“Sonoma was like Mayberry on Acid”
Sonoma Police Report LIVE presents funny, odd tales from the Wine Country
Sonoma, California. Author Joshua Farrell gathers fellow Sonomans to present a staged reading of his book, The Sonoma Police Report, at the Sonoma Community Center. On Saturday, March 14, at 7 PM, the multimedia performance will take place on stage in Andrews Hall. Tickets are $25.
Anyone who spent time in Sonoma from the 1980s through the turn of the millennium likely remembers the guilty pleasure of reading the police blotters in the Sonoma Index-Tribune. Sonoma native Joshua Farrell revisited those infamous columns in the years leading up to the 2013 release of his book, combing through newspaper archives and collecting stories from locals along the way. To protect the identities of the (not-so) innocent and the storytellers themselves, names were, of course, changed.
“I got the idea for this book because I’ve always loved this town and have been fascinated with its eccentricities,” Farrell says in the introduction. “And that can be most evident in the police reports.”
The Sonoma Community Center was a big part of Farrell’s youth, having grown up just two blocks away. He recalls electrocuting himself while playing a joke under the air hockey table at the Boys’ Club located at the time in the Center. Farrell’s stage debut in Andrew’s Hall was in a Charlie’s Angels parody at age eight.
Wanting to give back to the Center that welcomed him as a kid, Farrell turned his attention to fundraising. He has adapted some of the book’s funniest police blotter stories into a staged reading, casting friends from his youth, Joe Herrschaft, Cat Smith, and Molly Spencer, to bring the misadventures to life alongside him. Community Center Executive Director Vanessa Rognlien will also be reading, while DJ StaRJay, aka Ronny Joe Grooms, adds sound effects and musical punctuation as the show’s foley artist.
What is the audience in for? Ken Brown, former Sonoma mayor and past live-in caretaker for the Center, is quoted in the script as having called Sonoma “Mayberry on acid.” That’s what it was like watching the police blotters in Sonoma each week, and that’s what the readers will bring to the stage.
Andrews Hall is part of the Sonoma Community Center, located at 276 East Napa Street in Sonoma. Tickets for Sonoma Police Report LIVE! on Saturday, March 14, may be purchased under “Events” at SonomaCommunityCenter.org or by calling 707-938-4626. General Admission is $25, and the show is for audiences 18 and over. Refreshments will be available for purchase.
Additional information:
Playwright/Director: Joshua Farrell
Cast: Joshua Farrel, Joe Herrschaft, Vanessa Rognlien, Cat Smith, and Molly Spencer
Foley Artist/DJ: Ronny Joe Grooms
About Joshua Farrell:
Joshua Farrell grew up two blocks from the Sonoma Community Center and electrocuted himself while playing a joke under the air hockey machine at the original Boys’ (and Girls’) Club, then located in room 111. He has performed 3 previous times at SCC. He performed David Sedaris’s The Santaland Diaries, The Fantasticks, and in a Charlie’s Angels skit when he was 8. He is an actor who has performed across the country in regional theaters, as well as in numerous commercials, tv shows, and films. He received his M.F.A. from American Conservatory Theatre and is a hospitality nerd who currently serves as the Director of Learning and Development for The Ritz-Carlton and JW Marriott, Los Angeles. In addition to his book, The Sonoma Police Report, he authored two hospitality-focused books, “Counter Culture: An Essential Guide for Service” and “Serving Up Excellence: Creating Meaningful Dining Experiences through the Power of Connection.”
About Sonoma Community Center
The Sonoma Community Center is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization founded in 1953 to serve the communities of Sonoma Valley with the mission of cultivating a vibrant community through extraordinary creative, cultural, and learning experiences. Originally built as the Sonoma Grammar School, which opened in 1916, the Center is listed in the National Register of Historic Places.
Community – Innovation – Creativity – Inclusion – Leadership
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Media Contact:
Cat Smith, Director of Marketing
Sonoma Community Center
707-931-4147
[email protected]
