SOMETIMES THE RAIN, SOMETIMES THE SEA Now Open at Cal State Long Beach

California Repertory at California State University, Long Beach will present Sometimes the Rain, Sometimes the Sea by Julia Izumi, opening Friday, October 3, 2025, at 7:30 p.m. in the Studio Theatre on the CSULB campus. A preview performance will be held on Thursday, October 2. The production runs through October 11.

A whimsical reimagining of Hans Christian Andersen’s The Little Mermaid, Sometimes the Rain, Sometimes the Sea offers a poetic meditation on unrequited love, personal storytelling, and emotional chaos. In this playful yet poignant world, a rain cloud falls in love, a narrator struggles to maintain order, and sea witches and shape-shifting metaphors collide in a storm of heartbreak and honesty. The result is a theatrical dreamscape where fairy tale logic meets the rawness of human longing.

“What a beautiful play! Funny, poignant, heartbreaking, and hopeful,” wrote Amanda Petefish-Schrag on New Play Exchange. “A fairy tale that sparkles with relevance for our current moment.”

The production will be directed by Los Angeles–based director Alana Dietze, known for her emotionally resonant and visually inventive work, including recent productions at CalRep/CSULB, USC, Occidental College, and Greenway Court Theater.

Playwright Julia Izumi’s works have been developed and produced by Manhattan Theatre Club, Clubbed Thumb, Berkeley Rep’s Ground Floor, the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Williamstown Theatre Festival, Trinity Repertory Company, and others. She is recognized for her inventive, lyrical, and genre-blurring approach to contemporary theatre.

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