Santa Cruz Shoestring Players
2025/2026 Season
Our company has produced a variety of plays, from comedies and dramas to mysteries and musicals.
We try to bring our community new award-winning plays as well as traditional classics
so there is something new and different in every season alongside the familiar favorites!
Matilda Jr.
Shoestring Kids Musical
​Rebellion is nigh in Matilda JR., a gleefully witty ode to the the anarchy of childhood and the power of imagination! This story of a girl who dreams of a better life and the children she inspires will have audiences rooting for the "revolting children" who are out to teach the grown-ups a lesson.
Matilda has astonishing wit, intelligence... and special powers! She's unloved by her cruel parents but impresses her schoolteacher, the highly loveable Miss Honey. Matilda's school life isn't completely smooth sailing, however – the school's mean headmistress, Miss Trunchbull, hates children and just loves thinking up new punishments for those who don't abide by her rules. But Matilda has courage and cleverness in equal amounts, and could be the school pupils' saving grace!
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Office Party
A Shoestring Original Musical Comedy
"Office Party" was written and created by two of our Shoestring regulars: Neil Crapo and Claire Margaret Corlett! This original comedic musical brings together a group of quirky co-workers celebrating their quarterly sales goal, only to unravel a series of unexpected secrets! As the night progresses, revelations about personal indiscretions and corporate misconduct intertwine with light-hearted banter and budding friendships. When the boss leaves suddenly, accidentally leaving behind her laptop, it sparks a chain reaction of snooping and scandal—from a forbidden office romance, to embezzlement for a pet cat’s surgery, and a shocking corporate crime! Between songs about nerd culture and workplace woes, the ensemble navigates their missteps and mishaps, ultimately finding humor and humanity in their flawed, yet lovable, characters. Featuring all original songs, this production promises laughter, intrigue, and a heartwarming reminder of second chances, making it a must-see in the upcoming theater season.
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Unnecessary Farce
Comedy
Two cops. Three crooks. Eight doors. Go. In a cheap motel room, an embezzling mayor is supposed to meet with his female accountant, while in the room next-door, two undercover cops wait to catch the meeting on videotape. But there’s some confusion as to who’s in which room, who’s being videotaped, who’s taken the money, who’s hired a hit man, and why the accountant keeps taking off her clothes.
The Fantasticks
Musical Comedy
"The Fantasticks" is a whimsical musical that explores themes of growing up, the challenges of love, and the search for meaning and connection. Two young lovers, Matt and Luisa, fall for each other, unknowingly as part of their fathers' plan to keep them apart. ​The fathers, pretending to feud, build a wall between their properties, hoping to keep their children apart. ​Despite the fathers' attempts, Matt and Luisa fall in love and confess their feelings, leading the fathers to concede and allow their love to flourish. However, their initial joy fades, and they decide to move on, setting the stage for the complexities of relationships. ​
August 2 - 7PM
August 3 - 3PM
August 4 - 3PM
August 9 - 7PM
August 10 - 3PM
August 11 - 3PM
Picasso at the Lapin Agile
Dramedy ft. Shoestring Readers Preshow
The play features the characters of Albert Einstein and Pablo Picasso, who meet at a bar called the Lapin Agile (French: "Nimble Rabbit") in Montmartre, Paris. It is set on October 8, 1904, and both men are on the verge of disclosing amazing ideas (Einstein will publish his special theory of relativity in 1905 and Picasso will paint Les Demoiselles d'Avignon in 1907). At the Lapin Agile, they have a lengthy debate about the value of genius and talent, while interacting with a host of other characters. For example, Schmendiman, an inventor, believes he is a genius but really knows very little, while Gaston, an amicable old Frenchman with prostate problems, is hesitant to listen to or believe anything that does not revolve around sex or drinking.
Picasso and Einstein eventually realize that their abilities are equally valuable.
Martin has written: "Focusing on Einstein’s Special Theory of Relativity and Picasso’s master painting, Les Demoiselles d'Avignon, the play attempts to explain, in a light-hearted way, the similarity of the creative process involved in great leaps of imagination in art and science".
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Past Shows
2024-2025 Season
Spider's Web
Into The Woods
Spider's Web
Into The Woods
Spider's Web
Into The Woods
Spider's Web
Into The Woods
Spider's Web
Into The Woods
Spider's Web
Into The Woods
The Viewing Room
Spider's Web
Into The Woods
Readers Theatre
(Reader's Theatre)
Lion King Jr.
(Shoestring Kids)
Townswomen's Guild Dramatic Society Murder Mystery
2023-2024 Season
Spider's Web
Into The Woods
Townswomen's Guild Dramatic Society Murder Mystery
Spider's Web
Into The Woods
Townswomen's Guild Dramatic Society Murder Mystery
Spider's Web
Into The Woods
Townswomen's Guild Dramatic Society Murder Mystery
Spider's Web
Into The Woods
Townswomen's Guild Dramatic Society Murder Mystery
Spider's Web
Into The Woods
Townswomen's Guild Dramatic Society Murder Mystery
Spider's Web
Into The Woods
Townswomen's Guild Dramatic Society Murder Mystery
Lucky Stiff
The Importance of Being Earnest
On Golden Pond
45 Minutes from Broadway
Readers Theatre
(Readers Theatre)
Oliver Jr.
(Shoestring Kids)
2024-2025 Season
Ancient Shows:
2022-2023
I Want My Mummy... Ripcord... Murder on the Orient Express... Once Upon a Mattress
2021-2022
All Together Now... The Good Doctor​... The Pirates of Penzance... Harvey​
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2020-2021
Love Letters
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2019-2020
Little Shop of Horrors... Over the River and Through the Woods...
2018-2019
Out of Order... Guys and Dolls...
The Dining Room
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2017-2018
The Man Who Came to Dinner... Boeing Boeing... Exit Laughing
2016-2017
Someone Who'll Watch Over Me... Private Lives... See How They Run... Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat
2015-2016
Almost, Maine... The Curious Savage... Life on the Bowery
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2014-2015
Run for Your Wife... Plaza Suite... The Glass Menagerie
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2013-2014
Crimes of the Heart... You Can’t Take it With You... Fox on the Fairway... Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory
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2012-2013
The Miser... Junie B Jingle Bells...
Batman Smells... Arsenic and Old Lace... The Mousetrap
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2011-2012
Proof... Born Yesterday
2010-2011
Night of the Iguana... The Best Christmas Pageant Ever... Sylvia... Zombies from the Beyond
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2009-2010
The Laramie Project... Blithe Spirit... The Spitfire Grill
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2008-2009
The Impostures of Scapin... Book of Days... A Woman of No Importance... ​The Great American Trailer Park Musical