Wheels on the Bus Wheels on the Bus

Wheels on the Bus  | 

May 4 — June 9

All aboard! Join our exciting, interactive adventure that’s perfect for toddler and preschool theater lovers to explore and examine the world around them. Wheels on the Bus will delight all who ride and is sure to keep the laughs coming round and round – don’t miss your chance to go on this unforgettable grownup-and-me journey filled to the brim with immersive fun for everyone.

The Wheels on the Bus can’t go round and round without you and your littlest ones!

Wheels on the Bus seating is General Admission on floor mats for kids and their grown-ups, as we explore and imagine together. Limited bench seating is available for accessibility accommodations.

An Interactive Musical Experience for Toddlers and Preschoolers.

Ages: 1 – 4 YRs OLDS + THEIR GROWNUPS

Venue: Porticos ART SPACE

TICKETS AVAILABLE NOW

All aboard! Join our exciting, interactive adventure that’s perfect for toddler and preschool theater lovers to explore and examine the world around them. Wheels on the Bus will delight all who ride and is sure to keep the laughs coming round and round – don’t miss your chance to go on this unforgettable grownup-and-me journey filled to the brim with immersive fun for everyone.

The Wheels on the Bus can’t go round and round without you and your littlest ones!

Wheels on the Bus seating is General Admission on floor mats for kids and their grown-ups, as we explore and imagine together. Limited bench seating is available for accessibility accommodations.

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Cast

Danny Holmberg

Danny Holmberg

Bus Driver Lou

Danny Holmberg

Danny is so excited to be a part of Wheels on the Bus! He recently worked on Pasadena Playhouse’s Grumpy Monkey, The Musical (Lemur/Norman/Snake u/s). Having spent many summers as a camp counselor for Northlight Theatre in Chicago, he truly values this opportunity to introduce interactive theater to young audiences out here in California. Other recent LA credits include She Loves Me and Zanna Don’t (Conundrum Theatre Company), and Title of Show (Firefly Theatre Group). He is a graduate of Fordham University at Lincoln Center. He is so grateful to all the wonderful folks who make this bus run!

Grace Lord

Grace Lord

Bus Driver Martha

Grace Lord

Grace (she/her) is an actor and teaching artist based in Los Angeles. Grace trained in New York City at Pace University, where she had the privilege of learning from esteemed mentors including Tony Award nominee Sam Pinkleton, Tony Award Winner Judith Ivey, and Emmy Award Winner Andre Braugher. Previous credits include the workshop of Grumpy Monkey, The Musical (Pasadena Playhouse), Love Life (New York City Center), and 7-Eleven’s newest commercial, Take It to Eleven 3.0. Offstage, she’s passionate about teaching and empowering students through the arts. She is thrilled to be a part of Wheels on the Bus and hopes you enjoy the show!

Madi Bready

Madi Bready

Passenger/Understudy

Madi Bready

Madi (she/her) moved to Los Angeles after earning a BFA in Acting from the University of Oklahoma. Previous credits include Silent Sky (Sierra Madre Playhouse) and children’s shows: The Seussification of a Midsummer Night’s Dream and Androcles & the Lion (Helmerich Literature Alive) in which Madi toured elementary schools all over Oklahoma and introduced kids to live theatre through interactive storytelling. Most recently, Madi filmed a role in Jurassic Games 2 and celebrated the release of the horror film Mind Body Sprit. Madi is excited to be making her debut with the Pasadena Playhouse and hopes you enjoy Wheels on the Bus!

Creative Team

Nina Meehan (Writer, Director)

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Nina is an award-winning TYA director, playwright, and producer and a dedicated arts educator, with expertise in creativity and communication. Nina was the founder of Bay Area Children’s Theatre, which was the largest TYA company in California prior to Covid. Nina boot-strapped the organization to a $5 million annual budget with a reach of 1 million audience members. Nina’s theatrical work for young people has toured nationally and internationally. She has commissioned new musicals for young people based on the New York Times Bestselling book, Press Here by Herve Tullet, Chelsea Clinton’s book She Persisted, Grace Lin’s Where the Mountain Meets the Moon, and Sherry Duskey Rinker’s Goodnight, Goodnight Construction Site, just to name a few. Nina dreamed up and spearheaded the first ever 41-theater co-commission of A Kids Play About Racism during the pandemic to produce an online show that subsequently reached 400,000 kids at no cost to the children or the schools. 

Her work as a playwright includes the world-premiere adaptation of Goodnight Gorilla by Peggy Rathman, Wheels on the Bus, Bloom Kaboom, all four award-winning K’ilu Adventures co-created with Jonathan Shmidt Chapman and, in collaboration with Dan Mertzlufft, the Kids Fight Evil Villain Audio-Choose-Your-Own-Adventures musicals produced during the Pandemic to ensure that kids at home still had access to engaging and entertaining theatrical experiences. 

Nina served as the board president of TYA/USA for five years and has had the honor of being an invited speaker for the National Endowment for the Arts in Partnership with TCG. She has been a featured speaker for the Conscious Leadership Group (guest speaker with Diana Chapman), EO (Entrepreneur Organization), at Visioni, the largest festival in the world focused on Theatre for the Very Young in Bologna, Italy, and many other organizations and podcasts. Nina has been a workshop leader and adjudicator at Junior Theatre Festivals across the USA and in Australia. She has proudly been featured as a speaker at two TedX events with a focus on the importance of creativity in everyday life.

Nina holds a BS in Theatre from Northwestern University and a Master’s in Nonprofit Administration from the University of San Francisco and is currently working on her PhD in Creativity Studies. She is also a certified yoga instructor. Her work has been spotlighted in the New York Times, LA Times, American Theatre Magazine, San Francisco Chronicle, Barron’s, Red Tricycle, ABC, NBC, and CBS.

Jennifer Lin (Music Director)

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Jennifer is excited to be back at Pasadena Playhouse after music directing Grumpy Monkey, The Musical. Other recent shows include Mystic Pizza (associate MD/conductor); Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat (La Mirada Theatre with McCoy Rigby Entertainment); On This Side of the World (East West Players); Matilda (at both 5-Star Theatricals and La Mirada Theatre); The Last Five Years (After Hours Theatre); XY (NAMT Festival of New Musicals); LIZZIE (at both Cal State Fullerton and Color and Light Theatre Ensemble); and Priscilla: Queen of the Desert (Celebration Theatre – Ovation Winner for Best Intimate Theater). She currently works as a theater educator at Geffen Academy at UCLA and LACHSA. www.jenlinmusic.com

Kay Sibal (Choreographer)

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Kay (she/her/hers) is delighted to return to the Porticos stage. You may have seen her as Snake in Pasadena Playhouse’s last kid’s show, Grumpy Monkey, The Musical! Other theater credits include: Juliet in the world premiere of Invincible: The Musical (Wallis Annenberg Center of Performing Arts), Miranda in The Tempest: An Immersive Experience (Shakespeare Center Los Angeles / After Hours Theater Co), Female Understudy in Spring Awakening (East West Players), The Princess in The Shadow (Mixed Emotion Theatrix). Thanks to her family, teachers, and manager for being her personal cheerleaders. Website: kaydsib.weebly.com @ka_dot_sibal

Jamie Phanekham (Scenic Design)

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Jamie is a Los Angeles based designer. She has a degree in scenic design from Carnegie Mellon University. She has worked in the art department on television shows like Daisy Jones and the Six, Never Have I Ever, and more! She’s so happy to be working with the Playhouse at Porticos for a second time, after props fun in the jungle on Grumpy Monkey, The Musical.

Danica Martino (Costume Design)

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Danica is happy to be back with Pasadena Playhouse after designing Grumpy Monkey, The Musical! Recent credits include: Ancestral Voices (The Skirball), Legally Blonde (Chadwick School), A Comedy of Tenors (Western Stage), A Place Where Horses Die (Film). She has her MFA from CalArts. She would like to thank the whole team at Pasadena Playhouse and Porticos for making this a wonderful experience!

Hilda Kane (Lighting Design)

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Hilda is excited to be back at Pasadena Playhouse for Wheels on the Bus. Mom to two little bus drivers.

Joey Cleavland (Technical Director/Sound Design)

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After acting in several shows from middle school to high school, Joey found his niche in music and pivoted toward audio engineering. He spent eight years at Pasadena Playhouse running audio on stage or in the booth before moving on to start mixing and designing shows elsewhere, and has been doing it ever since.

Kimberly Sanchez Garrido (Stage Manager)

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Kimberly (she/her) is the production stage manager for Wheels on the Bus. She’s very excited to be back with Pasadena Playhouse at Porticos Art Space. Her recent stage management credits include Grumpy Monkey, The Musical with Pasadena Playhouse, the Holiday Spectacular with Pasadena Playhouse, and Measure STILL for Measure with Boston Court Pasadena.

Simon J.O. Martin (Assistant Stage Manager)

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Simon (they/he/she) is a writer and director. They are the Educational Assistant for Youth & Family Programming at Pasadena Playhouse.

Ticket Info

Tickets and Membership

Tickets start at $20. Pasadena Playhouse Members can purchase discounted tickets. To be the first to know about on-sale dates, you can subscribe to our mailing list.

Become A Member

 

Porticos Art Space

All of the Productions, Classes and Activities in our Youth and Family Programing will take place at Porticos Art Space! Located at 2033 E Washington Blvd, Pasadena, CA 91104, Porticos Art Space will provide an incredible new Playhouse location to create and imagine for our youngest theatergoers and their grownups!

Digital Tickets

Pasadena Playhouse is thrilled to introduce a new Digital Ticket experience for performances beginning May 2024.

  • When purchasing a ticket, select “Digital Ticket” as your delivery method and your tickets will be instantly placed in your Digital Ticket Wallet.
  • To access your Digital Ticket Wallet, use the same email address and password you used to purchase tickets online and log-in to mytickets.pasadenaplayhouse.org.
  • Inside your Digital Ticket Wallet, you’ll be able to easily share tickets with friends and add tickets to your Apple or Google Wallet.
  • Don’t forget to bookmark your Digital Ticket Wallet in your mobile phone browser to quickly access your tickets at the theater.

REVIEW THE USER GUIDE

Access Performances

Open Captioning

Guests who enjoy open captioning may request to be seated in view of a video screen with text descriptions synchronized to the onstage action designed for people who are deaf or hard of hearing.

The Open Captioned performances of Wheels on the Bus will be on Sunday, June 9, 2024 at 9:00 AM and 11:00 AM.

Become A Member

Venue – Porticos Art Space

Hosting Right Now

 

Parking

Porticos Art Space offers FREE parking conveniently located next to the venue on Washington Blvd. Ample street parking is also available in the neighborhood.

FAQs

Hours & Contact Info

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  • The Box Office is located outside the theater entrance and will be open one hour before all scheduled performances.
  • If you have questions, please contact Patron Services by calling 626 356 7529 or emailing boxoffice@pasadenaplayhouse.org.
    • ‘Contact Us’ Hours:
      Tues – Sat: 12 PM – 6 PM
      Sun: 12 PM – 4 PM
  • If you are looking to purchase advance tickets in person, please visit the Pasadena Playhouse Box Office located at 39 S. El Molino Ave. Pasadena, CA 91101 during the hours listed above.

Accessibility

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  • We strive to offer barrier-free access to all performances. Accessible seating options, parking and restrooms are available. Please add a note in the ‘Order Notes’ at checkout if you or someone in your party requires accessible seating.
  • Accessible parking is available in the Porticos Art Space parking lot.
  • Service Animals are welcome.
  • Please email us at boxoffice@pasadenaplayhouse.org if you have additional questions about accessibility.

Concessions

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  • Concessions will be available prior to each performance and will be allowed in the theater. Outside drinks and snacks are also permitted in the theater excluding alcoholic beverages.

“What If I’m Late?”

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  • If you already have your tickets, please arrive at least 15 minutes prior to your performance time. Late arrivals will be seated at the discretion of the House Manager.

“Does My Child Need A Ticket?”

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  • Children of all ages are welcome!
  • For Wheels on the Bus, tickets are required for ages 1+. Children under the age of 1 will be admitted without charge but will be required to sit on an adult’s lap.

“What Is The Age Recommendation?”

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  • Wheels on the Bus is recommended for children 1 – 4 years old and their grownups.

“What Time Does The House Open?”

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  • The house will open 10 minutes prior to each performance.

“How Long Is The Performance?”

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  • Wheels on the Bus is approximately 40 minutes with no intermission.

Additional Tips

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  • Seating is General Admission and the theater is small so all seating is comparable.
  • Restrooms, including accessible, all-gender, and family restrooms are available.
  • Stroller parking is available in the Porticos Art Space lobby.

Pasadena Playhouse’s Youth & Family Programming would not be possible without the generous support of The Fitzberg Foundation, the Helen and Will Webster Foundation, and Apriem Advisors. This project is also funded in part by a grant from Pasadena Community Foundation, with additional support provided by Dwight Stuart Youth Fund.