NEVADA CITY, CA – Sierra Theatre Company’s popular Theater by the Book series returns with The American Dream, Edward Albee’s absurdist classic examining family, illusion, and the price of happiness. The show will be performed one night only on Wednesday, September 16 at the historic Nevada Theatre.
The American Dream is one of Albee’s earliest and sharpest works—a darkly comic dissection of a nuclear family whose politeness masks a devastating history of loss, denial, and manufactured perfection. As Mommy, Daddy, and Grandma spar in their over-decorated living room and a mysterious Young Man arrives at their door, Albee peels back the era’s cheerful surfaces to expose the emptiness underneath.
“The play is a critique of conformity and consumerism that feels as fresh and relevant today as it was over sixty years ago,” said director Kenny Miele. “It’s also fiendishly funny, with a biting wit and action that keeps the actors and the audience on its toes.”
[Get The American Dream tix here]
KNOW AND GO
What: The American Dream
Where: Nevada Theatre, 401 Broad Street, Nevada City, CA
When: Wednesday, September 16 @ 7pm (doors at 6:30pm)
Cost: $20 general, $10 students (bring student ID)
The American Dream features a talented local cast including Vicki Young, Robert Rossman, Sandra Rockman, Sylvia Carlson, and Cody Enicke.
Theater by the Book is Sierra Theatre Company’s wildly popular series of dynamic staged readings. Performed with script in hand, it gives the audience a chance to experience exciting new plays in a fun, casual environment. Sierra Theatre Company was founded in 2025 with the purpose of bringing high-quality, accessible theatre to everyone in Nevada County.
Tickets are available at the door or at SierraTheatreCompany.org.
About Edward Albee
Edward Albee (1928–2016) was one of the most influential American playwrights of the 20th century, celebrated for works including Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, A Delicate Balance, and Three Tall Women. A three-time Pulitzer Prize winner, Albee was known for his unflinching examinations of American family life, illusion, and self-deception, and for helping bring the European Theatre of the Absurd into American dramatic tradition.