Over the past several weeks, I have written about changes coming to South Bay Musical Theatre: the reasons we believe change is necessary and what we hope to accomplish. Now it is time to talk about what we are actually going to do.
At our August board retreat and September board meeting, SBMT’s executive team presented five strategic initiatives for the next several years. With the board’s support, we are moving forward. Some are already underway, some have defined launch dates, and others will depend on partnerships, resources, and what we learn along the way.
- Expand & Diversify the Season – SBMT intends to expand our season from doing three main stage productions to at least four, starting with the 2027-2028 season. This will enable us to fill gaps in the Civic Theater schedule, diversify our artistic offerings and revenue opportunities, reduce dependence on any single production, provide more opportunities for our staff and community, and take artistic chances on exceptional shows that might not be as well known. SBMT will also consider offering non-musical productions, such as plays, and will continue our much-loved concert series.
- Education Program – The most frequent question I receive is whether SBMT has an education program. I am pleased that I will finally be able to say “Yes!” Starting in the summer of 2027, we will begin offering youth theatre classes. Beyond teaching performance skills, we hope the program will give young people a place to build confidence, creativity, friendships, and a lifelong connection to the performing arts. We have extraordinarily talented teaching artists in our community, and we are thrilled to bring them together to offer this long-requested program. Expect to see details of the program and a job posting over the coming weeks.
- Tabletop Theatre – If SBMT wants to continue to be relevant and essential to the South Bay community far into the future, we need to experiment with new forms of live performance that can introduce SBMT to audiences who may not yet think of community theatre as being for them. South Bay Tabletop Theatre allows us to apply SBMT’s existing strengths in live performance, storytelling, music, technical theatre, and community-building to an entirely new kind of immersive theatrical experience that combines the excitement of tabletop games with the energy and immediacy of live theatre. Each performance will bring together a Game Master, improvisational performers, live music, theatrical production values, audience participation, and an unfolding story in which no one, including the performers, knows exactly how it will end.
- Venue Management – SBMT has proposed that the City of Saratoga establish South Bay Musical Theatre as the resident theatre company at the Saratoga Civic Theater and designate SBMT as the primary scheduling and coordination liaison between the City and other organizations using the facility. The intent is to maximize, diversify, and streamline use of the facility, provide technical expertise to outside groups to enhance access and improve their capabilities, and create a transparent framework for scheduling that balances mission, financial sustainability, community benefit, and operational realities. These discussions are ongoing, but I am hopeful we can come to an agreement.
- Partnership & Resource Sharing – Audiences who support one local arts organization are likely to engage with other cultural organizations in the region. By strengthening relationships among South Bay arts organizations, we can collectively expand access to the arts, strengthen the regional cultural ecosystem, and better serve our community. This work is already underway through reciprocal resource-sharing agreements, cross-promotion, advocacy, and our support for other organizations that use the Civic Theater. Over time, we hope to deepen these relationships through shared resources, co-productions, coordinated programming, and other collaborations that strengthen the entire South Bay arts ecosystem.
A more active venue creates opportunities for more programming and partnerships. Broader and more diverse programming introduces new audiences to SBMT. Education creates new pathways into participation. Resource sharing allows organizations to accomplish more together than any of us can alone. Together, these initiatives are about building the infrastructure, audiences, relationships, and programs SBMT will need for the future.
And as always, feel free to write with any questions so we can answer in a future post. Thank you and see you at the theater!
— Michael Paul Hirsch,
Executive Director
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