversary party to discover the host injured, his wife missing and absolutely no one telling the truth.

At the Tannery Arts Center, All About Theatre shifts gears in August with its annual adult production of the Tony-winning musical “Dear Evan Hansen” – the story of a socially anxious teenager whose longing for connection spirals into something far more complicated. It plays at the Colligan Theater from Aug. 14 to 29. 

Taken all together, what’s emerging is more than just a packed calendar. It feels like a theater community remembering its own pulse again.

For a town that once saw its theater scene thin out under the pressure of rising costs – and then nearly stall under the weight of a global pandemic – this moment feels quietly significant. The work isn’t uniform, and it isn’t trying to be. It ranges from the polished to the experimental. What connects it all is a feeling that the scene is moving again – and some great performances are emerging.

There’s also something newly intimate happening between artists and audiences. Whether it’s immersive opera, political satire or Shakespeare, many of these companies are rethinking not just what they produce, but how audiences experience it.

And maybe that’s the real story here.

Not simply that theater in Santa Cruz survived, but that after years of contraction, uncertainty, and darkened stages, it’s becoming communal again. Messy. Experimental. Ambitious. Sometimes deeply local. Sometimes wildly strange.

Exactly the kind of theater town Santa Cruz is at its best.

So if you’ve been waiting for a reason to put your phone down, leave the house and sit in a room full of strangers while something unpredictable unfolds in real time – this might be your season.

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