1999	Volunteer auxiliary (“The Grandes Dames”) is formalized with a high-tea at the home of Sandra and Jordan Laby. Membership quickly grows to over 100 (now nearly 300). Rubicon inaugurates its home, a historic 1920s converted church, with Shirley Valentine. The Ventura City Council declares Rubicon the “anchor of the new downtown cultural district.” Student matinee program is launched with Darrow, presented in the former County Courthouse and at Rubicon Theatre. Local attorneys and judges moderate thought-provoking post-show discussions with students on the nature of law and justice. Barbara Meister and Judy Bysshe launch an outreach committee of former educators to support and facilitate student participation at Rubicon. Rubicon provides first in-school “Shakespeare in the Schools” program with Romeo and Juliet, presented to more than 7,000 students at 10 area high schools.
2000	Jack Lemmon gives his final stage appearance in Rubicon’s production of A.R. Gurney’s Love Letters, playing opposite his wife Felicia Farr. Mr. Lemmon and Ms. Farr dedicate Rubicon’s youth conservatory program following their performance. Rubicon presents the Company’s first world premiere, the stage adaptation of Murder in the First. Linda Gray directs a cast including Larry Hagman. Stephanie Zimbalist plays Lizzie in Rubicon’s production of The Rainmaker. Latino Actor Carlos Sanz performs the role of Starbuck. The soundscape, rooted in Zapotec tradition, imbues the production with a romantic, mythic quality. Local Latino students receive a Spanish synopsis, and participate in a bilingual “talkback” following special matinee performances.
2001	Emmy Award-winning actress Susan Clark makes her Rubicon debut in the company’s first Tennessee Williams play, The Glass Menagerie. James O’Neil directs, earning a reputation as an innovative interpreter of Williams’ work (cemented by subsequent productions of A Streetcar Named Desire and The Night of the Iguana). Access Theatre Founder Rod Lathim directs The Boys Next Door. Rubicon begins audio-described performances for individuals who are blind or visually impaired. Rubicon produces Bardwalk, a walkathon and celebration of Shakespeare that takes place on Ventura’s pier, boardwalk, and city streets and culminates with a Rockin’ Renaissance Celebration. Jenny Sullivan stars alongside John Ritter and Jeff Kober in the World Premiere of her semi-autobiographical play J for J. (The play is part of a “Special Additions” series which includes David Birney in his own adaptation of Twain’s The Diaries of Adam & Eve.) J for J transfers to The Court in Los Angeles and is presented in a reading at the John Houseman in New York, hosted by Daryl Roth.
2002	A major revival of Jacques Brel is Alive and Well and Living in Paris is helmed by original Broadway director Moni Yakim. Amanda McBroom and George Ball, who appeared in the New York production, reprise their roles. James O’Neil directs a workshop of Beggar’s Holiday, a revival of the only musical Duke Ellington ever wrote for Broadway with a new book by Dale Wasserman. The production, starring Carl Anderson, begins Rubicon’s “Lost and Found” musical concert series. Students ages 9-to-18 create a production of Once on This Island, Jr. under the direction of new Education Outreach Director Brian McDonald. Rubicon Young Professionals intern program is launched, with students participating in Master Classes taught by artists including Eva Marie Saint, Jeffrey Hayden and Daniel Davis.
2003	Rubicon presents Harold Gould in Old Wicked Songs in partnership with Santa Fe Stages in New Mexico – the Company’s first co-production. An acclaimed production of the Irish drama Dancing at Lughnasa is followed by A Streetcar Named Desire starring Linda Purl. Rubicon launches “Plays-in-Progress,” a staged reading series created to support playwrights in the developmental process. Sylvia with Joe Spano and Kristi Lynes sets new box office records. The production is later revived. On Canada Day, Len Cariou, along with other celebrity actors and diplomats, announces Rubicon’s new artistic partnership with Manitoba Theatre Centre of Winnepeg at the Beverly Hills Hotel. Norbert Tan joins Rubicon from the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts as the organization’s first Managing Director. Building owners place The Laurel on the market and Rubicon launches Cornerstone Campaign to acquire the property. James O’Neil directs the timely Arthur Miller classic All My Sons featuring George Ball and Robin Pearson Rose. Production later wins the Ovation Award for Best Play of the year, making Rubicon the youngest company ever to receive that honor. Jenny Sullivan directs Jane Anderson’s Defying Gravity during the Centennial of Flight. The production, inspired by the life of astronaut Christa McAuliffe, incorporates aerial and trapeze performances and large-scale multi-media projections. Cornerstone contributors are honored at an International Holiday Gala at the Reagan Presidential Library. The event, hosted by Ventura Mayor Brian Brennan, is attended by Consul Generals from five countries.
2004	Rubicon hosts a benefit concert with Grammy-award winner Kenny Loggins at the private ranch of Claire and Reid Bowman in Ojai, raising funds for the building campaign and education programs. Rubicon announces two international collaborations with Manitoba Theatre Centre (the World Premiere of Mating Dance of the Werewolf; and The Night of the Iguana by Tennessee Williams). Efrem Zimbalist Jr. and daughter Stephanie Zimbalist appear on stage for the first time together in The Night of the Iguana. Rubicon completes public Cornerstone Campaign during Driving Miss Daisy and makes down payment on the theatre building, with a $500,000 lead gift from Helen Yunker. The performance hall is named in Ms. Yunker’s honor. World Premiere Musical Lady Macbeth Sings the Blues starring Amanda McBroom and directed by Joel Silberman receives critical acclaim. Ventura native son and director Michael Addison returns home to helm Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest. Renowned German Director Walter Asmus (Samuel Beckett’s Assistant Director) directs fall production of Waiting for Godot, during first West Coast BeckettFest at Rubicon. Rubicon’s BeckettFest celebrates the groundbreaking work of playwright Samuel Beckett the year prior to his centennial. The entire Beckett canon is offered on stage or film with over 100 performances, symposia, workshops and events. Producers, actors and directors from six countries participate: Ireland, Canada, France, Germany, England and the U.S. Rubicon garners 20 LA Stage Alliance Ovation Award nominations (more than any theatre in Southern California), receiving Awards for Best Play, Best Musical Direction and Best Featured Actor.
2005	Rubicon receives 3 NAACP Theatre Award nominations, and James O’Neil receives the Best Director Award for Driving Miss Daisy. The production travels to the Manitoba Theatre Centre in Winnipeg for an encore run. The entire theatre is converted into an eclectic, hip coffeehouse for an environmental production of Songs for a New World, which goes on to receive 7 LA Stage Alliance Ovation nominations and 3 technical awards (Set Design, Lighting Design and Sound Design). La Cage aux Folles: A Tribute to Jerry Herman is held at Chateau Plaisance, the estate of Lynn & Ed Hogan in Lake Sherwood, to benefit Rubicon’s artistic and education programs. Rubicon presents an added Spring/Fall series of plays, including Tuesdays with Morrie, Shirley Valentine and Defending the Caveman in repertory, plus a two-person adaptation of Henry James’s The Turn of the Screw. A Woman of Will (originally world-premiered at Rubicon as Lady Macbeth Sings the Blues), opens Off-Broadway at the Daryl Roth Theatre in New York. Rubicon supporters attend the opening night in NYC.
2006	Rubicon mounts West Coast Premiere of tick..tick..BOOM! coinciding with the opening of the Sony film of Larson’s Rent. The critically-acclaimed production transfers to the Coronet Theatre in Los Angeles, where it is seen by over 12,000 patrons. The production is helmed by original New York and London director Scott Schwartz and choreographer Christopher Gattelli. Tony-award winning composer Jason Robert Brown performs in a benefit concert at the Tower Club to benefit Rubicon’s education outreach programs and to launch the Larry Meister Memorial Musical Fund. Rubicon produces the first-ever three-play Dale Wasserman Festival, with One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Man of La Mancha, and the world-premiere of Open Secrets. Man of La Mancha marks the Company’s largest production to date in terms of cast size and technical budget. The production breaks all Rubicon box office records. Rubicon presents in repertory award-winning plays by modern Irish playwrights: Belfast Blues by Geraldine Hughes and The Good Thief by Conor McPherson performed by Conor Lovett. The Jack Oakie Foundation makes a generous multiple-year commitment to underwrite and name the Summer Musical Theatre Camp. Rubicon’s annual fundraising gala is held at the new Air Force One pavilion at the Reagan Presidential Library. Rubicon partners with Broadway producer Hal Thau to present the World Premiere of Back Home Again: A John Denver Holiday, conceived by Tony nominees Randal Myler and Dan Wheetman. The production moves to a theatre in Northern California and later is announced for Seattle Rep’s 2007 season. Rubicon receives a $500,000 gift by an anonymous donor and launches a Milestone Match campaign to raise $250,000.
2007	New York legends Richard Maltby, Jr. and David Shire premiere their new musical A Time for Love at Rubicon, directed by Joel Silberman. The production moves to Studio Arena in Buffalo and is announced for the Signature Theatre’s fall schedule. Rubicon’s Tower Club cabaret series continues with performances honoring Stephen Schwartz and later Maltby & Shire. Singers include Alice Ripley, Jennifer Leigh Warren, Patrick Cassidy, Amanda McBroom, George Ball and others. The opening night of The Diary of Anne Frank is hosted by the Jewish Federation at Temple Beth Torah. Special guests, welcomed by Rubicon Board President Richard Reisman, include a Holocaust survivor and a Rubicon volunteer who was a concentration camp liberator. Rubicon presents the Company’s second Shakespeare: Hamlet, selected for Rubicon company member Joseph Fuqua, and directed by Jenny Sullivan with an adaptation by dramaturg William Keeler. Rubicon expands number of student matinees for both Anne Frank and Hamlet with assistance from the Annenberg Foundation and the Orfalea Foundation. Access Theatre founder Rod Lathim returns to Rubicon to helm a revival of Children of a Lesser God. The number of signed performances is increased to five. Record attendance is expected for the Company’s summer youth programs: the Jack Oakie Summer Musical Theatre Camp, the Summer Acting Intensive and the Summer Technical Theatre Camp. Presentations will include Babes in Arms and Little Women. Rubicon announces upcoming 10th Anniversary Season and launches Innovation Fund to present more World Premieres and bold or reinvented revivals of classics.

Rubicon Past Mainstage Productions
[ Rubicon Timeline History ]
[ Who's Been On Our Stage? ]
[ Awards & Accolades ]

Season of Special Events 1998-1999
Jesus Christ Superstar	Music by Andrew Lloyd Webber; Lyrics by Tim Rice
Shirley Valentine	by Willy Russell
Darrow	by David Rintels
Forever Plaid	by Stuart Ross
Romeo and Juliet	by William Shakespeare
Millennium Season 1999-2000
A Couple of White Chicks Sitting Around Talking	by John Ford Noonan
Love Letters	by A.R. Gurney
The Little Foxes	by Lillian Hellman
Murder in the First	by Tom Griffin
Lies and Legends: The Musical Stories of Harry Chapin	by Harry Chapin
Dream Season 2000-2001
The Rainmaker	by N. Richard Nash
And the World Goes 'Round	Music by John Kander Lyrics by Fred Ebb
The Glass Menagerie	by Tennessee Williams
Ancestral Voices	by A.R. Gurney
The Boys Next Door	by Tom Griffin
The Rainmaker (Encore)	by N. Richard Nash
Rebels, Rogues and Romantics 2001-2002
J for J	by Jenny and Barry Sullivan
The Devils Disciple	by George Bernard Shaw
Jacques Brel is Alive and Well and Living in Paris	by Jacques Brel
Beggar's Holiday	by Duke Ellington
The Diaries of Adam and Eve	by David Birney
Old Wicked Songs	by John Marans
High Button Shoes	Music by Jule Styne Lyrics by Sammy Cahn
Sylvia	by A.R. Gurney
Tintypes	Vocal Arrangements by Mel Marvin Orchestration and Vocal Arrangements by John McKinney
A Season Named Desire 2002-2003
Forever Plaid	by Stuart Ross
Dancing at Lughnasa	by Brian Friel
A Streetcar Named Desire	by Tennessee Williams
Sylvia (Encore)	by A.R. Gurney
Art	by Yasmina Reza
Let Your Spirit Soar 2003-2004
All My Sons	by Arthur Miller
Defying Gravity	by Jane Anderson
The Importance of Being Ernest	by Oscar Wilde
Driving Miss Daisy	by Alfred Uhry
Lady MacBeth Sings the Blues	Music by Joel Silberman Lyrics by Amanda McBroom
Side by Side by Sondheim	Music and Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim
Waiting for Godot	by Samuel Beckett
Theatre for A New World 2004-2005
The Night of the Iguana	by Tennessee Williams
Fools	by Neil Simon
Songs for a New World	by Jason Robert Brown
Mating Dance of the Werewolf	by Mark Stein
Tuesdays with Morrie	by Jeffrey Hatcher and Mitch Albom
Defending the Caveman	by Rob Becker
Shirley Valentine	by Willy Russell
The Turn of the Screw	by Jeffrey Hatcher
The Quest 2005-2006
tick... tick... BOOM!	by Jonathan Larson
Ben Franklin: Unplugged	by Josh Kornbluth
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest	by Dale Wasserman
All in the Timing	by David Ives
Open Secrets	by Dale Wasserman
Belfast Blues	by Geraldine Hughes
The Good Thief	by Conor McPherson
Man of La Mancha	by Dale Wasserman
The Balancing Acts Season 2006-2007
Back Home Again: The John Denver Holiday Concert	by Randal Myler and Dan Wheetman
A Time for Love	Music by David Shire; Lyrics by Richard Maltby, Jr.
The Diary of Anne Frank	Adapted by Wendy Kesselman
Hamlet	by William Shakespeare
Children of a Lesser God	by Mark Medoff
Bad Apples	by Mark Stein
A Delicate Balance	by Edward Albee
The Festival Season 2007-2008
You Can’t Take It With You	By George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart
R. Buckminster Fuller: THE HISTORY (and Mystery) OF THE UNIVERSE	By D.W. Jacobs
Bus Stop	By William Inge
Picasso at the Lapin Agile	by Steve Martin
My Antonia	Adapted by Scott Schwartz From the novel by Willa Cather Music by Stephen Schwartz
It’s Only Life	Music and Lyrics by John Bucchino
The Spin Cycle	By David Rambo
She Loves Me	Book by Joe Masteroff Music by Jerry Bock Lyrics by Sheldon Harnick

Who's Been On Our Stage?
[ Rubicon Timeline History ]
[ Rubicon Past Mainstage Productions ]
[ Awards & Accolades ]

* Jack Lemmon and John Ritter made their final stage appearances with Rubicon.

Awards & Accolades
[ Rubicon Timeline History ]
[ Rubicon Past Mainstage Productions ]
[ Who's Been On Our Stage? ]

AWARDS

7 Los Angeles Stage Alliance Ovation Awards (2004, 2005, 2006, 2007)

50 Ovation Award Nominations – Los Angeles Stage Alliance

NAACP Theatre Award for Best Director (2005); 3 Nominations

12 Los Angeles Robby Award Awards; 53 nominations

1999 – 2007 Reader’s Choice: Best Theatre Company in Ventura County
– Ventura County Reporter

39 Indy Awards – Santa Barbara Independent

6 Backstage West Garland Award Honorable Mentions

2 Rep Awards for Individual Excellence; 2 Rep Awards for Excellence in Production

Friend of Tourism Award – Ventura Chamber of Commerce

Friend of Education Award
– California State Board of Education and Ventura Unified School District

19 Critic’s Picks – Backstage West

14 Critic’s Picks – Los Angeles Times

ACCOLADES

“Rubicon Theatre Company moves the local stage to a level so many for so long had hoped for…the best theatre around…the house will be forever packed!”
– Los Angeles Times

“Rubicon surges ahead, building on dreams fortified by talent and hard work, and encouraged by major Southland theatre awards.”
– Ventura County Star

“Ventura’s Rubicon Theatre Company has become the best-regarded troupe in the region.” – Santa Barbara News Press

“Rubicon exploded on the performing arts scene like a super nova…the preeminent and most influential professional theatre company between Los Angeles and San Francisco.”
– Ventura County Reporter

“Critic’s Pick…one of the three most riveting stage experiences I’ve reviewed, period.”
– Backstage West

“High-quality professional theatre…the likes of which Ventura has rarely seen….prime performance.”
– Ventura County Star

“…the most exciting small theatre around. A major talent-fest! A trip south is called for.”
– Montecito Journal

“Audiences are transported to another world through the sheer force of talent and professionalism. It’s the type of performance an audience longs for…deeply moving…a tour de force.”
– Ventura County Star

“Extraordinary…acting, design and technical craft are of a high standard.”
– L.A. Weekly

"'O' for Outstanding…riveting and mesmerizing. [The world premiere of] a play that may be destined to rank at the top of the list with such classics as Death of a Salesman and The Glass Menagerie."
– The Reporter

“If only there were a lot more Rubicons in this world.”
– Jack Lemmon