I’ve written this local theater guide many times through the years, and the lineup has never been as heavily influenced by an election as it is this fall. In interview after interview, artistic directors shared with me that their fall programming was driven by a desire to lighten the mood, unify people, comfort during a contentious time—and address what’s at stake for the future.
This fall’s lineup is bursting with shows that speak to this historic moment, from a head-on confrontation about what really goes on in the White House, to cathartic explorations of today’s relevant issues, to pure escapism.
While we always try to provide comprehensive coverage, at press time, several companies still had not finalized or shared their schedules with us. Be sure to visit individual companies’ websites for updates and ticketing details.
RENO
Ageless Repertory Theatre
A partner of Reno Little Theater, ART presents staged readings of well-loved plays. Performed at 1 p.m. on a Tuesday and Friday every month, shows are free (donations are always welcome), and seating is open.
ART’s fall lineup starts with A.R. Gurney’s Labor Day, about a playwright whose penultimate work proves difficult for a young director’s purposes—and downright uncomfortable for the playwright’s unsuspecting family. It runs Sept. 24 and 27.
On Oct. 15 and 18, ART will present two one-act comedies by resident playwright Cleb Maddux—A Good Day for a Jackalope, which explores how going to a high school reunion is like a vasectomy, and Luck, about a man who benefits from a financial windfall that forces him to choose between money and love.
Then comes I Remember Mama, on Nov. 19 and 22, which recounts the everyday life and economic struggles of a Norwegian immigrant family in San Francisco in the early 20th century.
ART closes out 2024 with Robert Harling’s beloved ode to Southern women, Steel Magnolias, on Dec. 10 and 13.
www.renolittletheater.org/art-at-rlt
Brüka Theatre
Brüka’s transcendence-themed season features a lineup of out-there stories and original creations.
Speaking of “out there,” Oct. 4-26 brings us a play based on a bizarre 1973 cult-classic film, The Baby, about a social worker’s encounter with a 21-year-old man who behaves as if he’s an infant.
Close Encounters of the Human Kind, by local playwright Bob Gabrielli, runs Nov. 8-10. It’s a compilation of five short, comedic and bittersweet plays that Gabrielli has submitted to Brüka’s Biggest Little Theatre & New Works Festival.
Next, Buttcracker is back, from Dec. 1-22! This year’s original spoof of The Nutcracker is Little Miss Buttcracker, which producing artistic director Mary Bennett describes as “Little Miss Sunshine meets Dance Moms.”
Finally, Brüka Theatre for Children returns with the Wildly Ridiculous History of Nevada—a remix of last year’s version that focuses on Nevada legends. The show will tour schools as part of the Pioneer Center Youth Programs.
www.bruka.org
Good Luck Macbeth
Despite the recent loss of Sarah Hinz as GLM’s executive director, the company is moving full steam ahead, with artistic director Bill Ware at the helm and a Halloween-inspired, comedic blockbuster on the schedule: Night of the Living Dead Live, running Oct. 4-26, a hilarious, campy version of another cult classic, George Romero’s ’60s-era horror film. Romero’s film broke ground for its inclusion of a Black actor as a horror-film protagonist. In that spirit, director Jovani Lugo and associate director Lily Perez have made diversity and inclusion a priority for this production, collaborating with and featuring BIPOC artists in both the play itself and with work that will be on display at GLM.
GLM’s much-loved holiday staple The Golden Girls will return Dec. 5-21, featuring four of our favorite GLM actors in drag (Christopher Daniels returns as Blanche, of course!) performing three episodes of the ’80s sitcom (not to mention commercials).
www.goodluckmacbeth.org
Reno Little Theater
RLT’s 90th season begins in September, on the heels of what was its biggest-selling show ever, The SpongeBob Musical. To celebrate, RLT will present two complementary shows in repertory, on alternate weekends, from Sept. 13-Oct. 20. First is POTUS: or, Behind Every Great Dumbass Are Seven Women Trying to Keep Him Alive, a comedy about seven women who work at the White House for a certain clueless (fictional) president.
On alternating weekends is the perfect complement, Support Group for Men, about a regular Thursday-night men’s support group meeting, and the small and large (and hilarious) issues they discuss. As Eric Boudreau, RLT’s community engagement manager, explains, “We’re trying not to get too dramatic during this really tumultuous time we’ll be in from now through November.”
Next up, it’s We Are Monsters, a production of Broadway Our Way, RLT’s youth-education program. This 45-minute show, running Oct. 24-26, is the story of human kids who enter a cabaret of monsters.
RLT’s final mainstage production of 2024 is The Three Musketeers, Ken Ludwig’s comedic take on the swashbuckling classic.
Finally, enjoy some extra laughs at improv shows by Crocodile Nixon Improv and Comedy (formerly known as Midtown Improv Jam), once a month at RLT.
renolittletheater.org
Sierra School of Performing Arts
SSPA is fresh off its big summer production of Bye Bye Birdie, and now the company is settling in to its new lineup of classes for all ages in its more comfortable space at the brand-new Northern Nevada Performing Arts Collective.
Meanwhile, the team just finished holding auditions for its production of Beauty and the Beast Jr., slated for the last two weekends of January at Damonte Ranch High School.
www.sierraschoolofperformingarts.org
The Theatre
They say don’t mess with a good thing, so Kevin and Caruso, the dazzling magical duo behind Magique, are keeping it going every Saturday night.
wethetheatre.com
TheatreWorks of Northern Nevada
TWNN will hold its fourth annual Seasons Past Fall Festival fundraiser on Saturday, Oct. 19. Enjoy carnival games, food, a costume contest, dancing and a haunted house themed around the company’s recent shows—Shrek’d: A Musical Parody and The Somewhat True Tale of Robin Hood. Admission is ticketed by activity.
From Dec. 6-15, look for TWNN’s production of A New London Christmas Carol, a musical based on the Dickens classic.
twnn.org
Truckee Meadows Community College Performing Arts
At our local community college, the focus is on challenging students and exploring brand-new works. On Friday, Nov. 1, they will present a staged reading of The Dimmest Stage Light, a semi-autobiographical coming-of-age story written by one of TMCC’s own students, Caitlin Hopkins.
That’s followed by a collaboration with the Reno Chamber Orchestra, Orchestral Hamlet, on Saturday and Sunday, Nov. 9 and 10, at the University of Nevada, Reno’s Nightingale Concert Hall. Between instrumental pieces performed by the orchestra, TMCC students will perform scenes and soliloquies from Shakespeare’s Hamlet.
Finally, there’s Nearly, Washington by J. Chavez, running Nov. 14-23. In this world premiere, we meet the inhabitants of Nearly, Wash. (“north of Vancouver and south of Vancouver”), which include bears, puppets, demons and bee costumes.
www.tmcc.edu/visual-performing-arts/performance-schedule
University of Nevada, Reno, Department of Theatre & Dance
Bill Ware is playing double duty, both at Good Luck Macbeth and as director of UNR’s The Laramie Project, running Nov. 1-10. Written by Moisés Kaufman in 2000, it’s an important and relevant show that deals with the reactions of locals to the 1998 torture and murder of Matthew Shepard, a gay student at the University of Wyoming in Laramie.
www.unr.edu/theatre-dance
SPARKS
Restless Artists Theatre
RAT is dusting off a returning hit: Out of Sterno, Sept. 7-9, in which Dotty, a woman whose husband forbids her to leave the house, receives a mysterious phone call that forces her to venture out into a harsh world.
Next up is Distant Music, a comedy about three people who are transformed by being stuck together in a pub during a blizzard. It runs Nov. 1-11.
From Dec. 6-16, RAT presents What Is “Murder”? A Mystery/Comedy, about four Jeopardy! champions meeting to prepare for the Tournament of Champions, until one is killed.
rattheatre.com
CARSON CITY/CARSON VALLEY
Carson City Ghost Walk
Brüka’s own Mary Bennett lights up fall nights as Madame Curry, who leads 90-minute walking tours of famous haunted spaces in the capital city. This year, Bennett will present Madame Curry’s Penny Dreadfuls—short, sensational stories about crimes or the supernatural—written by Bennett herself.
Flashlight tours take place Saturdays from Sept. 7-28. Bennett and her team of “spirit wranglers” also will host a full day of tours on Saturday, Oct. 19. Make your reservations on the website.
carsoncityghostwalk.com
Proscenium Players, Inc.
PPI, one of Northern Nevada’s oldest theater companies, is celebrating its 59th season. This fall, it will present Jim Leonard Jr.’s The Diviners, opening Friday, Nov. 8, at the Brewery Arts Center. In the show, set during the Great Depression, an ex-preacher named C.C. Showers arrives in Zion, Ind., to start life anew and has major impacts—good and bad—on its residents.
PPI also will continue its Improv at the BAC workshops every Wednesday evening.
www.prosceniumplayersinc.com
Western Nevada Musical Theatre Company
WNMTC brings the exuberant musical Legally Blonde to the Carson City Community Center Nov. 8-24. Like the film, the musical follows Elle Woods, who heads to Harvard to win back the law-student boyfriend who just jilted her, and winds up finding herself. The show’s pop-rock score is performed by a full, professional orchestra.
www.wnmtc.com
Wild Horse Productions
Wild Horse’s children’s programming always impresses and delights with rich visuals and ambitious staging. This December’s production, Roald Dahl’s Willy Wonka Jr., running Dec. 6-15, tells the story of poor young Charlie Bucket, who finds a golden ticket that grants him access to his chocolate dreams. It features a monster-sized cast of 130 young people (the show is double-cast), and set design will, of course, be an extravaganza of colors, lights and candy.
www.wildhorsetheater.com.