This story was produced by the OC Theatre Guild as part of a community media partnership with Culture OC. It was written and edited independently by the Guild’s selected contributors. This collaboration supports our effort to celebrate and amplify the vibrant arts and culture scene in Orange County.

‘The Addams Family’ at Cabrillo Playhouse — From left, Christopher Vournas, Isabella Klein, Patrick Brannelly, Juliet Fischer, Rebecca Leeds, Andrew Whitwell and Rob Bergman. Photo courtesy of Cabrillo Playhouse

By OC Theatre Guild

October 1, 2026

Written for OC Theatre Guild by MaryAnn DiPietro

Cabrillo Playhouse

‘The Addams Family’

When: Oct. 5 – 25, 2026

Where: 202 Avenida Cabrillo, San Clemente

More Info: 949-492-0465, www.CabrilloPlayhouse.org

Every family has its problems. Some involve miscommunication, growing children or awkward introductions to the in-laws. For the Addams family, naturally, things get a little stranger.

Cabrillo Playhouse opens its 2026-27 season with “The Addams Family,” the musical comedy inspired by Charles Addams’ famously macabre cartoons. Filled with eccentric relatives, elaborate production numbers and a family crisis that threatens to upend the Addams household, the show offers Producing Artistic Director Michael Lopez the kind of theatrical undertaking he enjoys most.

Support for Culture OC comes from

At the center of that crisis is Wednesday Addams, played by Isabella Klein, who is no longer quite the little girl her family remembers. She has fallen in love with Lucas Beineke, played by Connor Dapkus, a young man whose ordinary family could hardly be more different from her own.

Wednesday shares her secret with her father, Gomez, played by Patrick Brannelly, but asks him to keep it from her mother, Morticia, played by Juliet Fischer. For a husband accustomed to keeping nothing from his wife, the request creates a dilemma even Gomez Addams may not be able to handle.

Things become more complicated when Lucas and his parents arrive for dinner, bringing the Beinekes into the Addams home for an evening in which secrets, relationships and the definition of “normal” are all put to the test.

Lopez became familiar with the musical years ago and remembered really enjoying it. Years later, as he considered Cabrillo’s new season, he saw an opportunity to take it on himself.

A graduate of Cal State Fullerton with a degree in theater arts, Lopez spent roughly 25 years as a professional dancer, performing with civic light opera companies throughout Orange County as well as at Disneyland and Knott’s Berry Farm. Choreography eventually led to directing, and in 2014 he joined Cabrillo Playhouse as its artistic director. This month marks his 12th year with the theater.

That dance background made “The Addams Family,” with its large ensemble numbers and physical comedy, particularly appealing to him.

“Having a choreographic background, I loved the idea of all of the production numbers in this show,” Lopez said. “And having a choreographer like Joanna Tsang Segelson, I knew that we would be able to present a great production of ‘The Addams Family.’”

Those production numbers bring more than the immediate Addams clan onto the stage. The family’s ancestors rise from the past and remain part of the action, giving the ensemble a presence throughout the story.

For Lopez, fitting all of that activity into Cabrillo’s intimate space is part of the fun.

“People are always amazed at what we can present on our small stage,” Lopez said. “I love that challenge.”

Pulling it off requires the cast, choreography and technical elements to work together very carefully. Lopez credits a production team accustomed to finding creative ways to make ambitious shows work within Cabrillo’s footprint.

“I have a great production team that understands this challenge, and we work together to figure it all out,” he said.

This time, that means creating the Addams universe through colorful costumes, lighting, choreography and an ensemble that rarely seems far from the action.

“The costuming is very fun, and the production numbers are great,” Lopez said.

He is particularly eager to see how audiences respond to two moments: the opening number and the finale of Act I. He will not reveal what happens in either.

“Very fun,” is all he will say.

Beneath the ghosts, graveyards and Addams’ eccentricity, however, is a problem considerably more familiar. Wednesday is growing up. Her parents are discovering that their relationship with their daughter is changing, while Wednesday is trying to make room in her life for someone who comes from a very different world than her own.

It is that collision between the bizarre and the conventional that has helped keep the Addams family around for generations. Their behavior may be strange, but the questions underneath it about how parents let their children grow up, what happens when families change and how we welcome someone new are pretty ordinary.

For Lopez, opening Cabrillo’s season with a show that combines those familiar themes with ambitious musical staging is another opportunity to embrace the question he has heard throughout his 12 years at the theater: How are they going to pull this one off?

He already knows what he hopes audiences will be saying when they leave.

“They did it again,” Lopez said. “Another great show.”