In the summer of 1970, Marvin and Jan Klebe bought a vintage 1908 two-room schoolhouse, located on the outskirts of Petaluma.  A successful baritone who had sung with the San Francisco Opera and had been featured at the Spoleto Festival of  Two Worlds, Marvin had become disenchanted with the grand opera scene:  there was too little rehearsal and innovation, and no regard for the needs of a family. "It was empty for me," Klebe recalled, "too traditional, very regimented.  You had five days to rehearse and then perform."  So the international opera singer turned his hand to carpentry and, with the help of his four sons, transformed the old building into a theater.

In 1983, drastic cuts in school funding prompted the creation of Cinnabar Young Repertory Theater.  Young Rep includes a full curriculum of performing arts classes, workshops, camps and performances for and by youth.  Young performers learn basic and advanced skills in all aspects of the theater, from dance to opera and music theater to classic and contemporary drama and improv.  The more advanced students also learn stage management and technical operations.  Students are featured in a variety of public performances, including musicals, Gilbert and Sullivan, and Shakespeare.  Cinnabar Opera Theater also stages commissioned operas written expressly for youthful audiences, presented to thousands of school-aged audience members each year through the auspices of the Sonoma County Office of Education and Marin Youth in Arts.

The theater itself was expanded in 1983 to accommodate a growing audience, and in 1988 the studio was added because teaching had become a priority.  Marvin added the Petaluma Summer Music Festival that year as well, inspired by the festivals he had participated in elsewhere, and by the dreams of Nina Shuman, who had joined him in 1986 as Music Director for the opera company.  The Festival is a three-week-long affair featuring World Music, Candlelight Concerts, fine classical and chamber works, including operas for both adults and children;  much of the programming is heard in Sonoma County for the first time.

On May 22, 1999, Marvin Klebe lost a yearlong battle with cancer.  Although he is no longer physically with us, he left a great legacy, for he was a great man who walked a number of diverse paths and walked them all with passion, enriching the lives of all who knew him and his works.  Cinnabar Theater continues under the stewardship of Marvin's friend and protégée Elly Lichenstein, his wife Jan, and his son, Technical Director Aloysha Klebe.  They and their many colleagues and supporters will ensure that Marvin's unique mission will be realized for generations to come.

Cinnabar Theater is the only venue that produces opera and musical theater, dramatic theater, chamber series, dance and special festivals in Sonoma County. It strives to present the finest new, experimental, and traditional performing arts, in an intimate and ultimately passionate and meaningful manner, with the purpose of keeping us all in touch with what it means and what it takes to be a human being.