At the Redlands Theatre Festival, every seat has a great view of the stage, each performance is top notch, and all guests walk away entertained.
Now in its 46th season, the Redlands Theater Festival puts on five shows every summer. This year, the productions are The Pajama Game, Sweeney Todd, Hay Fever, Stupid F#@*ing Bird, and Circle Mirror Transformation. The season runs July 6 through August 18, with two special events: All in the Timing, presented by New Threads Theatre Company, on July 16, and Down Penny Lane, featuring the music of The Beatles, on August 13.
The Pajama Game is a Tony Award-winning musical comedy, while Sweeney Todd is also a musical, with a darker subject matter: murder. Stupid F#@*ing Bird is an edgy reboot of Anton Chekhov’s The Seagull, and the drama Circle Mirror Transformation centers around an acting class in Vermont. Hay Fever, a comedy, tackles family relationships and rivalries.
The Redlands Theatre Festival was founded by Cliff Cabanilla, an actor and onetime professor of theater arts at Crafton Hills College. Tickets are $21 for Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday shows, and $16 for Tuesday and Wednesday performances. Season tickets are available. For more information or to purchase tickets, visit The Redlands Theatre Festival website.
Know before you go:
Performances are held at the open-air Avice Meeker Sewall Theatre in Prospect Park, and the audience is welcome to bring blankets, light jackets, and mosquito repellant.
Curtain is at 8:30 p.m. for every performance, and children under five are not admitted. Seats are assigned. Parking is available on Cajon St. and Highland Ave. A free tram picks guests up at 6:30 p.m., bringing them up the hill to the theater, and drops them back off after the show is over.
The box office is open every show night from 5 to 9 p.m., and walk-ups are welcome to buy tickets the night of a performance. Before each show and during intermission, water, sodas, and bites to eat are sold at the Snack Shack. —Catherine