Ragtime (by Terrence McNally, Stephen Flaherty, and Lynn Ahrens) has been selected as the final show of her tenure for outgoing producing artistic director Karyl Lynn Burns, who is retiring after several decades with the Rubicon Theatre in Ventura. Set in early 20th-century America, Ragtime dovetails stories of the white upper-middle class with Harlem culture and Ellis Island immigrants settling in the “new world.” Usually performed with a cast of around 40 people, the Rubicon’s production, directed by J. Scott Lapp, has pared the cast down to fewer than 20 actors to fit this grand story onto the intimate Rubicon stage.
“There are some stories that we return to because they’re beautiful; some we return to because they’re necessary to hear,” says Lapp. “Even with a show set in 1906, Ragtime is still very relevant today … it asks one of the most essential questions that an American play can ask: who gets to belong?”
Carter Michael plays Coalhouse Walker, who represents the Black experience during this period of history. Coalhouse was born after the abolition of slavery, during a time when, says Michael, “Black people had aspirations for what the new century was going to be…. They want to move forward in the country, but that hope is slowly taken away from them. They figure out that they have to keep striving, regardless.”
“Ragtime is a story about connection and the possibility of change,” says Lapp. “Questions of immigration and race and inequality and the American dream are at the center of our conversation. Ragtime doesn’t offer easy answers — it shows us a country capable of tremendous generosity, but also tremendous cruelty. It shows people reaching for a better way of life but also carrying the weight of history with them. In 2026, that feels remarkably close to home.”
The Rubicon has extended their run of Ragtime, so you can see the show October 21 through November 15. See rubicontheatre.org.
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