The people in charge of this establishment should be ashamed of themselves…read more My son is a 13 years old professional recording artist who lives and goes to school in Marin County. Our school's music director reached out to me asking if my son could help the Stapleton School. Apparently, they were in need of a pianist who could provide musical accompaniment for a ballet recital. I was put in touch with Isabella Qureshi who is the Director of Stapleton's Theatre Division. Isabella began an email thread communicating with us daily to ensure that my son would be able to fulfill their request. I explained to Isabella that despite being only 13 years old, that my son is an advanced pianist who has both competed as a state finalist in the MTAC program and was also the recipient of the Marin Music Chest Scholarship (he won in his first year of eligibility.) After receiving the sheet music, my son set out to learn the pieces. We were sent 4 individual piano pieces. I should mention that my son is actively involved in numerous recording engagements and live performances throughout the U.S. While my son was willing to take on this request for help on behalf of the Stapleton School, by no means was it convenient to do so. My son dedicated time every evening to learning these pieces in order to get them performance ready. This was after completing all his school work and other responsibilities. By no means was this effortless, he spent about 2 weeks overall in preparation for the event. A couple days before the performance date, I receive an email from someone named, Janell McFarland stating how "small changes can really confuse the kids" and "thank you for your offer." First of all, we didn't offer, we were specifically asked to help the Stapleton School in their "time of need." Second, is this how you conduct business on a regular basis? What a shame! You could have used this as an opportunity to build relations within your community. Instead, your flippant disregard for a young man's commitment and dedication has left us disenchanted. I'd like the Stapleton School to know that I share this experience with everyone who mentions your name.

Recently saw Stapleton's Swan Lake ballet at the San Anselmo Playhouse. I was blown away by the…read moreprofessionalism and poise of the dancers. They all seemed to love to dance and obviously have really great teachers. The costumes were lovely, the music beautiful and all in all a thoroughly enjoyable performance! Thank you!

AlterTheatre keeps the edginess intact with North Bay theatrical events. They are based in downtown…read moreSan Rafael and will perform at a different local venue for each production they produce. Most recently this was 888 Fourth Street on the eastern side of downtown San Rafael. Prior to that, they could more often be found in a venue on the west side of town. AlterTheatre is an ensemble place, which means that strong attention is placed on casting, design and script choices. This past year, they expanded their season to three plays, and intend to continue with three for the foreseeable future. I appreciate how they often mix bold new plays in with something more known. With this past season, that meant re-introducing INTIMATE APPAREL by Lynn Nottage, world premiering a new workshop piece by Bob Ernst, and local premiering TWO SISTERS AND A PIANO by Nilo Cruz.

Dedication, passion and provocative…read more No, this isn't a personal ad. This is AlterTheater Ensemble. Performances here are thought-provoking,well performered at various locations for a great and reasonable price. Concessions are all by done by donation (but much deserved for all their effort!) Being a theatre goer AND doer...I know that it's hard to get funding even if you do all of the above--so I highly HIGHLY recommend checking out their website and dropping in for a show. You won't regret it. www.altertheater.org

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.

I've seen many shows and find them to be top notch. I keep coming back for more each season.read more

Our family has participated in shows with Katia and Company for the last three years, and we have…read moremany more years ahead of us. Done right, performing builds confidence, teamwork, timing, problem solving, and resilience. We've recognized all of these qualities developing in our boys, and they have an absolute blast on stage. My husband and I really appreciate Katia's whole-child approach to this work. She has long-term relationships with former cast mates who are now staff working with young thespians. We also attend the teen productions which have been stellar. If your child is curious about theatre, I suggest starting by attending a show and then participating in a week-long summer camp. I suspect they'll be hooked!

My daughter was just in their production of Frozen jr and she loved it! She gained so much…read moreconfidence and I loved seeing her light up on stage. The show itself was fantastic. The parents aren't really involved in the process so I had no expectations going into it but it was amazing! The older kids were outstanding. We will be back!

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

We have our two daughters in this program and we love it (and so does the girls). The instructurs…read moreare very professional and they are also professional singers themselves. They do lots of performances at elderly homes etc. They normally practice once a week in San Anselmo. The instructor for our girls is Katie Gerber. She's fantastic.

This organization is a hidden gem in Marin. The instructors are so passionate and talented, the…read moremusic they choose is so beautiful, and you can tell the girls are having the time of their lives.

I was one of the older students in the open division adult classes for the last 2 years or so. I…read morehad never taken ballet at an early age so while I lacked the proper body training and preparation and attempted to start ballet at age 60 (15 years ago) I nonetheless had redeeming qualities, that being grace and good musicality and sometimes good form in certain movements. I could keep up with the speed pretty well, am fairly intelligent and enjoyed the rigorousness of the classes and the excellent teaching, as hard as it was for me at times to "keep up" because of my aging memory. At one point, 2 other women in my class (at least 50+ years of age) ganged together to bully and intimidate me because I wasn't dancing "in form" across the floor. One of them accused me of never having been in a performance before, and she was wrong--I performed at the College of Marin Dance Concerts as a student there. They had no right to gang up on me like that, and the teacher had never said anything about it. I was insulted and angry. I took the matter up in a private meeting with the teacher and executive director of Marin Ballet. I didn't expect much results but at least the offending party stopped going to that class for awhile. The bad news is, the instructor became suddenly very unfriendly towards me afterwards like he was angry at me for "rocking the boat" or something. I was very sad about that, and took classes until the end of my 20-class card that I purchased earlier and then left for good. When I told the office manager that I wasn't coming back and why, basically all she said was "have a nice day". In my book, there is absolutely no excuse why anyone should be bullied in a dance class, especially an older person. We should all feel welcome in dance classes, and I certainly never had this problem in any other dance classes I attended at other Marin dance studios and College of Marin. In fact, I was often complimented by the teachers. So I think the students that bullied me were completely out of line, and I had no support around that. I'm surprised that Marin Ballet wasn't more understanding around this issue, even though I know it does happen more on the professional level. But we were not all professionals in that class!

A very special place. A Marin institution. My daughter studied ballet here for many years. She…read morelearned so much more than just dance. She developed lifelong friends. (She graduated over 10 years ago but still gets together with her ballet class mates) The facility is amazing. And I just love going to the Marin Ballet Nutcracker each holiday season even though I no longer have a child in the program. This place is magic.

My three kids love Rhythms! My older daughter did musicals with them for years and was so into all…read morethe awesome instruction and camaraderie. She also took private singing lessons from Amanda and they really paid off when she went to do her MSA audition (and got in!). My younger son just finished his first musical and immediately after the show, his twin brother was so impressed, he asked to do a Rhythms musical too. This group is organized and at the top of their teaching game but more than that, they have created a community for kids with lots of outside activities and group cohesion. Everyone feels included and welcomed at Rhythms!

This studio is the perfect one for our family! It's small and personal and they care about making…read morethings FUN for the kids! My daughter has done the musicals there since she was four, as well as some dance classes and camps. She's always excited to go and always excited when she's done. You can tell the teachers really love their jobs, and unlike some studios, the admin (Megan) is super kind, clear and helpful in all studio communications! I seriously don't know what my family would have done without Rhythms during the shut-down--the relationships my kid had with her teachers kept her GOING!! I only wish it were closer to my house. LOL! But it's WORTH the drive to have my daughter participating in this amazing community!