Full season ahead
Buy tickets for upcoming productions at the Pacific Conservatory Theatre online at pcpa.org. Season 63 kicks off with La Comedia of Errors running from Sept. 10 to 27.
As Valerie Rachelle prepares for her return to the Pacific Conservatory Theatre (PCPA), she can’t help but notice a few coincidences.
The actor and director first stepped foot on the Santa Maria stage in 1996 as a dancer in Camelot. But when she was rehired for a longer stint nine years later, the last production she worked on was Les Misérables, in which she played the tragically devoted mother, Fantine.
“What’s so funny is that was the last production I did before I left, and then it’s in the first season of me coming back, which is so cool,” Rachelle told the Sun.
At the July 21 meeting, Allan Hancock College trustees officially named Rachelle the artistic director and dean of the conservatory. She’ll start the position in October, also the month she returned in 2005.
Rachelle will take over for longtime leader Mark Booher, who spent more than 20 years as the theater’s artistic director. Booher assumed the role not long after Rachelle began directing in 2005.
“My entire tenure there was basically, except for one month, with Mark as artistic director,” Rachelle remembered. “I was a young’un, just out of grad school, when I was there directing. One of the things I love about Mark is how he just has so much artistic integrity.”
While Booher was leading the organization, Rachelle worked at PCPA as a casting director, resident director, and teacher. She was born and raised in Oregon but moved to LA at 18 years old for college.
‘[It’s] one of the only theaters that I have worked at across the country that not only has really high-quality professional theater but has a conservatory attached.’
—Valerie Rachelle, Pacific Conservatory Theatre artistic director
Jobs have taken Rachelle across the country, and she’s currently based in Texas as the associate artistic director for a Houston company called Stages. However, Rachelle never severed her connection to PCPA.
“I was working at other theaters and directing and casting, so I would come back almost every single year and audition their second-year conservatory students and their interns,” Rachelle said. “They bring in casting directors to help not only their students understand how to audition but to start forging relationships with regional theaters. So, I would come back every year, usually in March or April, and during COVID times, I Zoomed in.”
Soon she’ll move back to northern Santa Barbara County, one of her “most favorite areas in California.” Though working at PCPA was fun, her most memorable experience by far was having her daughter in Santa Maria. Remembering the community as loving and generous makes Rachelle excited to move back.
“I would teach a movement class in the morning, and then one of my co-workers would watch my child while my husband was working,” Rachelle said. “She had a whole conservatory full of supportive babysitters and colleagues who supported me through motherhood, so I couldn’t have asked for a better place to have a child.”
Building close relationships also translates onstage. Rachelle feels her job as artistic director is all about collaboration. She loves being able to work with the entire team, from the lighting crew to the costume designer to the cast. When she starts the role, her responsibility will be to give artists the tools and opportunities to do their best work.
“It’s about forethought. It’s about clear communication. It’s about vision for the theater as a whole and [its] strategic plan as a whole, rather than just show by show,” Rachelle explained.
Collaboration is also about engaging the audience, creating a whole experience for everybody in the room. It’s one of the few things that cannot be taken over by technology. Live theater must always be live.
“Only part of my job can happen on technology,” Rachelle said. “The other part has to be in person and has to be live with other human beings in the room together, and that will never change for theater or live performance. … No matter how much AI we have in the world or how much technology we have, that part of it—the blood, sweat, tears, spit—will never change.”
Community and collaboration excite her, and it’s why she first fell in love with performing. Rachelle’s parents were magicians when she was growing up, and they all toured together, bringing their illusionist act to audiences throughout the U.S.
“I came from jumping out of boxes and quick changes and taking care of bunny rabbits and doves and the whole bit,” she said with a laugh. “I started dancing in dance class when I was 3 or 4, and I loved it.”
She landed her first professional acting gig a few years later and has remained tied to the world of drama, whether it be through performing, choreographing and directing, or teaching the next generation.
The thought of being back in a room overseeing PCPA’s education component is exciting to Rachelle. Her goal is to guide artists on their paths to achieving their full potential. She called PCPA a “gem of the Central Coast” because of how it blends teaching with practical experience.
“[It’s] one of the only theaters that I have worked at across the country that not only has really high-quality professional theater but has a conservatory attached that actually is walking the walk and not just talking the talk,” Rachelle said.
She feels she has a pulse on the industry’s climate in the economy because of her previous roles. It’s been “invaluable education” while building leadership skills.
“My daughter is currently in college, and so I’m going through the process with her as well. I’m watching what college students are going through right now and thinking to myself, ‘Community college is going to be the place and conservatory training is going to be the place where artists are going to start really flocking because of cost and because of access to arts education,’” Rachelle said.
Her message to future students is that it’s possible to work in the business, survive financially, and feel rewarded.
“I know sometimes people think of theater as just entertainment, which sometimes it is, and that’s totally valid,” Rachelle said. “But someone taking the time to come in and watch a group—this live, magical performance—actually changes hearts and minds without anyone even knowing it. Empathy is created in community, and so it’s nice that there’s still a place where you can come and tell stories.”
Staff Writer Madison White enjoys a healthy dose of local theater. Send your favorite lines to mwhite@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in August 6 – August 13, 2026.
