Adapted from Sinclair Lewis’ 1922 novel, this play stars Matthew Broderick as the titular George F. Babbitt, a middle- aged real estate broker searching for meaning in his materialistic middle-class life.
1-Feb 18: Listening to the Unheard | Drawing the Unseen: Meditations on Presence & Absence in Native lands
Oceanside museum of Art
Artist John Halaka layers drawings and photographs to share the stories of people who were forced out of their homelands.
Courtesy of Kim Chonghak
1-March 3: Korea in Color: A Legacy of Auspicious Images
San Diego Museum of Art
See 50 colorful pieces and learn about the history of polychrome paintings (chaesaekhwa), which helped shape Korean art and culture during the Joseon Dynasty (1392–1910).
1-March 10: Over/Under
Mingei International Museum
The Mingei displays baskets, garments, hats, toys, and other useful treasures from around the world, including pieces from local artists Eva Salazar and Sarah Winston.
1-March 31: Artist Alliance Biennial
Oceanside Museum of Art
Jonathan Glus, the executive director for the city of San Diego’s Commission for Arts & Culture, juried the fifth edition of this biennial exhibition, selecting 75 standout works from nearly 1,150 submissions by more than 300 artists.
Courtesy of Destiny Clo-Trombley
1-April 21: Explorations: 17th Annual Juried Art Exhibition
San Diego Museum of Art
Scope out this exhibition showing off work from San Diego and Tijuana students in grades K through 12. The young artists crafted playful and striking videos, photos, and collages in alignment with this year’s theme: exploration.
1-August 21: POPnology
Comic-Con Museum
This interactive exhibit explores the connection between pop culture and technology through robots, drones, driverless cars, and other cool gadgets and gizmos.
Courtesy of La Jolla Symphony & Chorus
3: By the Hearth
La Jolla Symphony & Chorus
Conductor Arian Khaefi leads this sing-along concert at UCSD’s Mandeville Auditorium. Attendees will welcome the holiday season with a rendition of George Frideric Handel’s “Messiah.”
8: The Airborne Toxic Event
San Diego Symphony
The “Sometime Around Midnight” singers team up with conductor Bruce Kiesling and the San Diego Symphony for a dynamic orchestral rock concert at The Rady Shell.
9–10: Cirque Dreams Holidaze
San Diego Civic Theatre
This family-friendly show features aerial circus acts, talented jugglers, flying acrobats, and a treasure chest’s worth of penguins, toy soldiers, and all the festive critters your heart could dream up.
16: The Nutcracker
San Diego Ballet
Tchaikovsky, tights, and timeless choreography. One-hundred dancers disguised as sugar-plum fairies and other iconic characters tell a magical holiday story through dance. Kids ages 3 and up are welcome to join the fun.
Courtesy of Project [Blank]
January
11–13: Working Title 2024
Project [Blank]
Binational artist and curator Diana Benavídez gathers artists from Southern California to Tijuana to adorn St. Paul’s Cathedral in sculptures, paintings, and other creations that ponder the link between the sacred and the profane.
13–14, 20–21: The Tempest
Lawrence Family Jewish Community Center
Suspected to be one of Shakespeare’s final plays, The Tempestfollows a magical ex-duke’s plot to get revenge on his treacherous brother.
20: In Search of Time
UC San Diego Park & Market
Composer Stefan Cwik’s In Search of Timedraws inspiration from the work of visual artist Tatiana Ortiz-Rubio. Arrive early for a pre-concert interview with both artists.
Courtesy of Diane Falkenhagen
27–August 4: La Frontera
Mingei International Museum
Cross-border artists with roots in both Mexico and the US crafted many of the pieces in this exhibition that explores what jewelry can reveal about identity, movement, and home.
Photo Credit: Jaroslav Richters Steven Schick, La Jolla Symphony & Chorus
Music director emeritus and guest conductor Steven Schick leads this concert, which closes with Igor Stravinsky’s “Le Sacre du Printemps” (“The Rite of Passage”), an avant-garde musical masterpiece that blew minds in the 20th century.
Courtesy of La Jolla Playhouse
13–March 17: Redwood
La Jolla Playhouse
Broadway’s Idina Menzel shines in the role of Jesse, a businesswoman and mom who takes an odyssey into a redwood forest with the hope of healing her broken heart.
13–18: Chicago
The Civic Theater
The Civic Theater celebrates the 25th anniversary of the record-breaking Chicago revival, staging the Tony- and Grammy-winning musical about matricide and fame.
In this musical set in the late 19th century, Annie Londonderry embarks on a mission to bike around the world (despite the fact she has only been on a bicycle twice before).
Geoffrey Gonzalez’s new ballet, An American in Paris, follows a young woman as she moves to Paris, determined to follow in the creative footsteps of Coco Chanel. The work was sparked by the true story of sportswear designer Claire McCardell.
23–24: All Things Equal: The Life and Trials of Ruth Bader Ginsburg
Balboa Theatre
This 90-minute play gives viewers a glimpse at the challenges Ginsburg faced on the road to becoming a US Supreme Court justice. In the late ’50s, the political icon was one of only nine women studying law at Harvard.
Courtesy of Spirit of Harriet Tubman
25–26: Spirit of Harriet Tubman
North Coast Repertory Theatre
Actor Leslie McCurdy stars in a one- woman, family-friendly performance, sharing tales from the Underground Railroad, drawing upon records of Tubman’s own words.
Photo Credit: Wes Magyar Forecast Form: Art in theCaribbean Diaspora, 1990s–Today
April
4–7: Without Walls Festival
La Jolla Playhouse
As part of this free, annual festival, immersive and interactive performances pop up all over San Diego, often in unexpected places (last year, shows ran in jail cells at Seaport Village and roamed the city in a graffiti-covered school bus).
18–July 21: Forecast Form: Art in theCaribbean Diaspora, 1990s–Today
Giacomo Puccini’s tragic Italian opera follows the life and death of a young Japanese woman after she marries an unfaithful American naval officer and gives birth to his son.
27–28: Mission Fed Art Walk
Little Italy
Whether you’re a seasoned collector or a fine arts newbie, you’ll likely find something to tickle your fancy and adorn your walls at this event featuring more than 250 artists.
Photo Credit: Andrea Reese
29–30: Tea for Three: Lady Bird, Pat & Betty
North Coast Repertory Theatre
Three former first ladies walk into a bar… Emmy winner Elaine Bromka and other actors explore the politics of love and devotion through the eyes of Lady Bird Johnson, Pat Nixon, and Betty Ford.
Photo Credit: Chelsea Penyak Carmina Burana by the City Ballet of San Diego
May
1–5: San Diego Tijuana World Design Capital Design Festival
Set in the pueblos of Spanish-colonial California, this haunting production features lloronas, or women who have passed on and are seeking revenge on the men who did them dirty.
4–5: Carmina Burana
City Ballet Of San Diego
Banker James J. Riordan committed suicide following the 1929 stock market crash, an occurrence that made front-page news in the The New York Times. Dancers tell that story to the tune of Carmina Burana, Carl Orff’s searing score based on a 13th-century poetry collection.
This eclectic, affordable festival welcomes unrestrained, uncensored performances at venues throughout San Diego. Local and international comedians, dancers, actors, and musicians present bold, never-boring shows with ratings that range from G to NC-17.
In this Pulitzer-winning, comedic spin on Shakespeare’s Hamlet, Juicy, a young, queer, Black man, runs into the ghost of his father at a family cookout and finds himself suddenly tasked with avenging his dad’s death.
31–June 1: The Robots
Project [Blank]
Project [Blank] closes out its sixth season with this new sci-fi opera inspired by the 1920 play that first coined the word “robot.” Depicting an automaton uprising, the production delves into themes of labor and exploitation.
Roxana Becerril is a Mexican-American writer living in San Diego. When she's not traveling or checking out the newest restaurant in the city, she covers art, culture, lifestyle and Latino topics.
Through its Playmakers initiative, San Diego FC is working with artists, musicians, and other local creatives to shape the identity of the city’s newest professional sports team
What does a soccer team have to do with San Diego’s arts scene? Quite a lot, as it turns out. When San Diego FC launched, the club could have spent its marketing budget on billboards, bus wraps, and digital ads. Instead, it went into neighborhoods, found local artists and creatives, and started building the club’s identity with them. Through its Playmakers initiative, artists have designed limited-edition merchandise, had their work featured on the stadium’s jumbotron, and found themselves in front of thousands of fans—and, in some cases, a national TV audience.
For this special edition of the podcast, created alongside San Diego Magazine’s September arts and culture issue, host Troy Johnson talks with Sebastián Morúa, SDFC’s Senior Vice President of Brand & Innovation, and longtime San Diego native and creative Tony Martinez of Barrio Junto. The conversation gets into why a professional soccer club would make local art part of its business, how Martinez’s decades in San Diego’s creative community helped shape Playmakers, and the club’s early efforts to connect with artists across the county through its Chrome Ball Tour and neighborhood events. The goal, they explain, isn’t simply to put a local artist on a T-shirt. It’s to let the people who already understand San Diego help define what the new club looks and feels like.
The conversation also gets into the less glamorous—but important—side of supporting artists: money. They talk about how Playmakers pays local creatives, the value of the platform SDFC provides, and what it means to build an ongoing relationship between a professional sports club and the artists who help shape its identity. They also discuss the club’s growing music initiative, which will bring local musicians into the fold, and the many ways artists have already contributed to SDFC through merchandise, murals, Parks & Pitches projects, and more. Ultimately, it’s a conversation about soccer, art, community, and what can happen when a major sports franchise gives the people already making culture in San Diego a bigger platform.
This summary was provided to you by AI. To hear from the humans, listen to the podcast wherever you get your podcasts.
There was once an actress known as “San Diego’s Sweetheart” who mailed herself to Los Angeles—donning a helmet covered in postage stamps and boarding a two-seater, single-engine mail plane. The publicity stunt was billed as the first air parcel package in the US. It wasn’t. She wasn’t even the first human to be mailed: When the US parcel post started in 1913, at least seven people mailed their newborns to relatives (an innovative loophole eventually outlawed).
Technicalities be damned. That kind of nose for spectacle was why Virginia Brissac was such a star—landing bit parts in TV shows (I Love Lucy, Dragnet) and 155 films, notably playing James Dean’s grandmother in Rebel Without a Cause. “Nobody could help but love her,” her dresser told San Diego Magazine in a 1971 feature, published when Brissac was 88 years old.
In 1911, she topped the Playbill at the opening of the Savoy Theatre at 3rd and C streets in Downtown—a grand live-performance hall built for $150,000 ($5.2 million in today’s money). It became one of the premiere vaudeville theaters in the country (under vaudeville king Alexander Patages). The theater helped make San Diego a destination for stars like silent-film comedian Roscoe “Fatty” Arbuckle, heavyweight champ Jack Dempsey, plus classical legends Rachmaninoff and Anna Pavlova. As theaters converted to movie houses through the ’20s and ’30s, the Savoy remained dedicated to live humans. It closed in 1940, and the Civic Theater now stands in its footprint.
As for Brissac, during a time when women couldn’t even vote, she led a stock company under her own name at the Strand Theatre. The Brissac Company held a four-year residency, “an all-time successful record run for San Diego,” the article says. That classic Ocean Beach theater (featured in San Diego film legend Cameron Crowe’s Almost Famous) has been closed for decades, its bones now a chain beachwear and souvenir store. But Brissac’s legacy lives through the women leading San Diego’s theater scene.
Read the entire 1971 article by Merle Clayton below…
Emma Veidt is an editor at San Diego Magazine. She earned her bachelor's and master's degrees from the Missouri School of Journalism. She loves running, hiking, and rock climbing, but really, she mostly loves encounters with the street cats around North Park.
What Will It Take to Make San Diego a Global Arts City?
Jonathon Glus on the Art + Design District, investing in the creative economy, keeping artists in the city, and what we can learn from places like London and Chicago
Jonathon Glus is the Prebys Foundation senior fellow leading the development of the Art + Design District at the Downtown San Diego Partnership. He has been asked what an arts and design district is many times. In our conversation, I asked him instead to describe what it isn’t. His answer opened up a broader discussion about what San Diego has and hasn’t invested in, what it has the capacity to become, and what other cities have done that we haven’t. Glus speaks about global art fairs and architecture biennials in Chicago and long tables at dinner parties all with the same fluency. He also discusses who gets to live in the neighborhoods where creative work happens, and what it means when they can’t afford to stay.
Claire Johnson: You have been asked what an arts and design district is many times. Can you tell me what it isn’t?
Jonathon Glus: It is not a place designed intentionally and specifically for tourists. Of course there will be opportunities for tourists to come, but the district is really focused on creatives, on creative education, and on the creative workforce—as well as our major performing arts organizations. That is the emphasis.
What does the district need to do in the next five years for you to consider it a success?
[It needs to] develop greater connectivity between the anchor institutions—the symphony, Broadway San Diego, the opera, all the wonderful things happening in Balboa [Park]—and the creative workforce that will be living and working in that neighborhood 24/7.
What does San Diego not have that you wish it did?
We have not been intentionally investing in the contemporary art product that other major cities have been building. A contemporary art fair. A biennial that reflects the ethos of this region. Chicago developed an architecture biennial about eight years ago. London has a design biennial. Desert X, right here in Southern California, invests in and elevates contemporary artists inside a city. We have not really been playing in the global art market in a way that we have the capacity to.
What capacity do we have?
We have a wonderful foundation. Two theater companies that produce work that goes to Broadway more than many regional theaters in the country, major museums, artists teaching at UC San Diego and University of San Diego. What a city does when it wants to take itself to the next level is intentionally create the product. Miami went after the Art Basel fair; they did not passively receive it. You have to have the intention and the will, and you have to go after it. We haven’t done that in the way that other cities have.
Look at what we did with the tech sector; we’re now a major tech center. That was intentional. Leadership organized around it. We have to do the same thing around the arts. We have a lot of contemporary art collectors here. We have a lot of galleries. But the ecosystem of the business of contemporary art is not as organized or as visible as it should be.
Which city is your North Star?
It’s bits and pieces of different cities. Dubai has invested very quickly and very intentionally in contemporary art—art fairs, design fairs, higher education, artist residencies from all over the world. London has centered artists and creatives in the contemporary zeitgeist in a way that was not true 40 years ago. They built biennials. They ensured British artists had affordable housing and workspace. They made sure the media paid attention to what they were doing.
If you don’t have an artist at your dinner table, it’s not a dinner party. That sounds elitist, but it’s true. It shows the value that artists have in a community. Our relationship culturally with Tijuana is really significant here because artists in Baja seem to be at the table.
We’ve talked before about how food, fashion, design, and art aren’t siloed anymore.
They aren’t. When super creative people are in a community doing extraordinary work, that draws other super creative people doing extraordinary work. That’s why other arts and design districts around the world end up populated with some of the most interesting restaurants and young fashion designers. Creatives want to be around other creatives.
Which leads to the economic argument…
Our creative economy already employs about 170,000 people and generates more than $11 billion in economic activity. It’s large and robust. But we must center all of this in accessibility and affordability. Williamsburg used to be affordable. Artists can’t afford to live there anymore. Wicker Park and Bucktown in Chicago—artist central, now unaffordable. If we’re going to invest in this district, we have to be really intentional about housing and workspace, so creatives have a place in the future of this district.
I see all these new supper clubs and creative collectives popping up. What is the lesson there for San Diego in terms of the commercialization of cultural and creative groups?
I think the lesson is that nothing changes. What do people love? Long tables. Why? Because you’re with a lot of people—some you may have known your entire life, but most you don’t. And if it’s driven by a creative process, all the better. We know one of the best ways to do that is around food, but also music.
For the Art + Design District, part of why we’re leaning into the process is because, culturally, we’re bringing down the barriers between film, fashion, multimedia, tech, and architecture. It’s an experiential mashup in the best possible way.
And it’s not just about art and design, but community writ large. Creative expression is something we all desire. Whether it’s at a long table, at the opera, or in your studio, we gravitate toward creative expression as a way of building community and communicating with the people around us.
Is there a question I should have asked you but haven’t?
I hope you are writing about this in seven years when the district is fully mature. But this is just the beginning for all of this. I think that’s what’s most exciting to me. We don’t know what this is going to be like, but we know it’s going to be creatively centered, and that’s super exciting to me.
Today’s seniors are more connected than ever, with a renewed focus on retirement as a time of discovery and enriching experiences. The ultimate reward for a retirement well-earned is the wisdom to appreciate it all, and what better place to enjoy that unique perspective than Vi at La Jolla Village, in the heart of San Diego.
All-access pass to good living.
As a Continuing Care Retirement Community (CCRC), Vi provides access to a connected and fulfilling community while making it easy to plan for future care, should the need ever arise. With a care plan in place, residents enjoy greater financial predictability and long-term value, freeing them to focus on making the most out of retirement.
Resort-style amenities at the epicenter of a cultural hub like San Diego offer a retirement experience unlike any other. Paired with exceptional dining, spacious accommodations and dedicated staff, the best of maintenance-free living is all around. And with the introduction of Vista 360 Well-Being, Vi’s panoramic approach to wellness, there are more ways than ever for residents to access it all.
The harmony of mind, body and community.
Courtesy of Vi at La Jolla Village
The key to longevity is striking the right balance in maintaining an active lifestyle with an active mind in a fulfilling community. With newly renovated community spaces and restaurants, Vista brings a variety of opportunities for residents to elevate their well-being through Vi-exclusive “Signature Experiences.”
Vista Enrich takes an evidence-based approach to brain vitality, keeping residents at the forefront of cognitive health through exergaming (exercising + gaming), nutritional plans and informative workshops. It is also home to The Brain Vitality Studio, an innovative facility dedicated to cognitive fitness that has garnered national recognition.
Vista Discover invites residents into stimulating educational experiences, from chef-led cooking demos and guided wine tastings to lectures at local universities and intimate lectures following cultural outings.
While Vista Enrich focuses on brain health and Vista Discover engages residents intellectually, Vista Explore cultivates a sense of adventure through curated travel and local excursions. But broadening one’s horizons doesn’t always require a plane ticket. One recent event brought a taste of the world right to the community: an onsite “jazz cruise” featuring live music and global cuisine served at a series of themed “ports” all within the community’s own ballroom.
“Location, location, location”
Courtesy of Vi at La Jolla Village
One of the biggest perks of life at Vi at La Jolla Village is its proximity to just about everything. With easy access to transportation and local attractions just steps away, residents can explore and engage with their community at their own pace.
“There are trolley and bus stops within a 5-minute walk that will get you to the beach, UCSD Campus, medical appointments, downtown La Jolla or San Diego, et cetera. We rarely use our car,” said resident Tom Yager.
With the best of San Diego just steps away, residents don’t just live in the city, they live within reach of everything that makes it special.
The best of all worlds.
Courtesy of Vi at La Jolla Village
At Vi at La Jolla Village, retirement isn’t a chapter to slow down; it’s an invitation to discover more. Tailored community experiences created by Vista, paired with the vibrant pulse of San Diego just outside the door, mean that residents don’t have to choose between security and adventure, connection and independence. They get all of it.
This is what an all-access pass to good living looks like: the comforts of an elevated lifestyle, a community built for growth and a city made for discovery – all in one place.
To learn more about Vi at La Jolla Village or for details on available floor plans, visit ViatLaJollaVillage.com/SDM.
Sebastián Morúa is the Senior Vice President of Brand & Innovation for San Diego FC. He oversees Playmakers, the program through which the club has, over the past three years, engaged with over 80 working artists—not as marketing partners, but as co-creative directors.
Morúa didn’t build Playmakers as a community-outreach program bolted onto a Major League Soccer franchise. He built it as the identity of the franchise. When we sat down, he talked about the World Cup, San Diego’s creative workforce, his challenge to other sports franchises in the city, and the mural of heroes he hopes people will see one day when they close their eyes and picture San Diego FC.
Claire Johnson: Why does an MLS team invest in arts and culture?
Sebastián Morúa: I want to answer that in two parts. Philosophically first—because I think what you’re really asking is why should any sports team do this when most don’t.
Sport is a platform for transformation. It has proven that over and over. We saw it this summer with countries participating in the World Cup for the first time and what that did in their home countries—the sense of self-identification, pride, possibility. That is the power of sport.
When you take a sports team that’s fueled by that principle and understands what it could mean for other stakeholders in a community, you start to think about what you can accomplish in collaboration with them. One of those stakeholders, very early on, was the creative community. If we were going to build a team that represents this place and its people, we needed to go to the source. Artists are uniquely positioned to translate the essence and the soul of a community. When you zoom out and look at the multitude of artists in a place, you start to see the fabric of that local culture. That’s where the sense of pride and possibility gets unlocked.
But you’re also San Diego FC specifically. That matters.
Our mission is to create opportunities for talent to flourish and make San Diego shine. That means the club is a platform. When we started doing the early research for the brand, we brought artists into our focus groups. The response was immediate. There was a clear need. In 2024, we ran the first full year of what became Playmakers, working with more than 20 artists to help us tell the story of how San Diego FC could weave 18 distinct communities together.
We’re in the business of developing communities through sport. We’re not in the business of fútbol to entertain communities. That is an outcome—but not the purpose.
When you started, were you thinking about the profitability of this type of program?
No. I wasn’t thinking about where this was going or how much it would cost. It instinctively felt aligned with our organizational purpose, and we made a decision to go for it. Now it’s become what it’s become.
What does Playmakers look like in 10 or 20 years?
If a fan closed their eyes 20 years from now and tried to paint a mural of the heroes that make up the club, they would see a big percentage of Playmakers artists on that mural. Ask any fan about the team they’ve supported for decades, and they’ll tell you about players, maybe a coach, maybe an owner. We’re expanding that. In our mural, there’ll be artists, entrepreneurs, community leaders, youth coaches. The community will be present.
Three to five years from now, Playmakers is an established community of creatives who have co-directed the identity of the club and the evolving identity of San Diego. If we keep the pace we’ve kept, we should have collaborated with 150 to 200 artists whose stories we’ve told and whose next steps we’ve helped support.
What would you tell another organization considering this kind of investment?
There’s a huge benefit for us as a club and as a brand. This is symbiotic. The artists have a need, we can support that need, and in return the community cares more about our club because of the investment we’re doing in the community. That’s what I would tell another organization.
What excites you most about how San Diego is changing?
San Diego is waking up to how much it has to offer the global conversation around culture. There’s a purity to life here—partly because of the weather, which allows us to spend so much time outside, in nature—and that exists alongside this incredible richness in food, music, art, and now sports.
I have a sense that San Diego is ready to unlock its full potential. You see it in the artists and creatives here. They’re ready. There’s very little hesitation. It’s more like: “Hell yeah, of course I want to do this. I know I’m talented. I’ve been waiting for something like this.”
That energy, combined with the unique lifestyle and character of this place, creates a really exciting sense of what San Diego can become in the years ahead.
Is there a question I should have asked you that I haven’t?
I would ask: What would you say to the other big players in San Diego who are—or could be—shaping the cultural fabric of our community? Do they understand the symbiotic benefit? Are they supporting it?
Because Playmakers, in the end, is a cultural compass. It’s making sure that San Diego still feels—and will always feel—represented in the creative process of building San Diego FC and what that means for San Diego.
The pitch is a canvas. Athletes are painting collectively during every game. There is a story in every game. That’s the link between sport and art. At the core, it’s the same creative process.
Museum of Photographic Arts at the San Diego Museum of Art
Now through Jan. 10, 2027
Sift through over 200 photographs, sketches, letters, and costumes from “The King of Vogue,” who photographed World War II, modernized royal portraits, and created the aesthetic for 1920s socialites in London.
Washed Ashore: Art to Save the Sea
Natural History Museum
Now through Feb. 28, 2027
Walk through an 18-foot whale ribcage (and a couple dozen other marine-creature sculptures) made entirely of plastic bottles, flip-flops, lighters, rope, and other plastic detritus found on the beach in the Nat’s 3,000-square-foot second-floor gallery.
Forging a Legacy: 15 Years of Landmark Acquisitions
San Diego Museum of Art
Now through May 31, 2027
Part of SDMA’s centennial, “Forging a Legacy,” highlights artists from the past (Picasso, Monet) and modern day (Hugo Crosthwaite) who contributed to the museum’s collection.
ZWO Astronomy Photographer of the Year
Fleet Science Center
Now through 2027
See the stars (without the smog) at their best from the winners of the world’s largest astrophotography competition—all in the Fleet Science Center’s new basement gallery, specifically dimmed to let the cosmos shine.
Begin Again
The Old Globe
Sept. 6–Oct. 11
From the 2013 silver screen to this year’s The Old Globe stage, you can “Begin Again” (again) with a world-premiere musical adaptation featuring new songs—courtesy of Train—and a story overflowing with hope.
Dear Evan Hansen
Cygnet Theatre
Sept. 9–Oct. 4
“On the outside, always looking in…” marks the emotional crux of the Tony-, Grammy-, and Emmy-award winning musical coming to the Cygnet Theatre.
Kumeyaay Comics by the Kumeyaay Visual Storytelling Project
Museum of Us
Opening Sept. 12
Learn the history of the Kumeyaay Nation from the perspective of the members themselves in an immersive exhibit inspired by graphic novels “Our Past, Present, and Future,” and “Beyond Gaming.”
Good Night, Oscar
North Coast Repertory Theatre
Sept. 16–Oct. 11
During Oscar Levant’s appearances on “The Jack Paar Show,” he explained his reality with mental illness—the institutionalizations, electroshock therapies, nothing was too taboo for him. “Good Night, Oscar” takes us backstage in the raw moments before his 1958 television appearance.
Visiones Nocturnas: Queer Nightlife in Contemporary Art
Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego
Sept. 19–Jan. 17, 2027
A disco ball isn’t just a disco ball. It’s a symbol of where queer communities can finally exhale and be their fullest selves. “Visiones Nocturnas” uses paintings, sculptures, textiles, performances, photos, and videos from Latin American artists to explore what’s at stake when nightclub lights shut off.
Silent Movie Mondays
Balboa Theatre
Sept. 21, Oct. 26, Dec. 7
Guest organists from across the country will come to the Balboa Theatre to accompany a new silent film for each performance. This year closes out with The Headless Horseman (1922), Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde (1920), and a holiday triple feature of Laurel and Hardy films.
Oh, Mary!
Civic Theatre
Sept. 29–Oct. 4
“What if Abe’s assassination wasn’t such a bad thing for Mary Todd Lincoln?” was the question that inspired Cole Escola’s play “Oh, Mary!” In the production, Mary Todd desperately tries to return to the cabaret stage, but her husband (President Lincoln in the midst of the Civil War) keeps getting in the way.
Photo Credit: Anja Koehler
October
Payare Leads Strauss’ A Hero’s Life
Jacobs Music Center
Oct. 3–4
Conductor Rafael Payare opens the San Diego Symphony’s 2026-2027 season with a three-part concert featuring composers Sofia Gubaidulina, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, and Richard Strauss.
Emily–No Prisoner Be
Baker-Baum Concert Hall
Oct. 8
Two dozen of Emily Dickinson’s poems are turned into songs—composed by Pulitzer Prize winner Kevin Puts and performed by Grammy-winning mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato—for a one-night-only exploration of love, loss, loneliness, and mortality.
Ripcord
The Roustabouts Theatre Co.
Oct. 8–Nov. 1
Roommate beef has no age limit. The latest play from Pulitzer Prize winner David Lindsay-Abaire turns that experience into a comedy through retirement home roommates Marilyn and Abby and the bet between them to see who will break first and move out.
Des Canyons aux Étoiles
La Casa del Zorro
Oct. 12
Composer Olivier Messiaen has chromesthia, so for him, sound evokes a visual connotation. His work “Des Canyons aux Étoiles” brings desert rock and the night sky to mind. See what he means from La Casa del Zorro in the Anza-Borrego Desert, in this performance immersed within nature.
San Diego International Film Festival
Locations Vary
Oct. 13–18
San Diego International Film Festival salutes the silver screen for a 25th time, now with a sixth day adding extra time for parties, screenings, and movie-star tributes.
Considered one of the masterpieces from opera great Giuseppe Verdi, San Diego Opera’s “Rigoletto” sees what happens when the prurient Duke of Mantua and his sharp-tongued court jester become entangled in a fatal curse.
Grim
La Jolla Playhouse
Oct. 27–Nov. 29
When the Grim Reaper’s job becomes too…grim…and he retires after 300,000 years, his daughter picks up the family business. But when she falls for a human and finds beauty in the souls she’s meant to reap, she questions her purpose.
Photo Credit: Ron Kerner
November
Skate Craft
Mingei International Museum
Nov. 21–May 9, 2027
San Diego is nothing without skate culture. Mingei’s “Skate Craft” portrays skateboarding as “living folk art” via its DIY roots (skateboards built in garages) and shows how that ethos shapes the future.
Emma Veidt is an editor at San Diego Magazine. She earned her bachelor's and master's degrees from the Missouri School of Journalism. She loves running, hiking, and rock climbing, but really, she mostly loves encounters with the street cats around North Park.
Ryan Hardison is a freelance arts and entertainment writer and recent graduate of San Diego State. When he's not staring at his laptop, he's likely eating an adobada burrito or getting sunburnt at the beach.
NewBridge School is San Diego’s only school dedicated to the education of students with dyslexia and related learning profiles. For 30 years we have successfully served students with dyslexia, dysgraphia, dyscalculia, receptive/expressive language disorders, ADHD, executive functioning and memory deficits. Students transition successfully into academically rigorous high schools and colleges across the country. Why NewBridge? Training, training, training (plus intensive individualization, and comprehensive program design). All teachers are trained and retrained biennially in Orton-Gillingham, the only approach proven to remediate dyslexia based on Science of Reading research, and complete a year-long training program. Every aspect of our program is designed around our students’ learning styles and needs. Every class is taught by a highly-trained expert, and our Speech/Language and Occupational Therapy teams embed throughout the day. Our multisensory, multi-tiered math program has been developed in conjunction with sister schools and experts across the country. Don’t wait—early intervention is magic!
![Live music performance in church for San Diego art show, Working Title 2024, at Project [Blank]](https://sandiegomagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Project-Blank-1024x576.jpeg)
