Marin’s 111-year-old mountain play is taking a break

For more than a century, audiences have followed Mountain Play performances at Mount Tamalpais State Park.

Since 1913, performers have performed musicals, comedies and Shakespeare classics almost every late spring or early summer. The home stage is the Cushing Memorial Amphitheater, which seats nearly 4,000 and is nearly 2,000 feet above sea level.

During the hoof-and-mouth disease outbreak in 1924, some mountain play seasons were canceled. World War II, when the army used the theater site; and the COVID-19 pandemic.

Now financial problems and a decline in attendance since the pandemic have led organizers to cancel plans for the 2025 production. The Mountain Play Association is using the break to focus on fundraising and reimagining what will become of the Mountain Play.

“We want this organization to last another hundred years,” said Eileen Grady, executive director and artistic producer of Mountain Play. “It’s an absolutely treasured and loved tradition.”

She added that her nonprofit will seek comments from the community on what the future should look like.

“We need to evolve in this new world and we definitely don’t want to let go of anything that is beautiful, wonderful, magical and working,” Grady said. “I think it’s important to ask the community what these things are. It’s not just about what type of shows you want to watch, but what you really want the experience to be like.”

The plan is to begin the process at the Mountain Play Association’s annual gala on Nov. 9 at the Corinthian Yacht Club in Tiburon. Following the gala, the nonprofit will explore the use of focus groups and surveys, Grady said.

“What I would tell everyone is to hang in there, because we’re not going away, we’re not closing the doors,” she said. “We look forward to sitting down, taking a deep breath and listening to the community.”

Elisabeth Ptak, author of “Marin’s Mountain Play, 100 Years of Theater on Mount Tamalpais,” interviewed the Mountain Play cast and crew members who have been involved in productions over the years.

“They all agreed: making theater in this intoxicatingly beautiful place, between coastal oaks and Douglas firs, is an extraordinary experience,” said Ptak. “The show must go on.”

Steven Price, executive producer of the Ross Valley Players, remembers mountain play being a part of life in Marin County, where he grew up. He worked with Grady to produce musicals at the Barn Theater in Ross.

“My impression is that the pandemic and the fire danger and the weather and people’s habits have changed things, so it’s just too much trouble to get to Mount Tam for a show,” Price said.

Lesley Currier, chief executive of the Marin Shakespeare Co., said she was saddened but not surprised by the Mountain Play’s disruption. She noted that many Bay Area theater companies have struggled after returning to production following the COVID-19 pandemic. The Marin Shakespeare Co. itself needs to raise more money to continue, Currier said.

“I just encourage anyone who thinks they like live theater to give it a try, no matter what theater it is,” she said. “Go to the theater, see a play, and remember what it’s like to sit in a room with other warm bodies and watch talented people tell deep, thoughtful, moving stories.”

Sara Pearson, co-chair of the Mountain Play Association’s board of directors, recalled that her first time attending a Mountain Play performance was in 1999 when she saw a production of “West Side Story.” She added that she was sorry it took her so long to discover Mountain Play.

Pearson said attending performances is a tradition for families in Marin County.

“But now there’s a whole new population of families in Marin that are being transplanted, so to speak, who didn’t grow up here,” Pearson said. “I think it was an interesting challenge for Mountain Play to reach that potential audience and introduce them to this treasure that we have in this county at the top of the mountain.”

The COVID-19 pandemic has also changed theater habits. Pearson said since Mountain Play returned to the stage in 2022, attendance has been less than half of what it was before the pandemic.

“Regardless of the wonderful shows we have put on over the last three years, we may no longer be able to count on 3,500 people up there on any given day,” she said. “Our position is that we go and find out what the future is going to look like.”

Pearson said old traditions will remain.

“The tradition of gathering with the community on the mountain, the tradition of bringing theater to the next generation, these things will never end,” she said.