The Olde Coloma Theatre just wrapped up its historic 47th Season! The storied local Melodrama House in Coloma has been open every season since 1972. The
building at the corner of Monument Road and Cold Springs Road brings our local communities family-oriented entertainment for all ages!
The Theatre was founded by a former resident, June Scott, along with help from her family and friends. The history of the Theatre has a fabled background in its own right. The building began its life in 1939 for the San Francisco World’s Fair. Later given to the California Forestry Department, where the log cabin section was slated to be…gasp… burned to the ground, in a training exercise! However, before bureaucratic “Villains” could burn the cabin, it was given a last-minute reprieve, and was never torched!
Enter our “heroine,” June Scott, who lobbied a then-Governor Ronald Reagan in the 1960s, for a permanent home for her troupe of melodrama actors. The troupe had been using temporary facilities including the Gold Trail Grange. Would the building be donated to Coloma? Yes! No…maybe so! The “powers that be” went round and round. Finally, the building was entrusted to June (for a very thrifty $1) and off it went to
Coloma!
The Theatre has had many leaders, including June’s daughter Vickey Scott Moreno. While June and Vickey have both sadly passed, the Olde Coloma Theatre is owned and operated today by a non-profit organization, maintained by a Board of Directors (including June’s Son-In-Law Danny Moreno) that continue to hold fast to June and Vickey’s vision for the Theatre.
Opened every year since 1972, (from May to December) the old building plays host to new and accomplished actors, directors, writers, and volunteer staff, that are never asked to contribute their own funds to the endeavor. The “Little Cabin In The Woods” is maintained solely by local sponsors and contributors, volunteers, and amateur talent, along with modest ticket sales to the five productions opening about every six weeks. Productions feature traditional melodrama, large cast ‘Summer Shows” holiday offerings featuring Fall or Halloween shows, and even a Christmas Production in November and December!
The Theatre is located at
380 Monument Road in Coloma (530) 626-5282.
oldecolomatheatre.org,
“A Swampy Boggs Christmas” Or… “3 Dreams, 2 Chances & 1 Miracle”
Directed & Written by Jason Boyer
November 22nd-December 22nd, 2019. (Already sold out on December 14th.)
The show features evening shows Friday and Saturday at 8 pm (doors open at 7:30 pm.) Sunday Matinees run December 1st, 8th, 15th and 22nd at 2 pm (doors open at 1:30 pm.)
Tickets Prices are:
$13 for Adults
$10 for Seniors (55 & over)
$5 for children (12 & under)
The Show features a long-standing collection of popular characters. The Synopsis for the production follows:
“When Coloma’s most notorious Villainess, Swampy Boggs, threatens to ruin Christmas for the town’s orphans, it’s up to our two “less than brilliant” heroes, her butler, and her maid, to try and convince the Villainess to do the right thing. A new take on the classic “Scrooge” role, that uses Melodrama and audience participation to tell a story that’s fun for all ages!
