On Jan. 1, 2027, three new leaders take charge of Lamb's Players Theatre at 1142 Orange Avenue. Robert Smyth, Deborah Gilmour Smyth, Kerry Meads, Nathan Peirson and Christian Turner have led the company for more than 40 years, and they step down at the end of 2026. The calendar inside the Spreckels Building runs on a different date. The outgoing team's final production is Godspell, directed by Robert Smyth, and it plays until Feb. 21.
So the era doesn't end on New Year's Day. It ends seven weeks later, after two more productions. If you've been to Lamb's for years, or have walked past the marquee and kept meaning to go, those two shows are the last work this group will make together.
Two shows left, and both belong to the people stepping down
The holiday production comes first. Lamb's current holiday listing is Fargo. It runs Nov. 20 through Dec. 27 and is written and directed by Kerry Meads. The theater bills it as "a delightful story returns." The plot follows a rising star, a real estate mogul, a precocious child and an octogenarian who all have their eye on the same "dream" property and want it to be their new home by Christmas. Holiday music runs through the whole show. This is the final December show Meads will stage as one of the company's associate artistic directors.
Godspell follows from Jan. 6 through Feb. 21, 2027. Robert Smyth directs and choreographs. Lamb's puts it in its Encore Series, which the theater calls "the tail end of our 2026 Season." The series brings back audience favorites before the new season starts in March.
That timing puts Smyth's last production about seven weeks into his successors' term. Smyth has said he plans to stay out of the new team's way. According to the San Diego Union-Tribune's June report on the transition, once the changeover begins he won't come into the building to tell the incoming leaders what to do. The handoff has been planned as a long overlap. The encore is the last piece of it.
How Lamb's got to Orange Avenue
Neither show makes full sense without the history behind it. Lamb's started in 1971 in Steve Terrell's drama class at Bethel College in St. Paul, Minnesota. In 1972 the seven-member street-theater company moved to San Diego, and it went on to tour the country. The first resident stage opened in 1978 on Plaza Boulevard in National City. The company moved into the remodeled Spreckels Building on Orange Avenue in 1994.
For a while there were two stages. Lamb's reopened the Horton Grand Theatre in the Gaslamp in July 2008, and the Coronado Times reported in 2016 that the company would leave it after July 17 that year. Since then, everything has happened on Orange Avenue.
Smyth told the Union-Tribune that Lamb's kept a full-time resident acting ensemble from 1978 until 2013, when it ended for financial reasons. The outgoing five led the company through the ensemble years and kept it going after the ensemble ended. Smyth said in the same piece that he "always knew there needed to be an end time." He began planning seriously in the early days of COVID and wanted all five leaders to leave together. Deborah Gilmour Smyth told the paper a new team needed "cohesion and a real sense of their own vision." All five will keep emeritus status and serve as ambassadors for the company.
The incoming three are not strangers to this stage
The new artistic director is Colleen Kollar Smith. The Coronado Eagle & Journal's Oct. 7 profile says her history with Lamb's goes back to 2002. Over roughly two decades she worked there on and off as a director, choreographer, actor and creative collaborator. The other two leaders are Chief Business Officer Mike Bradford and Chief Philanthropy Officer Jennifer Bradford. All three come from Moonlight Stage Productions in Vista. Jennifer Bradford led the Moonlight Cultural Foundation, where annual giving grew from $930,000 to $2.2 million during her tenure.
The new team started on June 1, which gave them seven months alongside the outgoing five. Jennifer Bradford called that time "the gift of time" in the Eagle & Journal. She told the Union-Tribune in August, "Relationships don't transfer with a press release."
Season 56 is already set
The new leaders didn't wait until January to show their hand. Season 56 is Kollar Smith's first as artistic director and has five mainstage productions.
| Production | Dates | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Bandstand | March 10 to April 25, 2027 | Regional premiere; Kollar Smith directs and choreographs |
| Clue | May 12 to June 27, 2027 | Stage adaptation of the film |
| Come Sail Away: A Yacht Rock Experience | July 14 to Sept. 12, 2027 | World premiere created by Kollar Smith, Jon Lorenz and Taylor Peckham |
| Red | Sept. 29 to Nov. 7, 2027 | Tony Award-winning drama about Mark Rothko |
| Million Dollar Quartet Christmas | Nov. 24 to Dec. 26, 2027 | The new team's first holiday show |
The lineup changes how Coronado's December looks. Holiday 2026 is a Kerry Meads story about a house everyone wants by Christmas. Holiday 2027 is a jukebox musical built on rock and roll legends. Kollar Smith told the Union-Tribune she wants "seasons that have a little bit of taste for everyone," all still rooted in the company's mission statement, "To Tell Good Stories Well."
Some changes will happen offstage. Jennifer Bradford said the team plans to "build in one specific community partner per show." Mike Bradford, who has a background in analytics, said he is studying how data shapes attendance and talking with other arts groups about possible shared infrastructure. The full-time resident ensemble ended in 2013, and the new leaders have not announced plans to bring it back.
Dates to hold
The schedule has a few points where timing matters, especially for anyone on the fence about subscribing:
- American Rhythm: 100 Years of Amazing Music closes Oct. 24, two days after this post publishes.
- Nov. 5 is when new 2027 subscriptions go on sale. The renewal window for current members closed Oct. 15.
- Nov. 20 to Dec. 6 are the first weeks of the holiday show, when Lamb's prices tickets $20 lower. Regular evening seats on Wednesday through Saturday cost $48, $78 or $98. Weekend matinees cost $68, $98 or $118. Seniors 66 and older and veterans get an $8 discount.
- Dec. 27 is the last performance of Kerry Meads's holiday show.
- January 2027 is when single tickets for Season 56 go on sale.
- Feb. 21, 2027 is the closing night of Godspell and the last production from the team that has led Lamb's since its National City years.
The box office number is 619.437.6000, and it's open noon to 6 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday. If you're building a December around the island's other traditions, our guide to the four days that define Coronado's holiday season covers the town's side of the calendar. What's new on Orange Avenue covers where to eat before an evening curtain.
Lamb's has been part of Orange Avenue since 1994, and The Clements Group has watched its marquee through most of those years. If you're thinking about what the island's next chapter means for your own home, The Clements Group would be glad to talk it through. Schedule a private consultation.
