Ross Valley Players — The Oldest Continually Operating Community Theatre West of the Mississippi, Right Here in Marin County Ross Valley Players is a nearly century-old Marin institution where local history, intimate staging, and high-quality community theatre come together in one of the county's most iconic performance spaces.

Some cultural institutions are woven so deeply into the fabric of a community that imagining the place without them feels genuinely impossible. Ross Valley Players is one of those institutions. Founded in 1930 by Beth Lloyd and a small group of women as a way to escape the hardships of the Depression, Ross Valley Players has been bringing live theatre to Marin County for nearly a century — through world wars, cultural revolutions, economic downturns, and a global pandemic — never once going dark for good. It is the oldest continually operating community theatre west of the Mississippi — a distinction that is not just a historical footnote but a living testament to what theatre means to this community.

The Barn - A Historic Stage Like No Other

After first performing in various indoor and outdoor venues including the Mount Tamalpais Amphitheater, the Kittle estate offered the group a large red barn in 1939 — and that barn, nestled on the grounds of the Marin Art and Garden Center on Sir Francis Drake Boulevard, has been the home of Ross Valley Players ever since. For local theatre in an old converted barn on the edge of the Art and Garden Center, Ross Valley Players delivers performances that are great by any standard — and the intimate, historic space makes every production feel like a genuine shared event rather than a passive entertainment experience.

The Barn Theater oozes rustic appeal and fits right into the Marin vibe — walk in and you'll feel the history. This is one of the area's oldest cultural hangouts, entertaining folks for generations. The proximity of the stage to the audience creates a connection between performer and viewer that larger, more formal venues simply cannot replicate — you're not watching the play from a distance, you're inside it.

A Full Season of Diverse, High-Quality Live Theatre

Ross Valley Players offers a main stage season with four plays and one RVP New Works production — an original play by a local playwright — for a total of 34 weeks of live theatre annually. The range of programming is genuinely impressive for a community theatre, spanning classic drama, beloved musicals, sharp comedies, contemporary works, and world premieres that bring new voices and new stories to the Marin stage.