Holiday Shows Galore on the California Central Coast!

Well guess what?  Winter has FINALLY arrived here on the California Central Coast!  Now, what we call "winter" is a bit different than what that word means in many other places.  "Winter" here means highs in the 50s, lows in the 30s, and rain.  In some of the higher elevations to our north and south, they may even get some snow - but here on the heart of the Central Coast, it just gets a little cooler and wetter than usual, and not much more.  But warm or cool, rain or shine - our theatres are open for business and eagerly awaiting your presence at one of their upcoming performances!

And what would the Holiday Season be without a performance of The Nutcracker?

The North County Dance and Performing Arts Foundation and Class Act Dance (www.classactdance.com/nutcracker) will be presenting The Nutcracker through December 13 at the Templeton Performing Arts Center. 

The SLO Civic Ballet's The Nutcracker can be seen at the Cal Poly Performing Arts Center (www.pacslo.org) December 12 & 13. 

Another Holiday show, A Night Before Christmas, will be presented by the Studio Players from the Studio of Performing Arts (www.thestudioofperformingarts.com) in Arroyo Grande, December 18 & 19, at the Spanos Theatre (www.pacslo.org) on Cal Poly campus in San Luis Obispo.  Other Holiday performances at the PAC include the Cuesta Master Chorale on December 19, the Forbes Pipe Organ Holiday Concert and Sing-along on December 20, and the New Year's Eve Comedy Bash with Judy Tenuta on December 31.

In Oceano, The Great American Melodrama & Vaudeville (www.americanmelodrama.com) presents their Holiday Extravaganza through December 31, including Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol, and Little Red Riding Hood - a fractured fairy-tale opera by Marian Partee and Jordan Richardson, along with a holiday Vaudeville Revue filled with music of the season.   

At the Clark Center (www.clarkcenter.org), in the Village of Arroyo Grande, a number of quality entertainment opportunities will be presented in the weeks ahead, including the Pismo Beach Youth Theater's (www.pismobeachyouththeater.com) Annie December 12 (Black Box Theater), Arroyo Grande High School's Footloose December 12 (Mainstage Theater), a Community Christmas and Holiday Sing Along on December 13, and yet another production of The Nutcracker, presented by the Allan Hancock College Youth Dance group on December 19 & 20.

The Pacific Conservatory of the Performing Arts (www.pcpa.org) in Santa Maria, the Central Coast's Resident Professional Theatre Company, has opened their 2009/10 season with C.S. Lewis' The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, which runs through December 23 at the Marian Theatre in Santa Maria.

The Santa Maria Civic Theatre (www.smct.org) is presenting the Alex Gottlieb comedy Wake Up, Darling through December 12.  Their next production will be Agatha Christie's The Mousetrap, with performances scheduled for February 5-27.

The San Luis Obispo Little Theatre's (www.slolittletheatre.org) production of How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying runs through December 20, and they will be presenting a children's theatre production of A Little Princess January 15-31 in 2010.

The God Is Still Speaking Players (check them out on Facebook or at www.sloucc.org) recently completed their readers' theatre production of Archibald MacLeish's Tony Award and Pulitzer Prize winning J.B. - a poetic dramatization of the story of Job, at the San Luis Obispo United Church of Christ.  Auditions for a collaborative effort with Bent Angel Productions on a readers' theatre production of 12 Angry Men will be held January 12 & 13, with performances February 19-21.

Kelrik Productions (www.kelrikproductions.com), also located in San Luis Obispo, recently completed a successful presentation of the Tony Award and Pulitzer Prize winning production of RENT at the Spanos Theatre on the Cal Poly campus.  Stay tuned for what Erik Austin & Co will be doing next!

The Pewter Plough Playhouse (www.pewterploughplayhouse.org) in Cambria will hold a staged reading of a new play, Bridging the Gap, December 12 & 13, a readers' theatre presentation of The Silent Knight December 18-20, and then open the New Year with a production of Jean Kerr's heartwarming comedy Finishing Touches that will run January 15 through February 28.

The Houselights Theatre (www.houselightstheatre.org), also in Cambria, completed a remount run of their popular summer musical Always ... Patsy Cline at the Spanos Theatre on the Cal Poly campus the end of August.  Stay tuned for details concerning their next show.

And in Paso Robles, the Pioneer Players (www.pioneerplayers.org) have held auditions for their next production, Oliver, scheduled to be presented January 15-30 of 2010.

So, whether you're specifically looking for a show with a Holiday theme, or some other flavor from your theatre going palate of tastes - there is a live theatre performance ready and waiting for your patronage here on the Central Coast!

Curt Miner ... your BroadwayWorld.com guy on the ground with the California Central Coast theatre "news & views"