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Fullerton College theatre students are bringing Gilbert and Sullivan’s comic operetta The Pirates of Penzance to life in a new production set on Catalina Island in 1957. In this Southern California reimagining, students take on the creative challenge of exploring a classic British operetta through a distinctly coastal lens.
The production highlights the students’ work blending traditional operetta with the atmosphere and culture of mid-century Southern California. Working with Orange County educator and director Grant Peterson, the student cast, designers, and crew explore how to honor Gilbert and Sullivan’s original while shaping an interpretation of their own.
Peterson, who returns to the region after two decades of academic and creative work in
England, collaborates closely with students to bring the production to the Fullerton stage.
Student Experience and Artistic Growth
For many Fullerton College performers, Pirates of Penzance represents a first encounter with the musical and comedic demands of operetta. Students are working with live orchestral
accompaniment while developing the vocal precision, comic timing, and ensemble discipline required by the genre.
A Catalina Island Reimagining
The production relocates Gilbert and Sullivan’s operetta to Catalina Island in 1957, drawing inspiration from the island’s tourism boom and mid-century Southern California beach culture.
First performed in 1879, Gilbert and Sullivan’s The Pirates of Penzance remains one of the most popular comic operettas ever written. Known for its witty lyrics, memorable melodies, and playful satire, the story follows Frederic, a young man mistakenly apprenticed to a band of pirates who must navigate duty, love, and a series of absurd legal technicalities.
This Fullerton College production relocates the story to Catalina Island in 1957, when the island was being promoted as a Southern California tourist destination. Inspired by Catalina’s midcentury redevelopment and growing tourism industry, the production brings Gilbert and Sullivan’s operetta into the world of 1950s coastal California.
Developed collaboratively with students, the Catalina setting shapes the world of the production and invites audiences to experience the operetta through a distinctly Californian lens.
Grant Peterson is an Orange County educator and theatre director who recently returned to Southern California after two decades living and working in England. Born and raised in Orange County, he attended Los Alamitos High School before earning both his B.A. in Musical Theatre and M.A. in Critical Studies in Theatre from UCLA. He later completed a Ph.D. in Theatre at
Royal Holloway, University of London, and went on to spend thirteen years teaching and researching at Brunel University London.
At Fullerton College, Peterson teaches musical theatre history and acting through song while directing Pirates. His work often explores connections between theatre, history, and place.