Play On
The Theatrical Stages Come Alive in
Santa Barbara and Beyond
By Leslie Dinaberg | September 17, 2026
Read more of our 2026 Fall Arts Preview here.
With fall in the air, and elections on the horizon, there’s no better time to escape to the innovative and engaging and far more articulate world of the theater.
Ensemble Theatre Company opens its season on October 7 with the thought-provoking comedy Buyer & Cellar. Written by Jonathan Tolins, this one man show stars Brian McDonald (whom you may recognize as host of the 2024 Indy Awards) reprising his award-winning performance as Alex, an out-of-work actor who lands the strangest gig of his life: working in the private shopping mall that Barbra Streisand built in the basement of her Malibu estate. Set in Streisand’s surreal creation, Buyer & Cellar is a timely meditation on celebrity, consumerism, and the California dream at its most surreal. It runs through October 25.
ETC also makes some serious, joyful noise when it celebrates the 30th anniversary of Rent, the Tony Award–winning rock musical about love, loss, friendship, and living life to the fullest. Opening on December 2 and running through December 20, the beloved story of a group of young New York artists at the height of the AIDS epidemic still resonates today with its timeless messages and incredible songs such as “Seasons of Love,” “I’ll Cover You,” and “Take Me or Leave Me” by the late Jonathan Larson, whose tragic death at age 35, on the day before the show’s first preview performance, makes this powerful story all the more poignant.
Out of the Box Theatre Company takes on the Tony Award–winning musical Dear Evan Hansen November 6-15. A modern classic, this compelling show follows the journey of teenage Evan, a lonely kid who’s always felt unseen, until a tragedy brings life-changing positive consequences and a series of well-intentioned lies soon threaten to upend the fragile friendships that he’s built.
Samantha Eve — the artistic director of Out of the Box Theatre — also brings her expertise in musical theater to Westmont College. She’s directing Momentum! A Musical Revue, featuring students performing a curated list of Broadway songs about facing life in a fast-moving world, September 18-20. Then on October 16-18 the college presents The Future Is Short, a series of contemporary short plays by Professor Mitchell Thomas.
The nonprofit New Beginnings — which provides psychological counseling and housing assistance services to homeless people, as well as low-income individuals and families throughout Santa Barbara County — has a unique tradition of turning to the arts to tell compelling stories to connect the community to their important work. This year’s annual benefit gala on November 8 is the musical The Willard Suitcases by composer Julianne Wick Davis. The show features the discovery, in 1995, of more than 400 suitcases in the attic of The Willard Psychiatric Center in upstate New York, when the institution was being closed after 100 years. The stories of the residents — and the photos of the contents of their suitcases that were left behind — are emotionally powerful, funny, strange, tragic, and have a significant resonance in today’s world.
The soaring period musical Ragtime comes to Ventura’s Rubicon Theatre October 21-November 15. Based on EL Doctorow’s acclaimed novel set at the turn of the 20th century in New York, the Tony Award–winning show weaves three distinctly American tales together: a stifled upper-class wife, a determined Jewish immigrant and a daring young Harlem musician, united by their courage, compassion, and belief in the promise of the future.
Currently at the Severson Theatre in Santa Maria on the campus of Allan Hancock College is PCPA’s La Comedia of Errors, a bilingual adaptation of the Bard, on view through September 27. This zany English/Spanish comedy is based on The Comedy of Errors, William Shakespeare’s most famous farce. Now set in a contemporary U.S.–Mexico border town, the story captures a community-driven whirlwind of telenovela-style mistaken identities, physical slapstick, and vibrant music.
Then PCPA follows the yellow brick road to The Wizard of Oz, November 5 to December 20 at the Marian Theatre in Santa Maria. Presented in a collaboration with 2 Ring Circus, this beloved classic and its heartfelt score and cherished characters are brought to new heights with aerial stunts and acrobatics for the whole family to enjoy.
The Theatre Group at SBCC brings the famous board game (and film) Clue to the stage October 7-24. Indeed, it’s a dark and stormy night when a group of strangers are invited to a mysterious dinner party, where Miss Scarlet, Professor Plum, and Colonel Mustard must race to find the murderer (!) before he finds them.
A live radio play version of It’s a Wonderful Lifeis SBCC’s student showcase production. Running November 11-21, and told through a large ensemble, this is the famous story of kind-hearted George Bailey as he experiences a Christmas miracle when he needs it the most.
Naked Shakes, UCSB’s Shakespeare Troupe, brings its stripped down yet high spirited production of Romeo and Juliet to campus October 16-18 (which aligns with this year’s upcoming All Gaucho Reunion) and October 23-25. “With Romeo and Juliet, you have a play that everyone encountered in middle school or high school, and probably most people do not have good associations with it,” director Irwin Appel told the Independent’s theater writer Maggie Yates. “I love the challenge in a Naked Shakes production of appealing to new audiences and having them realize that they can have ownership in this material, and that this material can speak to them.”
Editor’s Note: We received word today (9/21) from PCPA that the production of La Comedia of Errors, featured in this story, is off. “Unfortunately, due to cast and crew safety concerns, we had to cancel the production,” stated the organizers. Our apologies for any inconvenience this may have caused.
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