Press Democrat: 6th Street Playhouse offerings include all-women Lizzie Borden musical to kid shows
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT
October 9, 2024, 3:53PM
“Most musicals still have a male focus. ‘Lizzie’ is really new and empowering, and it’s also a good time,” Executive Director Emily Cornelius said.
When Emily Cornelius took over a little over a year ago as executive director at Santa Rosa’s 6th Street Playhouse, it was a homecoming.
A graduate of El Molino High School, she got her start in community theater at Santa Rosa Players, a precursor of the 6th Street Playhouse, performing in “Seven Brides for Seven Brothers” and then choreographing and stage managing “Brigadoon” and “Carousel.”
Now she presides over theater productions that range from original children’s shows to the theater’s current offering, “Lizzie: The Musical,” the story of Lizzie Borden, accused of the 1892 killings of her father and stepmother, set to a rock music score played by a six-piece band.
The show, which has an all-woman cast, opened Oct. 4 and runs through Oct. 27.
When there are two or three women for every man who volunteer to work in local theatrical productions, strong roles for women are valuable, Cornelius explained. So the theater recruited two full casts of women for the play, which will perform on different dates during the run, to allow more actors to perform the roles.