Easy Rider by Dennis Hopper and starring Peter Fonda, Dennis Hopper, and Jack Nicholson screens Aug. 1 at the Norton Simon Museum, Pasadena. Photo courtesy of Norton Simon Museum.
SIDNEY JACOBS AND THE MONSTERS — The vocalist, pianist, , and composer Sidney Jacobs. At Sierra Madre Playhouse, 87 W. Sierra Madre Blvd., Sierra Madre. Sunday, August 2, at 8. Photo Courtesy of Sierra Madre Blvd., Sierra Madre.
For the theater-goer with a discerning eye, this week’s offerings in Pasadena promise a varied assortment of performances—from the daringly new to the comfortably familiar. Whether your tastes lean towards the weighty or the whimsical, the stages are set and the players are poised. Below, a selection of what the local theaters have in store, each worth a curtain call in its own right.
If you want your theatrical performance listed in our weekly directory, please contact David Cross, Theater Section Manager at (626) 737-8486 extension 8 and david.cross@pasadenanowmagazine.com
The Week on Stage
Easy Rider — Aug. 1, 4:30–6:05 p.m.; doors at 4. Dennis Hopper’s ragged, incendiary road picture from 1969, the shoestring touchstone that helped usher in New Hollywood, follows two long-haired bikers who ride east from Los Angeles toward New Orleans with a stash of cash and a vague hunger for freedom, only to find an America that curdles from psychedelic reverie into shotgun hostility the deeper into the country they go — comfort in a desert commune one night, menace in small-town diners the next. Restlessness, disillusion, and the violence lurking beneath provincial civility run all through it; written by Fonda, Hopper, and Terry Southern, it earned two Academy Award nominations — including Jack Nicholson’s star-making turn as a soused A.C.L.U. lawyer — and won the prize for best first work at Cannes. (Rated R, for depictions of drug use, sex, and violence.) With Peter Fonda (Wyatt), Dennis Hopper (Billy), Jack Nicholson (George Hanson), Karen Black (Karen), and Luke Askew (the Stranger). Directed by Dennis Hopper; produced by Peter Fonda and Bert Schneider. Introduced by the filmmaker and educator Joe Petricca as the opener of the museum’s “On Route 66” series, marking the highway’s centennial. At the Norton Simon Museum, 411 West Colorado Boulevard, Pasadena. (626) 449-6840. Aug. 1, 4:30–6:05 p.m.; doors at 4. Free with museum admission ($20; seniors sixty-two and up, $15; free for members, students with I.D., and visitors eighteen and under). Visit nortonsimon.org.
SIDNEY JACOBS AND THE MONSTERS — The vocalist, pianist, and composer Sidney Jacobs brings his band for an evening of original jazz that threads gospel roots and modern improvisation, a program built around Jacobs’s expressive, blues-inflected songwriting. At Sierra Madre Playhouse, 87 W. Sierra Madre Blvd., Sierra Madre. Sunday, August 2, at 8. Visit sierramadreplayhouse.org.
COMING UP ON STAGE
AANMI: Echoes of Home — One performance only, Sunday, August 30, 2026, at 4. A concert of newly composed contemporary works from the Asia/America New Music Institute, the Pasadena nonprofit founded by composer Chad Cannon, built around memory, belonging, and the many meanings of home. The project began as an invitation to Asian American composers to reflect on growing up in Los Angeles’s Asian American enclaves — Little Tokyo, Koreatown, San Gabriel, Gardena, Historic Filipinotown — before widening into a broader meditation on the places, people, and traditions that anchor us; for AANMI, whose work has ranged across Asia, the East Coast, and Utah, the afternoon doubles as a homecoming to the city it increasingly calls its base. The bill leans on premieres and recent pieces, among them SunYoung Park’s Monologue II (West Coast premiere), new commissions from Cannon and Weijun Chen, Niall Taro’s Mikan no omoide, Kian Ravaei’s Family Photos, Nichagarn Chiracharasporn’s Lilac, Alex Williams’s Sea of Light, Emily Chiu’s Smelly Dumpings, and Ari Sol’s Strum! Performed by violinists Kyle Gilner and Chad Cannon, violist Rita Andrade, cellist Niall Taro, harpist Ari Sol, pianist Coco Ma, and vocalist Miko Shudo. Presented by the Asia/America New Music Institute (artistic director Yuga Cohler). At Sierra Madre Playhouse, 87 W. Sierra Madre Blvd., Sierra Madre. (626) 355-4318. One performance only, Sunday, August 30, 2026, at 4. Tickets $12–$35. Visit sierramadreplayhouse.org.
AT THE VERY BOTTOM OF A BODY OF WATER — Runs from October 22 to November 29, 2026. Benjamin Benne’s world première (written 2024-2025) follows Marina, a woman who returns each week to the same fish store to buy a catfish and make soup—a methodical ritual concealing profound grief. When her fishmonger disappears, her fragile routine collapses, forcing her to face the wreckage of her carefully ordered life. Romance and magic unexpectedly emerge from the chaos in this intimate drama that blends magical realism with emotional depth, exploring how we navigate loss and the surprising forms healing can take. Cast: To be announced. Directed by To be announced; Producer: Boston Court Pasadena (Jessica Kubzansky, Artistic Director). At Boston Court Pasadena, 70 N Mentor Ave., Pasadena 91106. (626) 683-6801. Runs from October 22 to November 29, 2026. Performance schedule to be announced; typically Thurs.-Mon. evenings with Sun. matinees. Student matinees Nov. 12-13. Tickets: Pricing to be announced; Boston Court members save 40%. Visit bostoncourtpasadena.org
Babatunde HipHopera — Fri.–Sat., Aug. 28–29 at 8 p.m. Baritone Babatunde Akinboboye’s genre-defying solo evening, welding the drama of classical opera to the rhythm and attitude of hip-hop. Arias and vocal works (“Toreador,” “O Sole Mio,” “Di Provenza,” “Cortigiani,” among ten on the program) share the stage with modern beats and spoken word, arguing that the two worlds mirror each other in narrative arc and emotional reach. In the Playhouse’s intimate room the voice lands up close, every dramatic turn carried with immediacy — a night where vocal virtuosity doubles as cultural conversation. Featuring Babatunde Akinboboye (vocals) and Amond Jackson (DJ). Presented by Sierra Madre Playhouse. At Sierra Madre Playhouse, 87 W. Sierra Madre Blvd., Sierra Madre. (626) 355-4318. Fri.–Sat., Aug. 28–29 at 8 p.m.; 90 minutes, no intermission. Ticket prices available at the box office; check website for pricing. Visit sierramadreplayhouse.org
BATTLESHIP POTEMKIN — Runs Aug. 14 to Aug. 15, 2026. Sergei Eisenstein’s 1925 silent-film landmark of the Russian Revolution, restored here as a live-scored cinema event rather than a scripted stage play; the film depicts the 1905 mutiny aboard the Russian battleship Potemkin and is celebrated as one of cinema’s most influential works for its pioneering use of montage. This screening features the world premiere of a new score by composer/conductor George Sarah, performed live by a string quartet and vocal quintet — soprano Jenna Hansen, mezzo-soprano Anna Caplan, tenors George Sterne and Sean McDermott, violinists Kaija Hansen and Katie Kim, and cellists Carolyn Regula and Paul Hyun, with Sarah on synths and electronics. Composed and conducted by George Sarah. At Sierra Madre Playhouse, 87 W. Sierra Madre Blvd., Sierra Madre. (626) 355-4318. Runs Aug. 14 to Aug. 15, 2026. Fri. and Sat. at 8. $30. Visit sierramadreplayhouse.org
VERSA-STYLE STREET DANCE COMPANY: “BOX OF HOPE (2ND EDITION)” — Runs Aug. 7 to Aug. 8. Fri.–Sat. at 8. Not a play but a jolt of pure kinetic joy, this touring program from the L.A.-born, Hip Hop-rooted ensemble founded in 2005 by co-artistic directors Jackie “Miss Funk” Lopez and Leigh “Breeze-lee” Foaad translates the raw vocabulary of street dance—popping, locking, breaking, house—onto the concert stage. Named “Los Angeles’ Best Dance Troupe for Hip Hop Empowerment” by LA Weekly, the company treats the form less as spectacle than as a living argument for community, celebrating the diversity and beautiful complexity of the city that made it. The dancers—among them Aryeal “AryLove” Lands, Elizabeth “Essence” Altamirano, Leo “Inner-G” Flores, Nick “Surge” Cuevas, and Zuleny “Zuly” Ordonez—bring an exhilarating physical urgency to the material. Choreographed and directed by Jackie “Miss Funk” Lopez and Leigh “Breeze-lee” Foaad. At Sierra Madre Playhouse, 87 W. Sierra Madre Blvd., Sierra Madre. (626) 355-4318. Runs Aug. 7 to Aug. 8. Fri.–Sat. at 8. Tickets available at the box office or online. Visit sierramadreplayhouse.org
Broadway Junior Revue: Pure Imagination! — Runs from Aug. 8 to Aug. 9. Sat. and Sun. at 2 and 6. Not a book musical but a revue, this brand-new Music Theatre International offering stitches together fourteen numbers from the Broadway Junior catalog into a single, sugar-rushed valentine to the form: Willy Wonka’s title dreamscape gives way to Seussical’s whirl of “Thinks You Can Think,” Frozen’s “In Summer,” Matilda’s insurrectionary “Revolting Children,” and Shrek’s proud “Freak Flag,” with the company free to lace the transitions with fun facts and student anecdotes so that no two performances are quite alike. Performed by a young ensemble of Young Stars Theatre Academy campers, ages six to eighteen. Directed and produced by Gloria Bennett, YSTA’s program director. At Fremont Centre Theatre, 1000 Fremont Ave., Suite 100, South Pasadena. (626) 269-3609. Runs from Aug. 8 to Aug. 9. Sat. and Sun. at 2 and 6. Tickets and streaming available through the box office. Visit ystacademy.com/buytickets.
Grease — Runs Aug. 6–16. Thurs.–Sun. at 8. Jim Jacobs and Warren Casey’s greaser valentine to 1950s adolescence, first revved up in a Chicago storefront in 1971 before roaring onto Broadway the following year (seven Tony nominations, and for a spell the longest-running show in Broadway history). At Rydell High, prim transfer student Sandy and duck-tailed heartthrob Danny learn that summer love is rather easier to navigate than the school-year kind, all to the jukebox thrum of “Summer Nights,” “Greased Lightnin’,” and “You’re the One That I Want.” Directed by Oliver Azcarate, in the company’s first season since the Eaton Fire; produced by Altadena Music Theatre founder Sarah Azcarate. At Mountain View Mausoleum, 2300 Marengo Ave., Altadena. Runs Aug. 6–16. Thurs.–Sun. at 8. Tickets $40–$107. Visit altadenamusictheatre.com.
ABSOLUTE FOCUS + CHRIS VOTEK — Part of the Sierra Madre Playhouse’s Hindustani Music Series, this single-evening raga concert is less a play than a conversation in sound: the husband-and-wife duo Absolute Focus — santoor virtuoso Kamaljeet Ahluwalia and tabla master Jas Ahluwalia — joined by a rare guest, a Western cellist fluent in an Eastern tongue. One performance only: Sunday, August 16, 2026, at 4. Votek is one of very few cellists in the world fluent in the language of Hindustani music, and here his cello weaves through santoor and tabla in the call-and-response conversation that defines Hindustani performance. The set follows the traditional raga trajectory: a meditative alap unfolding slowly into intricate, rhythmically charged interplay and exhilarating dialogue between the musicians — an arc, as the presenters put it, from stillness to movement, introspection to celebration. Featuring Kamaljeet Ahluwalia (santoor), Jas Ahluwalia (tabla), and Chris Votek (cello). Presented by Sierra Madre Playhouse as part of its “Small Stage, Big World” season. At Sierra Madre Playhouse, 87 West Sierra Madre Boulevard, Sierra Madre. (626) 355-4318. One performance only: Sunday, August 16, 2026, at 4. Tickets $12 to $35. Visit sierramadreplayhouse.org.
Indian Mythology and Me — Aug. 29 at 11 a.m. The Dancing Storytellers’ interactive dance-theater piece for young audiences, blending classical South Asian dance, folk movement, rhythm, and conversational storytelling. Three tales unfold — Bheema’s encounter with Hanuman, the clever mice who outwit an elephant queen, and Goddess Durga’s triumph over the demon Mahishasura — with performers moving through the house and inviting children to step into the story, try the gestures, and become part of the world onstage. Warm, funny, and quietly searching, it turns ancient myth into a meditation on identity, courage, and empathy; designed for K–5 but built to hold a room of any age. Performed by Danish Bhandara and Tulsi Shah. Presented by Sierra Madre Playhouse. At Sierra Madre Playhouse, 87 W. Sierra Madre Blvd., Sierra Madre. (626) 355-4318. One performance only, Sat., Aug. 29 at 11 a.m. Ticket prices available at the box office; check website for pricing. Visit sierramadreplayhouse.org
Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom — Runs from August 23 to September 20, 2026 (previews August 23–28; opening night August 29). Thurs. and Fri. at 7:30, Sat. at 2 and 7:30, Sun. at 2. August Wilson’s 1982 drama, a Tony Award nominee for Best Play that opened his ten-part American Century Cycle, drops us into a sweltering Chicago recording studio in 1927, where the legendary “Mother of the Blues” arrives late and imperious to cut a record, and the friction between her uncompromising artistry and the white producers eager to package it erupts into a reckoning over ambition, exploitation, and the price Black musicians paid to be heard; cast to be announced. Directed by Gregg T. Daniel. At A Noise Within, 3352 E. Foothill Blvd., Pasadena. (626) 356-3121. Runs from August 23 to September 20, 2026 (previews August 23–28; opening night August 29). Thurs. and Fri. at 7:30, Sat. at 2 and 7:30, Sun. at 2. Tickets are dynamically priced based on demand, generally from roughly $76 to $120+; Pay-What-You-Choose tickets from $10 are available for select performances. Visit anoisewithin.org.
Music of the Night: Andrew Lloyd Webber & Friends — Runs August 29 only. Gates open at 5:30 pm for picnicking, with the concert beginning at 7:30 pm. The Pasadena POPS closes out its picnic-style summer season with an evening devoted to the sweeping, theatrical pop-classical fusion Andrew Lloyd Webber helped define, folding in kindred material from Motown, the Rat Pack era, and Elton John for a program built around crowd-pleasing familiarity rather than a single composer’s catalog. Featuring Hugh Panaro, Valerie Perri, and Scarlett Strallen. Conducted by Larry Blank, presented by Pasadena Symphony & POPS. At Los Angeles County Arboretum & Botanic Garden, 301 N Baldwin Ave, Arcadia. (626) 793-7172. Runs August 29 only. Gates open at 5:30 pm for picnicking, with the concert beginning at 7:30 pm. Tickets from the high-$30s (plus fees), subscriptions available. Visit pasadenasymphony-pops.org.
REMEMBER WHEN ROCK WAS YOUNG: THE ELTON JOHN EXPERIENCE — Runs August 15 (single performance). Gates open 5:30 pm for picnicking; concert at 7:30 pm. A summer “Music Under the Stars” pops program from Pasadena Symphony & POPS, part of a season built around beloved pop-culture songbooks — Motown, Rat Pack-era standards, Elton John, and Andrew Lloyd Webber — reimagined for full orchestra with Broadway- and jazz-credentialed vocalists. Featuring vocalist Craig A. Meyer. Conducted by Larry Blank. At Los Angeles County Arboretum & Botanic Garden, 301 N Baldwin Ave, Arcadia. Runs August 15 (single performance). Gates open 5:30 pm for picnicking; concert at 7:30 pm. Tickets start in the high-$30s (plus fees), with subscription packages available. Visit pasadenasymphony-pops.org.
PERICLES — Runs from August 20 to September 27, 2026. William Shakespeare’s romance of adventure, loss, and miraculous reunion, written c. 1607-1608, follows Prince Pericles through shipwrecks, tournaments, and seemingly impossible reunions as he searches for home and family across the Mediterranean. In Ellen McLaughlin’s accessible modern verse translation, this late Shakespearean tale chronicles a man separated from his wife and daughter by fate, who must traverse kingdoms and survive tragedy before achieving redemption. The cast is to be announced. Directed by Margaret Shigeko Starbuck (Boston Court Associate Artistic Director); Translator: Ellen McLaughlin; Producer: Boston Court Pasadena (Jessica Kubzansky, Artistic Director). At Boston Court Pasadena, 70 N Mentor Ave., Pasadena 91106. (626) 683-6801. Runs from August 20 to September 27, 2026. Typically Thursday-Monday evenings with Sunday matinees; select student matinees September 16-25. Boston Court members save 40%. Visit bostoncourtpasadena.org.
