Oompa Loompa, doo-pa-dee-doo: we've got a new production for you
Local theater veterans are putting on a production of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, with a massive cast and a locally written musical score
Starr Hergenrather retired from her job as a popular theater teacher at Analy High School in 2017, but that doesn’t mean she’s retired from theater. For the last few years, she’s been teaching private workshops and working with various local theater productions. She also writes and directs the skits at the annual Sebastopol Cemetary Walk.
For the last few months, she’s been working on a production of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, based on a production she did in the 90s, with a musical score she wrote with Sebastopol musician, composer, and retired teacher Janis Dunson Wilson.
The show will run the last weekend of July and the first weekend in August.
A press release for the event describes the production this way: “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory tells the story of Charlie Bucket, a young boy who wins a golden ticket to tour Willy Wonka's chocolate factory, along with four other lucky winners. The children embark on a life-changing journey through Wonka’s world of pure imagination including a chocolate river, nutty squirrels, and the great glass elevator, all to be revealed by Wonka’s workers, the curious Oompa-Loompas.”
The production has a massive cast.
“The cast is made up of five children and 18 adults just as in the original story,” Hergenrather said. “Our cast and crew are all Sonoma County-based and have varied theater experience.”
“We first did this as a school play at Brookhaven in 1996,” she said, “but now we’re redoing it as community theater.”
The current production will be directed by Hergenrather and produced by Ellen Robin, using an adaptation of the 1964 children’s novel by Roald Dahl, written for the stage by Richard George. Tim Imbach is doing the musical direction, with stage management by Lorri Levi-Comer.
This is not Hergenrather and Robin’s first collaboration. They produced a musical revue in 2021 called “Somethin’s Coming, Somethin’ Good.” In the summer of 2023, they produced and directed a show called “A Musical Midsummer Night’s Dream: Shakespeare Meets the Beatles,” which was an adaptation by Hergenrather, featuring music of the Beatles and Led Zeppelin.
Instead of the Occidental Center for the Arts more familiar interior stage, they’ll be using the amphitheater that stacks up the hill behind that building.
Robin said she thinks the amphitheater was rarely used until they started doing these musicals. “I think it was our first show that sparked the interest in using this area. That’s when they built the stage,” she said. “They built it for us.”
Four local powerhouses
The organizers of this production bring long histories in musical theater to this new project. According to the press release for the event:
Starr Hergenrather, who lives in Sebastopol, started teaching creative dramatics after graduating from college and has been involved in theater for years. In Sonoma County, she taught dance and theatre at Rincon Valley Junior High, Brookhaven Middle School, and was the former Theatre Arts director and dance teacher at Analy High School in Sebastopol.
Ellen Robin, who lives in Graton, was an educator her whole adult life from developing an elementary school hospital program to teaching basic academic skills at Santa Rosa Junior College. Ellen has been active as a volunteer with the Occidental Center for the Arts, sang in the Occidental Community Choir for 35 years, and currently sings with the Acorn MusEcology Project.
Janis Dunson Wilson, who lives in Sebastopol, is a home-grown musician, composer, and teacher. For many years she has composed music and been musical and choral director for theater in Sonoma County, including productions at Santa Rosa Junior College, the Spreckels Center, Cinnabar Theatre, 6th St Playhouse, and Analy High School.
Musical director Tim Imbach, who lives in Santa Rosa, is the accompanist for the Occidental Community Choir and the California Redwood Chorale and teaches privately. In addition, Tim sings with various a cappella groups, including the Leading Tones, on a concert per concert basis.
The when, where and how of it
The performances will be on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, July 25-27 and August 1-3, at 4 pm at the Occidental Center for the Arts’ amphitheater. Tickets are $20 in advance, $25 at the door, and $10 for kids 10 – 17. Kids 9 and under are free. There is a discount for OCA members. For tickets and more information, visit the website at occidentalcenterforthearts.org.
For your comfort, bring your own seat cushion or low-back chair—and maybe a coat or blanket in case the fog rolls in. There will be beer, wine, and refreshments—including chocolate, of course—available for sale. (Please, no outside food or drink except water.) OCA is wheelchair accessible.
