September 22, 2025, Santa Rosa, California – The Santa Rosa Junior College Theatre Arts Department is excited to announce the opening of its Fall 2025 season with the play “The Comedy of Hamlet! (a prequel). The production premieres on Friday, October 3, 2025, and will be performed in the Frank Chong Studio Theatre in Burbank Auditorium through Sunday, October 12.
Nothing is rotten in the state of Denmark as young Hamlet leaps into action to save the nunnery with Ophelia and Yorick, the jester! What could possibly go wrong? What will young Hamlet grow up To Be? That is the question! It’s a fast, funny, and physical extravaganza filled with scary ghosts, wee Scots, singing nuns, and a mysterious vassal in the castle!
The play is co-written and directed by long-time SRJC faculty member Reed Martin. Martin says, "When Austin Tichenor and I set out to write The Comedy of Hamlet! (a prequel) we were interested in figuring out what was happening in Denmark just before the events in Shakespeare’s play Hamlet begins. Why is Polonius’ wife – the mother of Laertes and Ophelia – never mentioned in the play? Why does Prince Hamlet, a privileged royal raised in Elsinore Castle, know so much about theatre? And why didn’t Ophelia ever take swimming lessons? We trust that this play will answer all these pressing questions. It’s also worth noting that like Shakespeare’s Hamlet, this prequel is written mostly in verse - iambic pentameter”.
“It's a love letter to one of Shakespeare’s most challenging and complicated plays, and also a meditation on the acting profession – its slings and arrows and outrageous fortunes. And, it rhymes!” John Henry Martin - Napa Valley Register
Show Times
Evening performances at 7:30 PM: October 3, 4, 8, 9, 10
Matinees at 2:00 PM: October 5, 11, 12
Location
Frank Chong Studio Theatre in Burbank Auditorium, SRJC Santa Rosa Campus
1501 Mendocino Avenue, Santa Rosa, CA
Tickets
$15–$25
Available online, by phone, or in person at the Burbank Box Office one hour before showtime.
Burbank Box Office: 707-527-4307
Theatre Arts website: https://theatrearts.santarosa.edu/
Santa Rosa Junior College is accredited by the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges, Western Association of Schools and Colleges.
