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The 2025 season opens June 20 and features musicals, comedies, new works, and a one-night concert at Prospect Park Amphitheater.
REDLANDS, Calif. — The Redlands Theatre Festival (RTF) is gearing up for its 53rd season this summer, beginning June 20 with The Thanksgiving Play, a satire about a group of well-meaning educators attempting to produce a culturally sensitive Thanksgiving pageant, but things go horribly wrong in this hilarious satiric jab at political correctness and cultural assumptions.
“This year we are thrilled to be putting on five shows, which include three musicals,” said Alexis Kassel, company stage manager at RTF. “This season we have it all: Side-splitting funny to thought-provoking to classic.”
The 2025 lineup includes:
In addition to the main stage productions, RTF will host special events throughout the summer.
For the third year in a row, the New Works Collection will take place July 22, featuring a series of ten-minute plays and monologues. A new 24-Hour Play Cycle is set to debut July 8, showcasing short plays written, rehearsed and performed within a single day.
On July 15, RTF will host a one-night-only concert by Raincross Drive. The band consists of three long-time Southern California friends and collaborators who come together to celebrate the songs that influenced them as young musicians from the 1970s; Rock, R&B, country, jazz and more.
“It always takes a village to put together this festival,” Kassel said. The company includes about 75 members, with actors coming from throughout Southern California, including Orange County.
“This year we have a lot of new people. It has been very refreshing,” she said. “I am looking forward to the energy that they will bring to the stage.”
Kassel noted how much the theatre has grown this year with returning company members who are now in leadership positions like Kelsey L. Cauldren and the new Stage Managers Viola Rowe and Chelsea Bishop.
“The great thing about this is that it shows how much you learn in a summer,” Kassel said. “The festival was founded as an educational experience, as well as a summer stock opportunity in Southern California. We still pride ourselves on teaching everyone something new. You’re an actor who wants to learn lights? Awesome—let’s put you on a lighting crew.”
One of the company’s main focus is maintaining a safe and well-supported theater space. Kassel said previous issues with vandalism have been addressed, but securing funding for needed facility updates remains a challenge.
“What I hope for most this season is to help reconnect the community with the magic of live theatre,” said Jamison Daniels, RTF sponsorship lead and social media marketing director. “I want to help shine a spotlight on the heart, talent and history of this company, and invite new audiences to discover the joy of storytelling, together.”
Daniels will also return to the stage in three productions: as Caleb in The Spitfire Grill, Caden in The Thanksgiving Play, and a member of the ensemble in Young Frankenstein.
Daniels first performed at the festival at age 9, playing a Munchkin in The Wizard of Oz. Now, 25 years later, he’s back on stage after moving back to the Inland Empire.
“I’ve come full circle, thanks to a nudge from Jenny and Shannon, who encouraged me to audition again,” he said.
The 2025 season runs from June 20 through Aug. 2 at the Prospect Park Amphitheater.
The Thanksgiving Play
By Larissa FastHorse | Directed by Tamara Griffey
It’s a play about trying to create a culturally sensitive elementary school Thanksgiving pageant, but things go horribly wrong in this hilarious satiric jab at political correctness and cultural assumptions.
Young Frankenstein: The Musical
By Mel Brooks and Thomas Meehan | Directed by Joe Garcia | Assistant Directed by Alexis Kassel | Music direction by Deb Garcia
This Frankenstein version is reimagined by comedic genius Mel Brooks.
Radio Gals
By Mike Craver and Mark Hardwick | Directed by Pamela Lambert
The musical takes place in the late 1920s, when radio ruled the airwaves, Hazel Hunt and her Hazelnuts broadcast some homespun harmonies from her Arkansas parlor.
The Spitfire Grill: The Musical
Book, Music by James Valcq | Lyrics, Book by Fred Alley | Directed by Stevie Taken | Music Direction by Kelsey L. Cauldren
Based on the 1996 film by Lee David Zlotoff, Spitfire Grill is a heartwarming and inspirational tale of a young parolee's search for a better life in a small town and how she helps reawaken the entire town's capacity for rebirth, forgiveness and hope.
You Can’t Take It with You
By Moss Hart and George S. Kaufman | Directed by Shannon Cabanilla Galuszka
A comedic look at a charmingly eccentric family in late 1920s New York and what happens when members of the outside world step through their front door.
The Redlands Theatre Festival (RTF) is a non-profit, semi-professional, resident theatre company featuring traditional, rotating repertory at the Prospect Park Amphitheater. RTF is the oldest and only repertory theater in the Inland Empire and will celebrate its 53rd season this summer. In 2020, Redlands Theatre Festival renamed its home amphitheater in Prospect Park after founder Cliff Cabanilla.
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