Santa Rosa’s 6th Street Playhouse goes live again

There’s excitement in the air at the 6th Street Playhouse near Santa Rosa’s Railroad Square. For the first time since March 2020, when the coronavirus pandemic shut down public gatherings, the theater will open a new live show indoors this month.

“Love, Loss and What I Wore,” a humorous and insightful study of women, their relationships and their wardrobes, opens in mid-August in the smaller of the Playhouse’s two venues, the 99-seat Monroe Stage.

“This being their first show post-COVID, we’re just so grateful to be back onstage,” said the show’s director, Libby Oberlin.

Although this is Oberlin’s first turn as a director at 6th Street, she has a long history with the Sonoma Arts Live theater company in Sonoma and directed “Love, Loss and What I Wore” there in 2015. In addition to Oberlin, actress Jill Wagoner is returning from the Sonoma Arts Live production of the show six years ago.

Oberlin lived in Brooklyn and acted and directed in New York for 13 years before settling in Sonoma 10 years ago with her husband, Miller Oberlin. She also directs the Sonoma Arts Live company’s Teens ‘N Training program and founded and directs her own Theater School program.

Oberlin’s success with “Love, Loss and What I Wore” in Sonoma prompted Jared Sakren, 6th Street’s artistic director, to invite her to direct the show there, she said.

“I’m happy to be doing the show at 6th Street,” she said. “It highlights the way women relate to each other and the way they use humor and laughter.”

The show is presented as a series of monologues and scenes and features a cast of five principal women: Wagoner, Elaine Jennings, Gillian Eichenberger, Karen Pinomaki and Brittany Nicole Sims. Heather Gibeson and Daniela Innocenti Beem will rotate into the cast during the show’s final weekend in late August.

The play, based on the 1995 book of the same name by Ilene Beckerman, was written by the late journalist, writer and filmmaker Nora Ephron, best known for her work on the films “When Harry Met Sally” and “Sleepless in Seattle,” and her sister Delia Ephron.

In 2009, the show was produced off-Broadway at the Westside Theatre in New York, where it continues to run as the second-longest running show in the theater’s history. The production won the 2010 Drama Desk Award for Unique Theatrical Experience as well as the 2010 Broadway.com Audience Award for Favorite New off-Broadway Play.

“You can tell it was written by two women, and they’re sisters,” Oberlin said. “You’ll relate to the memories being expressed. These women are telling parts of your story, and you can’t help remembering those cringeworthy and special moments in your life.”

The show’s all-woman cast doesn’t mean it is exclusively for women, Oberlin said.

“Men in the audience will see their mothers, sisters, partners, friends, co-workers, teachers and more in these stories,” she said.

Sakren shared Oberlin’s enthusiasm for reopening the 6th Street Playhouse for live indoor performances, despite the continued need for some coronavirus precautions.

The theater will require proof of vaccination for anyone attending, and patrons must wear masks. For a detailed description of the safety precautions at 6th Street, visit 6thstreetplayhouse.com.

Those who prefer not to attend under those terms can receive a credit to use for a later show.

“We’re requiring masks for everybody,” Sakren said. New health protocols require the actors to wear clear masks onstage, he explained.

Just the same, going live onstage inside the theater is an important positive step, he added.

“Seeing all five of these actresses onstage is a real treat. They have terrific talent,” Sakren said. “There’s a reason live theater exists. There’s nothing else like being present together as an audience watching actors perform. It’s the ultimate 3D.”

You can reach Staff Writer Dan Taylor at dan.taylor@pressdemocrat.com or 707-521-5243. On Twitter @danarts.