One of Sonoma County’s most creative and collaborative ventures is Off the Page Readers Theater. Founded in 2013 by Hilary Moore, Pat Hayes and Mike Hayes, we have grown to a troupe of 5 core members plus an occasional guest actor. All these years later, we are still a very small troupe and we are nomads….performing in Cotati, Sebastopol, and Santa Rosa at various venues. A percentage of our proceeds goes to local charities.

November 2025

Off the Page specializes in performing the works of local authors. 90% or more of our featured writers are local. Once a year we choose a theme and call for entries. For each show we create a “symphony” of stories, plays and poems. As of 2025 we have performed the works of more than 50 writers. 

In 2026 we’ll collaborate with Redwood Writers in the spring to perform the winners of their 10 minute play contest. Then we’ll produce our own show in the fall.

How we build our shows

• Once the troupe has chosen a theme, a Call for Submissions goes out via emails to public media, to writers’ groups, and to individual writers from past performances or submissions.
• The troupe reads all the submissions for about a month; then the selection team chooses stories, poems, and short plays which fit the theme and work together to be performed. 
• Script wrangling takes place. Scripting a story for Readers Theater performance means omitting “he said, she said,” for example.
• Auditions are held for guest actor/directors, as needed. 
• Rehearsals begin, and about six weeks later the work is performed. 
• Usually we have 2 performances per show.

Any writers who wish to be notified of the calls for submissions may send their contact information via email: 

sonomacountyoffthepage@gmail.com.