Welcome to the "Wings" of Pegasus Theater Company.
We are no longer grounded in Monte Rio, but continue to perform in Guerneville and other venues in the lower River Area.
There is something special about live theater that cannot be equaled in film or television. Each performance is a one time
experience enjoyed by audience and actors alike, where anything can happen and often does. We have performed in candlelight,
when the electricity failed, sometimes we forgot our lines, actors got ill and needed to be replaced (or went on anyway).
There is always a risk involved. The audience, the performers and the crew are firmly in the present, rooting for each other,
needing each other, cheering each other, loving each other.
Our all volunteer Pegasus Theater Company is dedicated to keeping this art form alive and hopefully
thereby nourishing our community. So, in our new "homeless" situation we are asking for the continued
support of many and for the interest, support and involvement of an even larger circle that we would
like to serve.
In August, we completed a very well received run of Driving Miss Daisy by Alfred Uhry at the
charming and friendly Guerneville Community Church. Plenty of parking and close to downtown
Guerneville, the Church also houses our popular local radio station KGGV (95.1 FM). We hope and
expect to offer another thought producing, entertaining play at the Church in the coming months.
Other summer time shows included a staged reading of local playwright Michael Fels’ timely play
In Defense of Beauty at the Riverlane Resort in Guerneville. A surprise 10 minute performance of
Isn’t it Fabulous, by playwright David Beckman entertained customers at eight local restaurants.
Playwriting Workshops at the Village Inn have been popular, and we continue to offer Improvisation
and Acting Workshops.
In December, we offer The Santaland Diaries, by David Sedaris: a very funny, slightly cynical but
always hopeful adventure of an actor turned elf at Macy’s for the Christmas Season. The venue
will be the elegant West Sonoma Inn in downtown Guerneville. The opening for this show will
follow the traditional Parade of Lights in Guerneville. A great evening!
We love to do this, of course. But each endeavor demands the talent, commitment and lots of time
from each of many volunteers. The involvement from our community – audience members, talent,
cheer leaders and financial support in any form – is and always has been essential to our survival.
Thank you for you continued interest and support.
For those of you who don’t know us: we have a consistent history of producing entertaining,
thought provoking plays for the past ten years – over 50 of them. We continued a proud history
of theater that was sustained for decades by our predecessor, Russian River Repertory Company.
We hope that the support for theater in our very special community will continue for decades
to come.
Nancy Hansen - Artistic Director
Opening December 5 The SantaLand Diaries, written by David Sedaris and adapted for the stage by Joe Mantello. Directed by Buzz Bense and performed by John Rowan, the play will run from December 5 through December 20 at West Sonoma Inn and Spa in Guerneville.
In The SantaLand Diaries, Sedaris recounts, in his own inimitable and hilarious manner, his job as Crumpet the Elf at SantaLand in Macy's Manhattan store. He takes us from Elf Training, with its motivational cheers ("Give me an "S!, Where’s my A?" – you can see where this is going), to his experiences with drunken or lecherous Santas, abusive parents, and the escalating madness of the crowds at Macy's Christmas extravaganza. It’s small wonder that this play has become a cult classic, with its behind-the-scenes look at the abject commercialism of Christmas in the belly of the beast, Macy’s flagship store. But if Sedaris grows battle-weary and bitter, taking revenge on parents who slap their children while they’re on Santa’s lap, or offer cash bribes to jump the line, he ends on a poignant note when he meets a Good Santa on his final day,Christmas eve. This Santa never asked what children wanted for Christmas; instead, he spread his message that we should try to love one another. Sedaris observes: "Before this evening I’d never even been accidentally mistaken for a good person but suddenly I was good by association." .
The SantaLand Diaries was originally read by Sedaris on National Public Radio and it launched his career as one of the nation’s premier comedy writers. Since then, he has published several best-selling books, including "Me Talk Pretty One Day," and "Barrel Fever", been named "Humorist of the Year" by Time Magazine, and awarded the Thurber Prize for American Humor.
John Rowan dons his elf costume to perform The SantaLand Diaries. Rowan is a veteran Pegasus actor who gave a bravura performance in The Life and Times of Jon Sugar, a short play that was part of "Tapas", and was most recently seen in the surprise dinner performance of Isn’t It Fabulous? at local restaurants.
The SantaLand Diaries opens on Saturday, December 5, at 8:30 p.m., after Guerneville’s Parade of Lights which runs from 7-8 p.m. The play will then run through the 20th of December, with Friday and Saturday performances at 7:30 p.m., and Sunday matinees at 3 p.m. All tickets are $15.The SantaLand Diaries is a one-act play, less than an hour long.
Pegasus Theater Company is grateful to the Sonoma West Inn and Spa for stepping forward to provide a venue for the play, which will take place in the Inn’s elegant reception hall. It is located at 14100 Brookside Lane in Guerneville, just west of Safeway.
Tapas submissions
Tapas: 8 New Short Plays is seeking submissions of 10 to 15 minute plays, a maximum of two per playwright, with a deadline of Jan. 31, 2010. We expect to complete our selections by Feb. 28, 2010 and open the production in mid-summer 2010. Please see our Training Page for more information
