Beverly Ward

New Art City Theatre Now Accepting Submissions for 2026 Playwrights Festival
by A.A. Cristi - Jul 8, 2025

New Art City Theatre is now accepting submissions for its 2026 Playwrights Festival in Ventura, CA. Selected playwrights will receive a stipend, residency, and staged reading. Submit by August 12, 2025.

New Art City Theatre is Accepting Submissions of New Original Plays and Musicals
by Stephi Wild - Jul 1, 2024

New Art City Theatre is accepting submissions of new, original plays and musicals for inclusion in their second annual playwrights festival. Festival '25 will be held May 29 to June 1, 2025.

New Art City Theatre Hosts Inaugural Playwrights Festival This April
by A.A. Cristi - Mar 5, 2024

Join New Art City Theatre's inaugural Playwrights Festival in April 2024. Celebrate the development of new theatrical works with four carefully selected plays from nationwide submissions.

New Art City Theatre Accepting Submissions For Inaugural Playwright's Festival
by Stephi Wild - Oct 31, 2023

New Art City Theatre (NACT), a Ventura, California pioneering theatre company dedicated to the development of new theatrical works, is accepting original plays and musicals from playwrights for NACT's inaugural playwright's festival to be held in April 2024.

Ensemble Theatre Company to Present PLAY IT FORWARD Benefit Concert Supporting Education
by Blair Ingenthron - Jul 22, 2023

Ensemble Theatre Company (ETC), Santa Barbara's esteemed resident theatre company, is has announced 'Play It Forward,' a benefit concert featuring current and former ETC students alongside six renowned Broadway stars.

Karyl Lynn Burns Retires as Artistic Director of Rubicon Theatre After 25 Years
by Chloe Rabinowitz - Nov 17, 2022

Rubicon Producing Artistic Director and Co-Founder Karyl Lynn Burns retired from the company on Sunday, November 13, following the acclaimed sold-out run of In the Heights.

Norm Lewis Headline Rubicon Theatre Company's 25th Year Benefit Concert
by Chloe Rabinowitz - Sep 30, 2022

Rubicon Theatre Company will begin its 25th year with a “Starry Soiree” celebration headlined by Emmy, Tony, Grammy and SAG Award Nominee NORM LEWIS. At the October 8th event, attendees will be treated to a concert of musical theatre hits sung by Lewis, Broadway’s first African-American “Phantom” and celebrated artists of stage and screen.

Rubicon Theatre Company Announces Plans For 'The Amanda McBroom and George Ball Rose Room'
by Stephi Wild - Jul 27, 2022

At a gathering last week of local dignitaries, RUBICON THEATRE, Ventura’s non-profit professional theatre company, shared progress and plans for a new community gathering space at the theatre.

Rubicon Theatre Company Receives Major Donor Gift For Artist Housing And Future Legacy
by A.A. Cristi - Jan 12, 2022

Rubicon Theatre Company has received an extraordinary donation and a commitment for a future legacy gift that will help ensure a bright future for the organization.

Broadway Veterans Celebrate The American Songbook In Support Of Ensemble Theatre Company's Education Programs
by A.A. Cristi - Mar 11, 2020

Ensemble Theatre Company presents the 2nd annual benefit concert for its education and outreach programs with Broadway alumni performing music from the great American songbook on Sunday March 22, 2020.

Rubicon Theatre Company Announces Extension Of BIG RIVER: THE ADVENTURES OF HUCKLEBERRY FINN
by A.A. Cristi - Nov 8, 2019

Rubicon Theatre Company has just extended the company's acclaimed, sold-out production of Big River: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, which now continues through November 17, 2019. Directed by Kirby Ward, with a company of 24, the production runs Wednesdays through Sundays in Ventura's Downtown Cultural District at the company's home at 1006 E. Main Street, Ventura, CA  93001.

BWW Interview: Kirby & Beverly Ward of BIG RIVER at Rubicon Theatre Company
by Cary Ginell - Nov 5, 2019

In Part 2 of our interview, Kirby & Beverly Ward talk about how they decided to stage 'Big River' in the round at the Rubicon Theatre Company. The result is a production of intimacy and atmospheric beauty.

BWW Review: BIG RIVER at Rubicon Theatre Company
by Cary Ginell - Nov 1, 2019

An innovative immersive production, in which orchestra musicians step on stage to perform with the cast and an in-the-round configuration, highlights Rubicon Theatre Company's evocative, atmospheric production of 'Big River.' With a score by country music's Roger Miller, 'Big River' won 7 Tonys in 1985. The cast features Broadway veterans Josey Montana McCoy, David Aron Damane, and, in a special appearance, Renn Woods as Alice.

Photo Flash: First Look at Rubicon Theatre's BIG RIVER: THE ADVENTURES OF HUCKLEBERRY FINN
by Chloe Rabinowitz - Oct 26, 2019

Rubicon Theatre opens the company's 22nd Season with an environmental production of the musical Big River: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, opening October 26 at 7pm and continuing through November 10, 2019. Directed by Kirby Ward, with a company of 23, the production runs Wednesdays through Sundays in Ventura's Downtown Cultural District at the company's home at 1006 E. Main Street, Ventura, CA  93001. 

Rubicon Opens 22nd Season With Immersive BIG RIVER: THE ADVENTURES OF HUCKLEBERRY FINN
by A.A. Cristi - Oct 16, 2019

Rubicon Theatre opens the company's 22nd Season with an environmental production of the musical Big River: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, opening October 26 at 7pm and continuing through November 10, 2019. Directed by Kirby Ward, with a company of 23, the production runs Wednesdays through Sundays in Ventura's Downtown Cultural District at the company's home at 1006 E. Main Street, Ventura, CA  93001. 

Two End Of Summer Fundraising Events Will Support Rubicon's Education Programs
by Stephi Wild - Aug 14, 2019

Rubicon Theatre wraps up its extraordinary 2019 Jack Oakie Summer Youth Program with the annual Kids for Kids fundraiser. This year's concert is titled a?oeBroadway Through the Ages.a?? This exuberant evening of song and dance will be guided entirely by student directors, choreographers and designers, and will feature some of Broadway's hottest tunes including a?oeEpic 2a?? (Hadestown), a?oeGod, I Hate Shakespearea?? (Something Rotten), a?oeA Change in Mea?? (Beauty and the Beast), a?oeAstoundinga?? (Little Women), a?oeYour Daddy's Sona?? (Ragtime), a?oeNowadaysa?? (Chicago), a?oeHopelessly Devoted to Youa?? (Grease), a?oeNothinga?? (A Chorus Line), and more! Songs will be performed by students from across all of the summer programs.

Rubicon Theatre Co Extends WOMEN BEYOND BORDERS; Plus New Rotating Casts
by Julie Musbach - May 22, 2019

Rubicon Theatre of Ventura has announced a two-week extension of the company's World Premiere presentation of WOMEN BEYOND BORDERS, a funny, poignant and powerful new play about the shared experiences of women everywhere, inspired by the remarkable true journey of a small group of women artists who wanted to find a way to inspire change through creative expression.

Photo Flash: First Look at WOMEN BEYOND BORDERS
by Stephi Wild - Apr 27, 2019

Rubicon Theatre continues the company's 21st "Coming of Age" season with the World Premiere of WOMEN BEYOND BORDERS, a play inspired by and loosely based on the remarkable journey of Lorraine Serena and a dynamic group of California-based artists who founded the non-profit Women Beyond Borders (WBB). Determined to "make art as if the world matters," Serena and her friends fell upon the idea of box as metaphor: hope chest, treasure chest, womb, coffin, etc. They replicated a miniature wooden box no bigger than the size of a human heart and sent the boxes to curators and friends in other countries with the goal of encouraging dialogue, collaboration and community among women and honoring creativity. The founders of WBB were astonished at what came back to them - eloquent expressions of the enormous depth and variety, but also the universality, of women's experiences throughout the world. The boxes were accompanied by equally astonishing artists' statements, in the form of letters, poems and stories asking about transcending barriers: geographical, social, racial, economic, emotional, gender-related, spiritual, etc.

WOMEN BEYOND BORDERS Makes World Premiere at Rubicon Theatre Co
by Julie Musbach - Apr 17, 2019

Rubicon Theatre continues the company's 21st 'Coming of Age' season with the World Premiere of WOMEN BEYOND BORDERS, a play inspired by and loosely based on the remarkable journey of Lorraine Serena and a dynamic group of California-based artists who founded the non-profit Women Beyond Borders (WBB).

Rubicon Theatre Presents KIDS FOR KIDS BENEFIT CONCERT - THE CIRCLE OF LIFE
by A.A. Cristi - Dec 21, 2018

Rubicon Theatre Company has announced what is expected to be the biggest and most extraordinary Kids for Kids Benefit Concert in the company's history for Saturday, December 29 at 7:00 p.m. at the theatre, located at 1006 E. Main Street in Ventura's Downtown Cultural District. More than 70 young people will be performing onstage or via video in an entertaining musical variety show that raises funds for scholarships for next summer's education and outreach participants.