Moorpark High School students will cook dinner and perform a comedy on the same night when the school's Performing Arts program opens its fall season Nov. 7.

The Moorpark Unified School District announced a three-show lineup running November through early December at the Tierra Rejada Road campus. The season starts Saturday, Nov. 7, with a dinner theater, continues with the musical "Seussical" Nov. 12–14 and wraps with a student-produced Broadway revue Dec. 2–3.

Dinner and a show

The opener, "Spaghetti Western or Mission Im-Pasta-Ble," written by Tracy Wells, pairs Performing Arts students onstage with Advanced Culinary Arts students in the kitchen. While the actors perform a melodrama set in the Old West, their classmates prepare the meal for the audience.

The plot follows a struggling saloon that needs $25 to stay open. Its solution: hold a spaghetti sauce contest with a $25 prize.

Doors open at 5:30 p.m. in the Auxiliary Gym at Moorpark High School, 4500 Tierra Rejada Road. The dinner theater format returned after the two departments staged "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" in the same gym in fall 2025.

'Seussical' takes the stage

The fall musical, "Seussical," runs Nov. 12–14 in the Moorpark High School Performing Arts Center. The show weaves characters from Dr. Seuss stories, including Horton the Elephant, Gertrude McFuzz, the Grinch and Yertle the Turtle, into a single musical told almost entirely through song.

Performance times vary by night:

  • Thursday, Nov. 12, at 6 p.m.
  • Friday, Nov. 13, at 6:30 p.m.
  • Saturday, Nov. 14, at 1 p.m. and 6:30 p.m.

Students run the revue

The semester closes Wednesday, Dec. 2, and Thursday, Dec. 3, with the Musical Show Production and Advanced Musical Theatre Revue at 6 p.m. Students in those two classes each built a five-song set of Broadway group numbers. They handle every piece of the production: directing, costuming, set design, props, music direction, choreography and promotion.

The revue takes place in the Q2 BlackBox, a classroom converted into an intimate theater.

Seating is limited.

Tickets

Tickets for all three productions will be available on GoFan.co. The district did not list prices in its announcement.

Moorpark High's Performing Arts program earned a Readers' Choice nod in the 2024 Simi Valley and Moorpark Acorns community awards, according to the district.

Fall performing arts calendar

  • Saturday, Nov. 7 — "Spaghetti Western or Mission Im-Pasta-Ble" dinner theater, 5:30 p.m., Auxiliary Gym
  • Nov. 12–14 — "Seussical," Performing Arts Center (Thursday 6 p.m., Friday 6:30 p.m., Saturday 1 p.m. and 6:30 p.m.)
  • Dec. 2–3 — Musical Theatre Revue, 6 p.m., Q2 BlackBox