Parson’s Nose Theater, the nonprofit classical theater company that has performed in a 50-seat Pasadena venue for more than a decade, will stage what it is calling its “farewell shows” to its co-founders in May — a pastiche of poems, sketches and songs set in a late 19th century Parisian café.
The production, “Café Incoherent: The Impressionists,” written by Artistic Director Lance Davis, is the final show of the company’s 26th season. It runs over two weekends — May 9 and 16 at 7 p.m. and May 10 and 17 at 3 p.m. — at the company’s space at 95 N. Marengo Ave., with entrance on Holly Street. The May 10 performance falls on Mother’s Day.
Davis and Mary Chalon, who are married, co-founded Parson’s Nose Theater in May 2000 with a mission to make classic theater and literature accessible to audiences of all ages. Over 26 seasons the company has presented condensed, under-90-minute adaptations of works by Shakespeare, Molière, Goldoni, Shaw, Chekhov and others, according to the company’s website.
Upon this performance, the couple will step down, but Parson’s Nose will continue on under actor/director Barry Gordon.
The farewell production takes its name and setting from the café culture of La Belle Epoque Paris, the period in the late 19th century when Impressionist painters and writers gathered in cabarets and cafés across Montmartre and the Left Bank. According to the company’s promotional materials, the show includes a slide introduction to the Impressionists alongside the live performance.
Parson’s Nose has operated from its current location — a converted mortuary chapel designed by architects Marston and Van Pelt, built circa 1922 — since 2015, according to a 2024 report in Local News Pasadena. Before that the company performed at multiple venues around Pasadena, including the Pasadena Playhouse and the Lineage Performing Arts Center.
The intimate space, which the company calls “The Parson’s Nose Abbey,” seats 50. “We know these plays are wonderful,” Davis said in a 2020 interview with Pasadena Magazine. “They’re great and people should know them and shouldn’t be intimidated by them.”
“Theater in the form of spoken dialogue heard aloud makes language powerful in ways that reading it silently on the page cannot,” Chalon said in a 2024 interview with Local News Pasadena.
During the pandemic in 2020, the company pivoted to producing more than 50 radio theater podcasts under the name “Parson’s Nose Radio Theater,” available on Apple, Spotify and the company’s website.
Performances of “Café Incoherent: The Impressionists” include prosecco, lemonade and cookies baked by Judy Graunke, a longtime friend of the theater. Tickets are available at tix.com/ticket-sales/parsonsnose/1475 or by calling 626-345-5116. Public parking is available at 150 E. Holly St. and 50 yards further west on Holly Street; weekend rates are $5 before 5 p.m. and $10 after. Parking on Holly is free after 6 p.m. and on Sundays.
“People think of this as their ‘third place,'” Chalon said in the same 2024 interview, referencing the sociological concept of a gathering space outside home and work. The company’s promotional materials describe the May performances as its farewell.
