Based on Stephen King's bestselling novel, Carrie White is a misfit. At school, she's an outcast who's bullied by the popular crowd, and virtually invisible to everyone else. At home, she's at the mercy of her loving but cruelly over-protective mother. But Carrie's just discovered she has a special power, and if pushed too far, she's not afraid to use it...

Order tickets here.  On-line sales end 3 hours before curtain on each performance date. 

Tickets may also be purchased at the door on the night of the event. Please note that reserved seats will not be sold at the door. They must be purchased on-line.

2021-2022 Season: Carrie:The Musical and Chicago!

We proudly announce our upcoming productions for the 2021-2022 school year!

Coming November 2021, Carrie: The Musical.

Based off the popular Stephen King novel, this musical explores teen-age angst with a twist of the supernatural.

Velma Kelly and Roxy Hart will show us that if you can't be famous, be infamous.

Come join us April 8th to 16th, 2022 for "All that Jazz"!

Any questions? Please contact the theatre instructor, Justin Baldridge, at jbaldridge@sbunified.org

FALL Student Directed RADIO PLAYS :

THE PIRATE’S CURSE, BURIED TREASURE HUNTERS, & DETECTIVE RUFFLETHORPE

OCTOBER 30 to NOVEMBER 30

SBHS Theatre Arts Department is proud to announce their production of an ​English Manor Murder Mystery and Two​ ​Grim Scary Tales. ​Performances will be held from ​October 30th to November 30th, 2020

All shows will take place Virtually. Tickets are ​$20 ​from ​purplepass.com/sbhstheatre​. ​A link to the performance will be available upon ticket purchase. Ticketholders can listen at anytime in the performance window.

The Pirate’s Curse​, ​written by ​Tony Palermo​, A horror story set in 1720, where swashbuckling pirates, mired in the Sargasso Sea, find the Fountain of Youth... and its horrid curse! This classic-style radio drama features a thrilling naval battle, a mysterious sea of lost ships, a ghostly survivor of Columbus' first voyage, a raging tempest, and a terrifying twist ending!

Buried Treasure Hunters, ​written by ​Tony Palermo, ​Set in Turkey in 1205 AD, a corrupt army of knights conquers a city, but finds something truly terrifying in the caverns below.

and ​Detective Rufflethorpe, ​written by ​Tony Palermo, ​A 1930's-style Agatha Christie-esque detective program that follows Inspector Rufflethorpe of Scotland yard as he investiges "the locked-room murder" in "The Twitshyre Murder Case". Set in an English manor where a dead body has been discovered, and a list of extravagant suspects, a ghostly seance, and a monument to deductive logic when the dastardly culprit is finally unmasked.

AN OVERTURE FOR NEW THEATRE ARTS TEACHER JUSTIN BALDRIDGE

Justin Baldridge has big plans for Santa Barbara High School Theatre. As he takes the reins from Otto Layman, who retired last year after 25 years of dedicated service, he has a bold vision for the depth and breadth of the program as he builds upon that legacy. Although his most recent work has been on professional productions off-broadway, he actually got his start as a high school theatre teacher in southern California teaching at Redondo Union High School. In his experience, he has found it important to try and “bridge the gap between educational and professional theatre.” For Santa Barbara High School, this means he wants to “hold students' hands less” as they approach productions and treat them as professional performers. He wants to create very distinct environments between the actual musical theatre productions and the newly revamped advanced theatre class which he strongly encourages students in the show to take. This is where the fundamentals of acting will be taught including the acting theory of Stanislavsky which he views as a perfect tool for young actors in its linear approach to the craft. Baldridge also plans to expand the ways in which students are involved in the shows bringing the focus back around to the full breadth of work that goes into creating a production including in the technical and creative aspects. It is important to him that he is viewed as an equal with technical director Talitha Blackwell and that the crew under her guidance are responsible for both the design and construction of sets. Furthermore, the new Theatre Arts Club run by student officers will help represent the Theatre Department to the larger community and bring together everyone in theatre with the long term goal of establishing a new Theatre Arts Academy on campus. He plans to continue the tradition of performing two musicals a year but also wants to find ways to include other types of productions including straight plays and chamber musicals and finding more opportunities for student directors and producing original works.

Baldridge, who lets students call him “Mr. B,” actually describes himself as a very shy person and he says he never auditioned for theatre in high school because he got too nervous. However, music has always been a massive part of his life as he has played piano since he was eight and played bass clarinet in marching band throughout high school. He says that that program taught him “structure and discipline” as they went on to place eighth nationally and go multiple seasons undefeated. He then went to study music at Cal State Fullerton but soon realized that he needed to follow a different path. His friend suggested he switch into the theatre department and just like that his life was radically transformed. From that point, he hasn’t slowed down. After graduating with a focus on musical theatre and directing, he taught educational theatre for ten years and got a Masters in Directing from Roosevelt University and then directed numerous off and off-off-Broadway shows including the premieres of A Dog Story, The Time Machine and Ozone Park. He hopes he can inspire students who also want to pursue careers in theatre and really teach them about the inner workings of the industry.

Although his tenure at Santa Barbara High School is beginning during uncertain times, he is finding new ways to teach and connect with students virtually while online learning continues. He is looking into different ways to do smaller virtual performances and is planning for a production in the Spring if the state of the world will allow it. Right now however his focus is on getting to know the students and laying the foundation for the next chapter of a historic and esteemed theatre company.

A FINAL MESSAGE FROM ARTISTIC DIRECTOR, OTTO LAYMAN

HELLO, I MUST BE GOING…

It’s April, our third week of Quarantine, and time to reflect on the canceling of what was to be my final direction of a show at SBHS, as I make my way to a June 3 retirement—after 25 amazing years in the SBUSD, and 24 at Santa Barbara High School. I didn’t foresee my career ending this way, at home, no rehearsals, a set three quarters built, songs mostly rehearsed and choreography unfinished…but I am extraordinarily proud of our body of work, at our transition to one of the great musical theatre schools, the talented and fiercely bold students, the group of designers and directors I have had the honor of calling my friends. I remember standing on the stage with my soon to be wife, after painting it black for the very first time, after tagging our names on the walls with the names of all those that had gone before—I was exhilarated and frightened. We had nothing, the theatre was in disrepair, and the program in the doldrums. We had—well, a blank slate, and carte blanche to create. Be brisk and bold and brilliant, we said. Fail big. Succeed or fail as a group. Believe, believe, believe. No one could tell us what was allowable, or possible, or traditional. We pushed, and laughed, and shouted, and persisted and soon they came: the bold, the fierce, the outlier, the authentic, the raw, and artists wanted to be a part of what we were creating. Daniel Girard came to save us that first show when we lost our technical director a week before opening, and stayed to build a technical theatre program and introduce me to the remarkable Christina McCarthy, who taught me the possibilities of the musical form. She taught me that choreography on stage is about narrative, always about the story. The other milestone was meeting Jon Nathan and Sio Tepper, who only ever thought about the sound as character, and that a musical is only as good as its music. Along the way others came to play: E. Bonnie Lewis, John Douglas, David Potter, the legendary Lisa Lange, who created “the look” of an SBHS production, Ingrid Holden, extraordinary set painter and designer, costume designer Bonnie Thor, Mike Madden, who taught me to design, and learn to tell a story with lights. Jessica Hambright, Richard Weiss, who taught me to love the occasional classic, and students came back years later to be peers and colleagues: Dante Gonzalez and Jenna Tico both choreographed shows, Eliana Mullins designed an exquisite Head Over Heels. Most of all, the thousands of students and parents who came to create the greatest artistic family, and remained connected to the program long after their children graduated. WE made such beautiful, transitory things, and trust them now to memory and photographs. We made it rain, literally; we built the Gowanas Canal and the Chrysler Building, Urinetown and the Emerald City; we went Into The Woods and On the Town; we sang the Song that Goes Like This and Always Looked on the Bright Side of Life. So here’s to all the Lost Boys and Girls, the in your face don’t ever let an audience be comfortable push push push rush of big voices, big hearts, big love, Big Fish. Thank you all for giving me such a beautiful place to play, and for sending your children to me. I think SBHS is in a great place right now, ready to build on our work and keep us THE musical theatre in California, and competitive with any program, anywhere. We are a proud public school, and we fight for everything we get. Thank you so much, from the bottom of my heart, for the most magnificent ride of a lifetime.

Love,

Otto Layman

1996-2020

FOR A TASTE OF SBHS MUSICAL THEATRE, CHECK OUT OUR PROMO VIDEO HERE!

SANTA BARBARA HIGH SCHOOL THEATRE

“Leap, and a net will appear.”

Theatre at Santa Barbara High School has been performed continuously since 1924, and has gained a national reputation as one of the finest public high school musical theatre programs in the country. With SB theatre grads starring on Broadway, working in regional theatres, major opera houses world-wide, in movies and television, and technical theatre represented throughout the country, Santa Barbara has a proud tradition of professionally-trained performers, designers and technicians. What sets us apart? We are the musical theatre school, not only in Santa Barbara County, but California, and will put our public high school up against any private school…we employ professional musicians, musical directors, vocal directors, choreographers and designers to give SBHS theatre students exposure to the best and brightest training available.

While we do teach performance for the stage, we are primarily a musical theatre program. We offer Beginning Theatre, where we introduce students to our philosophy of performance, primarily through improvisation and theatre exercises; Advanced Musical Theatre, where students work with a vocal coach and a choreographer to hone their skills; stagecraft; and play production. It isn’t a pre-requisite that you enroll in a theatre class to be cast (though it certainly helps!), and all age groups are welcomed to audition.

While most schools will follow a traditional season of one straight play followed by a musical in the Spring, we have a unique approach: we produce a musical in both the Spring and Fall, and our students produce their own musical production in January, producing, designing, directing, choreographing, and hiring their own orchestra. It is an opportunity for students to own their own education, and demonstrate mastery of their craft.

Here are just a few of the musicals we have done in the past eight years (more than double the number of any other high school): SPAMALOT, INTO THE WOODS, THE DROWSY CHAPERONE, HAIR, PIPPIN, CABARET, CHICAGO, HOW TO SUCCEED IN BUSINESS WITHOUT REALLY TRYING,THE MYSTERY OF EDWIN DROOD, BIG FISH, BULLETS OVER BROADWAY, CRYBABY, URINETOWN, IN THE HEIGHTS, THE LAST FIVE YEARS, MATILDA, THE MUSICAL, HEAD OVER HEELS, and DISNEY’S THE HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME.

Our technical theatre program has a national reputation as one of the finest design and construction programs in the country. We are on track to create a CTE pathway for technical students, with plans to expand our stagecraft and play production programs to be dual enrollment programs, offering college credit while creating amazing set, costume and light designs at Santa Barbara High School.

I urge you to see a production at SBHS, or shadow a student during class. Come see our home—you will want it to be yours!

Otto Layman

Performing Arts Chair

Santa Barbara High School Theatre

SPRING MUSICAL SPECTACULAR: THE HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME CLOSES OUT SEASON— AND CAREER!

SANTA BARBARA, CA— SBHS THEATRE IS EXCITED TO ANNOUNCE THE CAST OF THE HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME, THE FINAL PRODUCTION IN THE 2019-2020 SEASON—AND THE FINAL PRODUCTION IN THE LONG AND STORIED CAREER OF ARTISTIC DIRECTOR OTTO LAYMAN AFTER 24 YEARS AT THE SCHOOL.

What makes a monster and what makes a man? This is the central theme of The Hunchback of Notre Dame, a sweeping, grand-scale musical from Disney Theatrical. Based on the 1996 Disney film and Victor Hugo’s 1831 novel, The Hunchback of Notre Dame tells the story of Quasimodo, the hunchbacked bell-ringer of Notre Dame, and his desire to one day be a part of the outside world. When he summons the courage to attend the Feast of Fools, he meets Esmeralda, a compassionate gypsy who protects him from an angry mob. But at the same time, Quasimodo’s master, the archdeacon Dom Claude Frollo, and the new captain of the guard, Phoebus de Martin, fall in love with the beautiful girl. Adding to Quasimodo’s struggle is his punishment and derision from Frollo, following years of psychological abuse, and the danger posed by the gypsies, who are willing to kill any outsiders who venture into their secret hideout. But before Paris is burned to the ground, will Quasimodo be able to save Esmeralda from Frollo’s lust and anger? Will she return Quasimodo’s affection? Who is the true monster of Notre Dame?

MUSIC BY ALAN MENCKEN LYRICS BY STEPHEN SCHWARTZ BOOK BY PETER PARNELL

DIRECTED BY OTTO LAYMAN CHOREOGRAPHED BY GIANNA BURRIGHT

MUSICAL DIRECTION BY JON NATHAN VOCAL DIRECTION BY SIO TEPPER

LIGHT DESIGN BY MIKE MADDEN SET DESIGNED BY OTTO LAYMAN, ASSISTED BY MORGAN P. JOHNSON

COSTUME DESIGN BY ELIANA MULLINS


The cast of HEAD OVER HEELS. Photo by Lia Garcia CLOSED, NOVEMBER, 2019

MATILDA, the MUSICAL National High School Premiere, May 3rd - 12th

Inspired by the twisted genius of Roald Dahl, the Tony Award-winning Roald Dahl's Matilda The Musical is the captivating masterpiece from the Royal Shakespeare Company that revels in the anarchy of childhood, the power of imagination and the inspiring story of a girl who dreams of a better life. With book by Dennis Kelly and original songs by Tim Minchin, Matilda has won 47 international awards and continues to thrill sold-out audiences of all ages around the world.

Matilda is a little girl with astonishing wit, intelligence and psychokinetic powers. She's unloved by her cruel parents but impresses her schoolteacher, the highly loveable Miss Honey. Over the course of her first term at school, Matilda and Miss Honey have a profound effect on each other's lives, as Miss Honey begins not only to recognize but also appreciate Matilda's extraordinary personality. Matilda's school life isn't completely smooth sailing, however – the school's mean headmistress, Miss Trunchbull, hates children and just loves thinking up new punishments for those who don't abide by her rules. But Matilda has courage and cleverness in equal amounts, and could be the school pupils' saving grace!

MATILDA, the Musical May 3 through May 12, 2019

Photos Courtesy of Lia Elena Wiegand

THE BEST MUSICAL THEATRE IN
SANTA BARBARA RETURNS
WELCOME TO OUR 2019-2020 SEASON

Welcome to the 2019-2020 Season at Santa Barbara High School, and my 24th year as the head of the Theatre Department, where we continue our quest to be THE Musical Theatre destination for students, designers, and audiences alike…starting in 2012 when we produced Into the Woods, beginning a string of 17 consecutive musical productions, and an evolution in our program that led to a partnership with Dr. Jon Nathan and the UCSB Jazz Ensemble program.  Most schools have a traditional approach to theatre education and performance, producing a play in the Fall and a musical in the Spring.  Here at SBHS, we do things a little differently, and this year I think we have again upped our game—for the first time we will be doing three full-scale musicals—Head Over Heels (with music by the Gogo’s); THE HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME, and the first ever student-produced full scale musical in late January 2020 FIREBRINGER (Directed and produced by Seniors Logan Fleming, Josie Gillingham, and Carter Beaudette).  In addition, we are making a radical change to our ticket pricing structure and ticket purchasing, offering a season subscription to both mainstage productions at a bargain price, and throwing in the student showcase to boot!  You can go to the Ticket Sales tab on the website to see details, but I think this change will generate more audience able to see incredible work at an extremely affordable price, especially for students, and parents who return night after night to support the actors and technicians in their families.  Our goal, after all, is not to profit, but to be seen and heard.

Past Santa Barbara High School Productions