Main Season 2023-2024
This page shares information about the current or upcoming performances and productions for Placer Repertory Theater.
Information on Productions 2023-2024 is posted as information becomes publicly available.
SEASON 2023-2024 THEME: The Two-Sided Coin of Desire & Fear
Season 2023-2024’s theme is “The Two-Sided Coin of Desire & Fear,” in which each work we examine and perform is viewed through a lens of the interaction between or juxtaposition of human desire and human fear. Sometimes working in opposition, and sometimes working in concert, we examine the portrayal and effect of these primal human states in Placer Repertory Theater 2023-2024 offerings.
Main Season show schedules are announced as details confirm.
AUGUST / SEPTEMBER 2023 in Lincoln and Rocklin
UNCLE VANYA – Scenes from a Country Life
by Anton Chekhov, translation by Marian Fell with small adaptations by T.S. Forsyth
A tragicomedy that explores the existential angst, privilege and ennui of the middle class to expose the cognitive dissonance of the human condition.
Placer Rep’s Studium-Practicum program completes its deep study of Stanislavski and realism through the workshopping and script-in-hand performance of UNCLE VANYA – a tragicomedy ripe with humor and pathos about a dysfunctional extended family. Anton Chekhov explores and shares the hopeful desires and existential pains of being human.
JOIN US: 
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/placer-rep-presents-uncle-vanya-tickets-694205315787THE STORY
The play portrays the visit of an elderly professor and his glamorous, much younger second wife, Yelena, to the rural estate that supports their urban lifestyle. Two friends—Vanya, brother of the professor’s late first wife, who has long managed the estate, and Astrov, the local doctor—both fall under Yelena’s spell while bemoaning the ennui of their provincial existence. Sonya, the professor’s daughter by his first wife, who has worked with Vanya to keep the estate going, suffers from her unrequited feelings for Astrov. Matters are brought to a crisis when the professor announces his intention to sell the estate, Vanya and Sonya’s home, with a view to investing the proceeds to achieve a higher income for himself and his wife.
Photo from the original Production.
First produced in 1899 by the Moscow Art Theatre, directed by Konstantin Stanislavski.
FALL 2023 rehearsals & Tour
MY JEKYLL & HYDE
by T.S. Forsyth
Inspired by and Adapted from the original story by Robert Louis Stevenson
Inspired by & adapted from the novel by Robert Louis Stevenson, this play celebrates storytelling and conjures literature to life, as it shares the popular Victorian science fiction detective mystery in which Mr. Utterson struggles to save the life of his friend, Dr. Jekyll, from the scheming clutches of the malevolent Mr. Hyde. The play includes a narrator who provides local historical context and personal stories that highlight the modern relevance of this iconic tale.
Written originally by T.S. Forsyth as a solo show with personal monologues by T.S. Forsyth & Ryan Gerberding, this play in 2023-2024 features contextually relevant stories from local history to compliment or contrast RLS’s famous tale. TOURS.
February 16, 17, 23, 24 in 2024 @ 7 PM – then ON REGIONAL TOUR!
FRANKENSTEIN or The Man and The Monster!
by H.M. Milner, adapted by T.S. Forsyth – A MELODRAMA
And “THE PLACER COUNTY RAILROAD WAR of 1864” by T.S. Forsyth – a curtain warmer melodrama.
FRANKENSTEIN or The Man and The Monster
Placer Repertory Theater company members are studying voice & movement for the actor and the style known as Melodrama in Fall 2023 into Winter 2024 to bring Milne’s play to life! Melodrama is the style of acting and theater that Stanislavski and the Moscow Theater were reacting to as they created the pervasive theatrical style known today as “realism.”
This melodrama, penned in 1826 and a great success on the British stages, was described as
“A peculiar romantic, melo-dramatic pantomimic spectacle, in two acts”
Now, isn’t that intriguing?!
Great for ages 8 and up, Placer Rep is excited to share this interactive stage reading/performance in which audience members get to participate in the show. Boo, cheer and perhaps even step onstage to play a small role! This melodrama has a wonderful unspoken theme about pre-judging others and human hubris.
FMI: February 2024
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/frankenstein-plus-placer-county-railroad-war-of-1864-tickets-799230799837
FOR BOOKING in 2024: Email Frankenstein BOOKER
February 2024 opening run includes the curtain warmer: “The Placer County Railroad War of 1864”
Local railroad history facts shared in a narrative with music and melodrama style improvisation. Hear and watch the history facts unfold and help Placer Rep decide whether to develop this piece into a full-length play. IS this history interesting enough to develop it further?
What started as a business rivalry of the Sacramento Valley Railroad versus the Central Pacific Railroad for land and resources ended up involving court battles, sneak-thievery, Sheriffs, the area militia known as the Auburn Grays, guns, jail and the California Supreme Court laying down the law!
May 3 and 4 in 2024
Sherlock Holmes: The Speckled Band
by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Adapter/Dramaturg T.S. Forsyth
From 19th century melodrama, Placer Rep builds on key learnings and pivots to 1910 and a style known as Presentational Theater which includes acknowledgement of and commentary to its audiences as we share the playwright’s adaptation of his own Sherlock Holmes short story “The Adventure of the Speckled Band.”
Conan Doyle has recently seen William Gillette in the successful production of “Sherlock Holmes” and decided to write this play. Conan Doyle hired Lyn Harding to play one role (Dr. Rylott) and direct but was dismayed at Harding’s choices for the Rylott character, as he provided the character with attention grabbing idiosyncrasies and a greater presence in the play than the playwright wished. Conan Doyle invited J.M. Barrie, a mutual friend, to watch a rehearsal to provide his opinion and advice. Barrie said, “Let Harding have his own way.” And thus it was.
And just a reminder — Sherlock Holmes would not exist without Robert Louis Stevenson’s story of The Curious Case of Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde. The Jekyll & Hyde story inspired Conan Doyle to conceive the character of Sherlock Holmes and write his first novel debuting Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson, A Study in Scarlet. FMI:
OR – DONATE $50+
between April 18 and May 2 for BIG DAY OF GIVING
and receive TWO FREE TICKETS to SHERLOCK HOLMES (May 3 & 4)
COMING SOON:
SHOWS FOR THE 2024-2025 Main Season will be announced after July 1, 2024
To see Production Information for prior seasons, see:
Below are a few images from prior seasons:
Aubrey & Dr. Dessa Dagmar from 2022 Ghosts of Placer County, played by Katherine Stroller and Anne Merino in Roseville, CA
Will Mueller, Steve Campbell and Tadja Enos in Persuasion performed at The Jane Austen Soiree in Dec 2021
Haunting History cast-members prepare for a performance in Foresthill CA, April 2022.
Haunting History performed in Lincoln and Rocklin in June 2022 and Sacramento in August 2022.
New Beginnings: The history of the Rocklin & Roseville Roundhouses (1905-1908)