-----Adding to address Annie's comment below: Annie - if…read moreindeed you want to apply consistency across all performers, then when we fly in for the performance on Sunday we will join the show just like a number of other caucasian ensemble performers who had lower attendance and are still being allowed on stage. I plan to have my video on, so will record any interactions in which we're stopped from going on stage, and point to the caucasian students who have missed tech rehearsals this week yet still being allowed on stage. If paam is keeping our money, then we are performing on Sunday. Paam can also issue a refund and we'll be happy to go separate ways. But Paam does not get to take all our money and disallow us to be on stage yet allow others to be on stage who have lower attendance than our kids. Appreciate you doing the right thing. -----Original post: Our experience with the Performing Arts Academy of Marin (PAAM) has been deeply disappointing -- both in terms of fairness and the overall learning outcomes. The program feels heavily commercialized, prioritizing revenue over education or student experience. Tuition is extremely high for what ultimately amounts to very limited technical instruction, the pressure of buying vanity products aimed at parents who think their kids a star is everywhere, and the refund/credit policies are rigid to the point of being unreasonable. I've never written about race or discrimination in a review before, but I feel obligated to address it here because it has affected my daughters repeatedly. In the lyrical squad, choreography has been super simple and non-technical, yet cast placements have shown a clear pattern: the same Caucasian dancers are routinely placed front and center, while my older daughter -- who is a good dancer but not Caucasian -- is continually placed in the back or off to the far side. My younger daughter was once put in the front purely due to her small size in a formation, but it wasn't part of any fair or rotating system that would give all dancers a chance to shine. The final straw has been this: Multiple Caucasian dancers have been allowed to miss tech rehearsals and still participate in shows. Meanwhile, my daughters, who need to miss a single 24-hour window for a required ski team race and assessment (and for which we arranged to return early at significant cost of flying in, tickets already purchased), were told just 3 days before that they would not be allowed to perform once they fly in -- despite knowing their choreography thoroughly and being disciplined, capable dancers. The rigidity applied to them simply hasn't been applied to others. The pattern is painful to watch as a parent. It's demoralizing for kids who have worked hard and earned their place on stage. It's their right and not someone's at the front desk to strip them of who doesn't even see them. At the start of the year parents also receive an extremely one-sided agreement through DocuSign -- which I declined to sign because it was so imbalanced. I can't say I'm surprised. But it is disheartening to pay thousands of dollars for a program that delivers minimal instruction, selectively enforces rules for preferential kids, and ultimately allows discriminatory dynamics to persist. I wish our experience had been different, but based on what we've seen, I cannot recommend PAAM for families seeking a fair, inclusive, or educationally meaningful dance program.

I've sent my daughter here for the Holiday Spectacular one year and she loved it. However, I signed…read moreher up again and she didn't want to go again a year later and was scared to go. I'm not sure why but she said it was scary and wouldn't enter the studio. The holiday spectacular, while adorable-but can be very intense for smaller children. The (little) girls are all expected to wear makeup; such as mascara, rouge and lipstick, which some people may not want their kids to wear under a certain age. The performances are cute, but about 50 kids on stage. Pros: Nice facilities, clean, on trend dance classes (I.e Taylor Swift or Wicked/what's on broadway). Sweet teachers. Cons: Lots of marketing pressure to sign up for classes or your kid won't get into their dance class. Pressure to sign up when is opens or not in. $40 fee just to change a class even if you made a mistake. Their refund policy is not family friendly. I really tried to get my daughter (6) to go into dance class, but she was having anxiety about going. She was scared about going to a new class with new people and just wouldn't go in. This particular performance has about 50 little 6 year olds tap dancing or doing hip hop on stage and a wait list. So, it was a very popular class. However they don't offer refunds. The cost for a semester (Jan-May) is about $700 for a weekly lesson + performance. I think it's just something you should be aware of when signing up to send your kid here is that you may not get any funds back if they can't go for any reason. (Anxiety, injury, work/childcare issues etc.) So, perhaps think about this before you sign up. Recommendation: don't pressure parents so much on sign up day to get into the classes and then don't offer refunds. Offer more "try before you buy" options or options for little girls who might be more hesitant to try new things.

Came here to see Eureka Day in the summer of 2025. Great show, in a fantastic space. Seats are…read morecomfortable, restroom options (gendered & gender-neutral) were nice. Plenty of parking in the lot and surrounding streets.

Nice little neighborhood theater for plays. I thoroughly enjoyed the play "Waste" tonight.. the…read moreacting troop was amazing. Bravo!! some of the audience however... Cellphones...snoring... come on, people! LOL

Nastassia recently did face-painting and balloons for our 5 year olds birthday party, and I…read morecouldn't recommend her enough! She was friendly and patient with the kids, and painted everything from a sparkly rainbow lion to a guitar with lightening bolts (my son's request :)) She came early and set up quickly, and made our son's birthday party very special. Thank you, Nastassia!

Nastassia did an amazing job for our Dia de los Muertos dinner! She stayed longer to make sure that…read moreeveryone who wanted to be painted got done. Everyone looked unique and amazing when she was done!

We were invited to a Canadian costume birthday party. Say what? We were stumped what to wear. Our…read more"go to" place for costumes .. Belrose Theater. We had such a good time looking through the many costumes. The woman (sorry I didn't remember her name) was so helpful in finding just the right ones. We decided on being Canadian Mounties. See pic. Overall, an excellent experience in costume choices, customer service and a whole lot of fun.

To be fair, I've been coming to this studio since I was in my teens (years ago!) so it's not a new…read moreexperience for me. But we went this weekend to see Will Durst and couldn't have had more fun. Even though we worried as it was hot outside, fans were going and kept it cool. Great show. Great ambiance. Really glad we made the show.

This is a Beautiful studio! The minute you walk in the door your feel great energy. The owner…read moreDoree Clark is a very creative, wildly out of the box thinker! The place is absolutely great energy! You are going to love this little Gem! Have always wanted to take up dance and this place is just going to inspire us all!

Sounds like this is a great place for dance classes - but I go for their shows which are always…read morecreative, edgy and totally fun - and even kinda sexy. I honestly haven't seen any other shows/performances like this in Marin. Variety is the spice of life and I'm glad Stage Dor keeps doing what it's doing to entertain us!

Our whole family came to Marin Shakespeare for the first time to see Spamalot, self-described as…read more"ripped off from" the Monty Python and the Holy Grail movie. This was a show especially well suited to Monty Python fans, with lots of in-jokes and nods to other Python skits. As a lifelong Python fan, Wifey first took me to see Spamalot 10 years ago at SHN Golden Gate Theater, and I actually liked this smaller more intimate production at the Forest Meadows Amphitheater even more. We were BLOWN AWAY by Marin Shakes. The show was sooooo good--Incredibly funny, witty, and well performed. There were multiple actors on stage with serious star power -- special mention to Susan Zelinsky as the Lady of the Lake (What a presence! What a voice!), Joseph Patrick O'Malley as the historian, corpse that won't stay dead, and prince that needs rescuing (sooo funny), Michael P. McDonald as a quick talking peasant turned Sir Galahad, who frequently broke the 4th wall to great effect, Ariel Zuckerman as the overly macho Sir Lancelot, and the incredibly talented Phillip Percy Williams (who we also loved in Grease) as Sir Robin. Bryan Munar was endearing as the under-stated and oft-forgotten page, Patsy. And of course King Arthur himself Jarion Monroe shone brightly. The rest of the cast was all highly skilled. Parking and access were super easy. Seating was comfortable (get a free seating pad by checking in on Yelp! Or pay $1 and save yourself the hassle of bringing one from home). This was Marin Shakespeare's first full musical, and their first show with their new audio system, which was set up by the same audio engineers that set up the Mountain Play theater on Mt. Tam and it sounds great. The audio was excellent, well mixed, and it was easy to hear the entire cast and the live orchestra. During the pre-show announcements, we heard that they've been gifted a warehouse-sized space in San Rafael (former Heller's for Children building at 514 4th Street) and are working on renovating and making it into a full theater. We also heard about their Shakespeare in Prison program, which is running 15 years strong and continuing to expand. Very exciting times for a very cool organization!

I loved this year's production of a Midsummer's Night Dream, updated for today's sensibilities…read more Humorous and well acted. I'm looking forward to future shows. There are no bad seats. Don't forget to bring your seat cushion and a water bottle.

Best place ever, but google maps has the real address, the yelp address is a post office.read more

From the owner: Fresh Hot Tasty Setlists, Smothered in Jam. Always get our Phil Weir Everywhere.read more