Hillbarn Theatre

Covering The San Francisco Bay Area & Sacramento Valley Since 2001

Hillbarn Theatre • 1285 E Hillsdale Blvd, Foster City, CA 94404

Plays • Musicals • Opera • Dance

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Current Production

• JUN 12 - JUN 14, 2026 •

The SpongeBob Musical / Musical

For Tickets & Info:

A bright undersea community wakes to the worst kind of neighborhood news: a looming volcano threatens to turn everyone’s cheerful little world into seafood bisque. Panic bubbles up fast, but so does the show’s goofy, big-hearted charm, as a sunny fry cook, a science-loving squirrel, a lovably dim best friend, and a whole reef full of oddballs scramble for a way out. The fun comes from the contrast between cartoon chaos and surprisingly sincere stakes, with pop-rock energy, colorful characters, and a steady current of optimism pushing the story forward. Instead of treating silliness like a weakness, the musical leans into it, turning friendship, courage, and community spirit into something louder, brighter, and more infectious than a marching band in flippers. Expect big personalities, splashy songs, ridiculous misunderstandings, and a cheerful reminder that heroes do not always look heroic at first glance. The underwater world feels like a carnival that has swallowed a disaster movie and decided to dance anyway. This is a candy-colored musical adventure with just enough danger to keep the bubbles rising and enough heart to keep the whole ocean singing.

Coming Soon

• OPENS AUG 20, 2026 • Pickleball / Play A quiet community court becomes a comic battleground when a group of neighbors discovers that a little paddle, a plastic ball, and a few painted lines can expose an alarming amount of human behavior. What begins as casual recreation quickly turns into a hilarious test of pride, grudges, ambition, and the deeply suspicious need to win at something that was supposed to be fun. The comedy lives in the tiny explosions: trash talk disguised as friendliness, strategy treated like military planning, and rivalries that somehow feel both absurd and painfully familiar. Underneath the laughs is a sharp look at how people build friendships, protect their egos, and find belonging in the strangest places. The game is simple, but the players are anything but, and every volley seems to reveal another secret tucked behind sunglasses, sneakers, and neighborhood politeness. Even the pauses feel dangerous, as if somebody might weaponize a compliment. It is a lively, fast-moving play about competition, connection, and the funny little rituals that turn strangers into a community, whether they admit it or not. The laughs land because the stakes are tiny, but the feelings are enormous.
• OPENS OCT 8, 2026 • Gutenberg The Musical / Musical Two wildly hopeful theater writers step in front of an audience with the kind of confidence that can only come from having no budget, no cast, and absolutely no intention of letting that stop them. Armed with homemade props, a forest of labeled baseball caps, and enough enthusiasm to power a small village, they attempt to present their dream historical musical by playing every character themselves. The result is a gleefully ridiculous collision of showbiz desperation and do-it-yourself imagination, where every scene becomes a comic high-wire act and every quick change feels like a tiny theatrical emergency. The fun comes from watching ambition outrun practicality by several city blocks, yet somehow keep dancing. Beneath the absurdity is a sweet tribute to the mad courage it takes to create something from nothing and believe, against all available evidence, that greatness may be one song away. It also pokes affectionate fun at theater’s wildest habit: taking one impossible idea and treating it like destiny. It is a musical comedy for anyone who has ever had a big idea, a tiny toolbox, and the nerve to keep going.
• OPENS NOV 19, 2026 • School Of Rock / Musical A washed-up rocker with more attitude than employment options stumbles into the most unlikely gig of his life when he poses as a substitute teacher at a polished prep school. At first, the classroom looks like his natural enemy: uniforms, rules, grade books, and children trained to color neatly inside every line. Then he discovers that beneath all that academic pressure is a group of kids with serious musical talent and even bigger feelings waiting to be heard. The musical turns the school day into a rebellion with guitar riffs, drum fills, and the glorious noise of young people finding their courage. The comedy is loud, but the heart is louder, especially as the students learn that discipline and wild creativity can share the same stage. Parents, teachers, and expectations all crowd the edges, making every chord feel like a small act of freedom. It is a joyful story about mentorship, self-expression, second chances, and the strange magic that happens when someone finally tells kids their voices matter. Expect big songs, big laughs, and the satisfying rumble of confidence cranked up to eleven.
• OPENS JAN 21, 2027 • The Legend Of Robin Hood / Play A corrupt kingdom, a forest full of rebels, and one legendary outlaw with a bow set the stage for an adventure built on danger, wit, and the stubborn belief that ordinary people deserve better. The story follows a band of outsiders who refuse to accept cruelty as the cost of order, turning hidden pathways, clever disguises, and daring raids into acts of resistance. There is swashbuckling energy here, but also a warm comic pulse, as loyalty, friendship, and mischief keep the rebellion from becoming too grim. The fun comes from watching courage spread from one person to another until a scattered group becomes something stronger: a community with a cause. It is the kind of tale where moonlit woods feel alive, villains mistake fear for power, and generosity becomes its own form of rebellion. Expect close calls, quick tongues, moral backbone, and the satisfying thrill of clever people outsmarting the powerful. With humor, action, and a sense of old-fashioned storybook adventure, this play aims straight at the sweet spot between heroic legend and human heart. It feels both familiar and freshly alive.
• OPENS MAR 4, 2027 • Good Night, Oscar / Play A television studio in 1958 becomes a pressure cooker of wit, nerves, music, and barely managed chaos when a brilliant entertainer prepares for a live broadcast that could either dazzle the country or crack wide open in front of it. The play moves through the charged space between public performance and private struggle, where a sharp joke can hide pain, a piano can say what conversation cannot, and the bright lights of fame make every vulnerability harder to conceal. At the center is a man whose mind moves faster than the room around him, firing off humor with surgical timing while wrestling with the cost of being seen as both genius and spectacle. The setting gives the story a delicious old-TV electricity, with producers, hosts, handlers, and expectations all circling like nervous stagehands before curtain. The glamour has cigarette smoke in its seams, and the laughter carries a bruise underneath. It is funny, elegant, uneasy, and deeply human, asking what happens when talent becomes a gift, a burden, and a show everyone expects to go on. The tension hums like a live wire beneath every polished smile.
• OPENS APR 15, 2027 • Hello, Dolly! / Musical A widowed matchmaker with a suitcase full of schemes and a heart that refuses to stay quiet sweeps into 1890s New York determined to rearrange several lives, including her own. Around her orbit a grumpy half-millionaire, restless clerks hungry for adventure, young lovers trying to outwit convention, and a city that seems ready to burst into song at the slightest provocation. The musical glows with old Broadway confidence: busy streets, comic misunderstandings, elegant restaurants, runaway plans, and melodies that know exactly when to wink and when to soar. At its center is a woman who understands that romance is not just about pairing people off, but about nudging the lonely, stubborn, and frightened back toward life. The comedy is grand, the sentiment is generous, and the whole thing moves with the polished snap of a parade turning a corner. Beneath the feathers and footwork is a sharp little truth: sometimes the person fixing everyone else’s life needs a rescue too. It is a joyful musical about second chances, social mischief, and the beautiful nerve it takes to step back into the world.