Transcendence Theatre Company: A Broadway Summer Camp in Sonoma's Field of Dreams

Picture a warm Sonoma evening at the Field of Dreams, the lawn dotted with picnic blankets and string lights, a small group of kids stepping out into the stage lights to sing and dance the show they spent the week building. That place exists, and Transcendence Theatre Company has quietly been turning Sonoma Valley summers into one of the most extraordinary musical theatre experiences a young performer can have.

A Wine Country Theatre with a Heart for Community

Transcendence is the project of artistic director Amy Miller and co-executive director Brad Surosky, the married founders whose idea for the company was sparked, by their own account, during the toast at their 2007 wedding. After a two-and-a-half-month cross-country RV research trip in 2010 called "Project Knowledge," the artists chose Sonoma as their home. In 2011, when California State Parks announced the closure of 75 state parks, Amy and Brad arrived at Jack London State Historic Park, found the ruins of an old winery on the property, and saw a stage. With $83 in the bank and knowing almost no one in wine country, they produced a single Broadway concert under the stars to help save the park. 900 people came.

Fifteen years later, Transcendence's mission, in the company's own words, is "to create extraordinary experiences that inspire all to live life to the fullest." That mission has produced a Newsweek-rated #2 outdoor theatre in the United States, a USA Today #2 not-to-be-missed concert venue, Broadway World's "Theatre Company of the Decade," and a Sonoma County 4Cs "Champion for Children" award for arts education. The company's home for the summer series is now the Field of Dreams in Sonoma, a community ballfield turned outdoor amphitheater for the season through a partnership with the City of Sonoma. Underneath the awards is a simpler idea: musical theatre belongs in every kid's life, and a wine country sky makes that idea easier to believe.

Kids Camps in Sonoma: A Broadway Week Built for Performers Ages 8 to 17

Among kids camps in Sonoma, Transcendence's Broadway Kids Camp is a one-week immersion taught by working Broadway artists. The instructors' résumés include Hamilton, Mamma Mia!, Les Misérables, Chicago, The Phantom of the Opera, Wicked, Mary Poppins, Jersey Boys, 42nd Street, and Beautiful. Each summer, the camp runs for one week in early July, with two age tracks designed for the developmental stage of the young performer:

• Jr. Artists (ages 8 to 12). A week of singing, dancing, and acting workshops, four hours a day from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., that builds into a real performance for friends, family, and community members at the end of the week. The 2026 camp adds a new dimension: campers perform as part of Transcendence's mainstage show, Radio Recall, at the Field of Dreams, alongside the same Broadway professionals who taught them all week.
• Sr. Artists (ages 13 to 17). Five hours a day from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., a workshop-format week alongside professional and Broadway performers. The training is rigorous (real auditions, real callbacks, real notes), the room is small (capacity is twenty), and the seniors share the same Field of Dreams stage with the mainstage cast on Friday night.

Camp tuition for 2026 is $325 per camper through Transcendence's own registration. Need-based scholarships are available year after year through a short application on the Transcendence website. The Friday performance is open to friends, family, and the broader Sonoma community, and is, for many local families, the moment in early July when summer in Sonoma actually begins.

Kids Classes in Sonoma: Year-Round Mentorship and Free Community Nights

Among kids classes in Sonoma that connect young performers to a professional company, Transcendence's surrounding year-round programs offer a different kind of access. Several are open to local families at no cost and do not require booking a camp seat:

• Skits Under the Stars. A free night of community arts and music, designed to bring the entire Sonoma Valley together in inspiring outdoor locations across the county, where aspiring artists (kids included) can bring their own work to share.
• Intern & Apprentice Program. A season-long pathway for older teens and emerging artists who want to spend time inside a working professional company, learning from the production, stage management, and marketing teams as well as from the performers.
• Community Nights, including the annual Pride Night. Performances designed for specific community groups, including LGBTQIA+ folks and allies. The fourth annual Pride celebration is scheduled for August 29, 2026.
• American Sign Language interpretation at every production in the summer series. The 2026 ASL nights are June 19, July 12, and August 21, for families with deaf or hard-of-hearing members.

The thread across every program is a sentence from Transcendence's values statement: "We commit to inspiring our community and beyond." For a kid who lives in their headphones and might never have seen live musical theatre at close range, a free Skits Under the Stars evening is often the first time. For the kid who has been waiting their whole life to be on a stage, the camp and the apprentice pathway are an open door.

An Accessible Resource for Wine Country Families

A few practical things parents tend to ask about. Kids Camp tuition is $351.74 for the full week, and need-based scholarships are offered each year through a short form on Transcendence's website (start there if cost is a consideration). The company's broader access commitment, called Transcendence for All, allocates ten percent of annual ticket inventory to free tickets for community members who would not otherwise be able to attend Broadway Under the Stars. Over 5,500 free tickets have been gifted to date, and over 150 community projects have been produced in the past decade.

Transcendence's nonprofit partners read like a Sonoma Valley community directory: La Luz Center, Boys & Girls Club, Sonoma Mentoring Alliance, Sweetwater Spectrum, Care Partners Initiative, Catholic Charities of Santa Rosa, Disability Services and Legal Center, Latino Service Providers, Redwood Empire Food Bank, Petaluma Blacks for Community Development, and the California Indian Museum and Cultural Center, among many others. Five percent of beverage sales across the season are donated to participating partner nonprofits each year.

The camp itself meets at a Sonoma location announced closer to the date (recent years have used Presentation School at 20872 Broadway), and the Friday-night performance is at the Field of Dreams at 151 1st St W in Sonoma.

Where Joy, Mentorship, and Community Flourish

What stays with a parent after a week of Transcendence Kids Camp is not really the program brochure or the performance video, although both are worth keeping. It is the way their kid talks about the week afterward. They name their favorite mentor by first name. They quote what the Broadway pro said about timing or breath control. They want to know when the next camp is. For a child who already loves to sing or dance, the week is a real first taste of what working in a company feels like, and for a child who arrived shy and unsure, the small group and the kindness of the teachers turn a Monday-morning panic into a Friday-night bow.

Joy, mentorship, accessibility, creativity, community, Transcendence Theatre Company embodies all these values for North Bay parents and kids. If your child has a song in their head they cannot stop singing, a flair for performance, or a quiet curiosity about what a real Broadway artist does for a living, the Sonoma Field of Dreams in July is one of the more extraordinary places in the country to find out. Browse the Kids Camp on Enrichment.kids, request a scholarship form if it would help, and plan to bring the family to the Field of Dreams that Friday night to see what a week with Broadway can do for a young performer.