Student Matinees

Rubicon offers special 10 a.m. student matinees throughout the school year. These performances are limited to productions with suitable content and educational appeal. Additionally, many of these productions coincide with the California Arts Education Standards, local school curriculum and/or state recommended reading lists. The theatre experience is enhanced with access to a study guide. Within the pages of this in-depth publication teachers and students discover the world of the play at their own pace as they explore fun facts, trivia and critical analysis. There are a variety of games, puzzles and discussion topics that are thoughtfully included to give the teacher a variety of options and aid them in engaging their students. Immediately following the performance the audience is invited to share their thoughts with the cast by participating in a lively question and answer session called a “Talkback.”

Ticket Cost
$10 per student. Teachers and parents may attend for free (one free ticket per 10 students). Includes light intermission snack and a bottle of water. Rubicon Theatre is an intimate venue with only 186 seats—we encourage you to order as early as possible. 

Make a Reservation
To reserve your seats simply download the Student Matinee Reservation Form and mail or fax it in with your school purchase order or 20% deposit today!

Upcoming Performances

Last Train To Nibroc
written by ARLENE HUTTON | directed by Katharine Farmer

In December 1940, an unexpected friendship develops on an east-bound train that is carrying the bodies of the great American writers Nathanael West and F. Scott Fitzgerald. May, religious and bookish, shares her seat with a charming young flyer, Raleigh, who has been given a medical discharge and, inspired by West and Fitzgerald, is heading to NY to become a writer. May and Raleigh discover they are from neighboring Appalachian towns, and Raleigh decides to change trains for Kentucky, promising to take May to the next Nibroc Festival. “You could easily enjoy another few hours of this.” ~NY Times “It is beautifully written…every line is a heartbeat.” ~Financial Times

Student Matinee: Friday, May 1, 2015 at 10:00 a.m.
Running Time: 80 minutesno intermission
Post-show talkback: 20 Minutes
Approximate end time: 12:30 p.m.

Areas of Study: History (World War II), Isolationism, The Role of Women in War, Religion 
Themes: Friendship, Love, Trust, Communication, Misunderstanding, Memory, Responsibility, Courage
Content/Age Appropriateness: High School / College 

 Other Desert Cities 
written by JON ROBIN BAITZ | directed by Brian McDonald

After suffering a nervous breakdown, novelist Brooke Wyeth returns home to Palm Springs for the holidays for the first time in six years. However, news of the impending release of her memoir illuminating long-buried family secrets threatens to shatter the carefully constructed illusion of a picture perfect family. Written by Jon Robin Baitz (creator of television’s Brothers and Sisters), Other Desert Cities garnered five Tony nominations and was awarded Outstanding Play by the Outer Critic’s Circle.  Crackling wit, sharp political observation and richly drawn relationships ask the question is blood thicker than the truth?

Student Matinee, Friday, May 29, 2015 at 10:00 a.m.
Running Time: 2 hours and 15 minutes including intermission
Post-Show Talkback: 20 minutes
Approximate End Time: 12:45 p.m.

Areas of Study: American Social History, 1965-2005; Adult Parent-Child Relationships, Political-Cultural Development from the Vietnam War to 9/11; Authority vs. Compassion 
Themes: Family, Family secrets, Love, Mercy, Forgiveness, American Politics and War
Content/Age Appropriateness: High School / College

Copenhagen
written by JON ROBIN BAITZ | directed by David Gilmore

Starring Emmy Award-winner Joe Spano, Copenhagen transports us to the 1941 meeting of a German nuclear scientist and a Jewish physicist in Denmark at the height of World War II. This fateful event is revisited again and again, shrouded in a surreal, fluid dance of mystery, as we ponder what drives men in impossible situations.

Student Matinees: Friday Sept. 18, 2015 and Friday Sept. 25, 2015 at 10:00 a.m.
Running Time: 2 hours and 45 minutes including intermission
Post-show talkback: 20 Minutes
Approximate end time: 1:15 p.m.

Areas of Study: History (World War II), Subatomic Physics, Quantum Mechanics (The Uncertainty Principle), Ethics, Politics, Scientific Research
 
Themes: Friendship, Trust, Communication, Misunderstanding, Memory, Responsibility, Nuclear Energy as a Weapon 
Content/Age Appropriateness: High School / College 
 

 My Fair Lady (2 Piano Version)
Book and Lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner Music by Frederick Loewe | Directed by James O'Neil

This intimate, chamber version of the legendary Lerner and Loewe classic follows Professor Henry Higgins, an arrogant and attractive phonetician who makes a bet that he can transform a “deliciously low” flower girl (Eliza Doolittle) into a lady by teaching her to speak more beautifully. The magnificent score includes “I Could Have Danced All Night,” “On the Street Where You Live” and “I’ve Grown Accustomed to Her Face.” Director James O’Neil returns to the source material to explore the Shavian themes of class struggle, social reform and women’s rights.

Student Matinee: Friday October 23, 2015 at 10:00 a.m.
Running Time: 2 hours and 50 minutes including intermission
Post-Show Talkback: 20 Minutes
Approximate End Time: 1:15 p.m.

Areas of Study: Pygmalion as Ancient Greek and Roman Myth, as treated by playwright George Bernard Shaw (1916), as treated by librettist and lyricist, Alan Jay Lerner and composer Frederick Lowe (1956), as adapted to film (director George Cukor, 1964); as adapted by Gary Griffith and Thomas Murray in the current two-piano version (2002, 2004), as treated throughout the history of British and American Literature; also British Social Class, Mentorship, Creativity, Grammar, Morphology, Syntax, and Phonology.
 
Themes: Ambition, Pride, Professionalism, Exploitation, Feminism, Romance, Personal Fulfillment, Social Transcendence, Character, and Strength. 
Content/Age Appropriateness: Middle School / High School / College 

Please Note: Due to the nature of live theatre, artists, dates and plays subject to change.