Sebastiani Theatre Is On A Roll

Gala Auction Event Is April 11

The Sebastiani Theatre, Sonoma’s iconic landmark, cultural/creative beating heart, defacto Daycare Center Supreme, progenitor of multiple generations of creative talent, the first legitimate stage any budding thespian, musician, singer, orator, dancer, or soon-to-be-macabre-Halloween Ghoul living in or near Sonoma will stand on, the communal corpus of Sonoma’s collective soul … is on a roll. 

The Holy Grail of hometown theaters is mixing movies with live shows, balancing timely, first-run cinema and the demanding screentime distributors require, with the timely booking of big-name bands, local dance troupes, available comedians, random magic shows and locally iconic events like the Sonoma International Film Festival, which takes annual root in the theatre for a week every year. 

And under the skilled direction of general manager Tony Ginesi, and the wise tutelage of the Sebastiani legend Roger Rhoten, the theatre has been booked almost solid weekend after weekend. Upcoming acts and events include: The Chris Duarte Group and Jinx Jones & The King Tones (March 20); A Song For You, Laurie Roldan’s tribute to Karen Carpenter (March 21); La Boda, Presentred by Grupo Folklorico Quetzalen (March 22); the Sonoma International Film Festival, beginning March 25); Garrison Keillor (April 9); the Sebastiani Annual Gala Auction, featuring  the electrifying New York band SuSu and singing auctioneer Ellen Toscano (April 11); Brian Nova’s Little Big Band, presented by The Sonoma Valley Jazz Society(April 12); Shana Morrison & Caledonia (April 17); Candlelight Concerts – From Classical to Pop, and A Tribute to Fleetwood Mac (both April 18); a dance recital, Por La Luz De La Luna, presented by the Sonoma Conservatory of Dance (April 25); The Comedy of Clinton Johnson, with Sean Corville (also April 25); and The Sound of Music, presented by Backyard Theater Cast A. 

Meanwhile, the big screen was playing virtually every Academy Award-Nominated film right up to the March 15 Oscar Night. 

The activity list goes on-and-on. But as exciting  as all this performance magic promises to be, the Sebastiani Theatre is poised on the edge of a more dramatic leap forward, with a multi-million-dollar expansion to install new accessible bathrooms; a new 50-seat screening room; a kitchen for prepping snack food; all-new audience seating (with cup holders) and all new rigging for stage set management. The additional space will allow for overlapping uses, like a genuine Green Room, community meetings and real practice space. 

More information about the upcoming expansion, and the capital campaign to fund it, will be shared at the Gala Auction Evening, April 11. Besides the starring voices of SUSU – Liza Colby and Kia Warren, the Gala will feature The Neil Fontano Band, canapes, wine and the invitation to dress to the nines – the dress code is Black and Gold. The doors open at 5:30 and the evening kicks off 6. Tickets are available on the Sebastiani website, www.sebastianitheatre.org.  

Theatre Accessibility Information: The Front of the theater is ramped up to the automatic doors and has hand rails. An intercom is also available if help is needed ascending the ramp. The theater is equipped with 4 wheel chair accessible spaces with companion seats. We also have assistive listening headphones and closed captioning monitors available at the ticket counter for most movies but not live events. Unfortunately at the moment our bathrooms are not ADA accessible.