Camino Real Playhouse's First Holiday Show in Its New Home Opens Nov. 27, Half a Mile From the Mission

"We're not just back. We're home," Leslie Eisner, the playhouse's President and Artistic Director, told the audience on Sept. 10, the night The Capistrano Dispatch covered Camino Real Playhouse's grand reopening. Home is now Suite 5C at 31896 Plaza Drive, in the Plaza Del Obispo shopping center, about half a mile from the corner across from the Mission where the theater spent more than three decades. San Juan Capistrano has spent years talking about a performing arts center downtown. That building doesn't exist yet. This holiday season, the town's year-round community stage is in a neighborhood shopping center on Del Obispo Street, with free parking across the lot and a Christmas show opening the day after Thanksgiving.

Half a mile, built from one empty room

The playhouse didn't move by choice. The Dispatch reported that it had been across from the Mission since the late 1980s and had to leave because the property was being redeveloped. Finding a new space took Eisner two years. The space had to meet four conditions: enough parking, ceilings high enough for a stage, room for two theaters, and rent a community theater could afford. The lease in Plaza Del Obispo was signed at the end of 2024.

"This was one big room. No walls of any kind here," Eisner said in the same Dispatch story. Over about 18 months, architects, designers, donors and volunteers added walls, doors and bathrooms, met city and fire department requirements, and built two theaters, a main stage and a smaller Stage II. Eisner said some volunteers put in 40 to 60 hours a week for more than a year.

Mayor John Campbell has served on the playhouse board for seven years. He told the Dispatch that businesses, individuals, the city and the county all helped get the theater to opening night. Linda Wilson, who has been going to shows there for more than 20 years, said the move hasn't changed the feel of the place. "There's not a bad seat in the house," she told the paper.

Two stages, and a full calendar through June

Having two rooms is what the long search paid for. The 2026–27 season has nine productions, six on the main stage and three on Stage II. The season opened with "Dirty Rotten Scoundrels," which ran through Oct. 4. As of this week, the first Stage II production is finishing its run, and the first holiday show in the new building is three weeks away.

The dates below come from the playhouse's season page and its ticket listings on TIX. Prices were current when this post was written and include fees.

"A Christmas Story" opens Friday, Nov. 27, and runs every weekend through Sunday, Dec. 20. That makes it the playhouse's longest run before the new year and the first holiday show in the new building. January brings "ShowOff!," Wilson's favorite of the season. It's a set of seven 10-minute plays, and the audience votes for the winner. On the TIX listings, the first date for several of these shows appears as a $0 entry, which looks like a preview. Paid performances follow.

How an evening works on Del Obispo Street

Parking was one of Eisner's four requirements, and the playhouse FAQ covers how it works now:

• Parking: Free, in the lot across from the theater.
• Arrival: The box office and lobby open one hour before showtime. Theater doors open 30 minutes before.
• Fees: TIX adds $4 per ticket.
• Groups: Orders of 10 or more get 10% off.
• Changes: Tickets are nonrefundable. You can exchange them for another performance of the same play for $10 per ticket if you do it more than 48 hours ahead.
• Phone: (949) 489-8082.

There are places to eat in the same center. Plaza del Obispo is an open-air center at 31878 to 31882 Del Obispo Street, and its tenants include Crivello's Italian Bistro, JD Flannel Donuts and The Stand. According to The Stand's San Juan Capistrano page, the restaurant is at 31882 Del Obispo St., Suite 160, with free parking right in front. With the lobby opening an hour before a 7:30 curtain, you can have an early dinner in the center and walk across the lot to the show.

The old corner across from the Mission

The building the playhouse left is gone. The City Council approved an agreement for the sale of the former theater and its parking lot at 31776 El Camino Real to local developer Dan Almquist, as The Capistrano Dispatch reported. Under that agreement, the theater could stay until 30 days before demolition. The project is called Mission Place. A Jan. 20, 2026 city staff report described it as a two-story building of about 27,000 square feet for retail, restaurants and offices, plus a four-level parking structure. The report said the theater building had been demolished, construction permits had been issued, and pre-construction work had started.

ALMQUIST Development posted a Mission Place construction update on April 13, 2026, and Bickel Group Architecture announced a 2027 completion target. That target was set in late 2025, so treat it as a goal, not a fixed date. For now, the lot where audiences used to park for shows is a construction site, and the shows are on Del Obispo Street.

The 450-seat center that has approval but no land

A larger theater is planned on El Camino Real, and it isn't the playhouse. On Jan. 20, 2026, the City Council voted 4–1, with Mayor Pro Tem Taylor opposed, to approve entitlements for a Performing Arts Center proposed by an applicant called SJC Performing Arts Center. The staff report describes a building of about 48,235 square feet with 450 seats: 350 in a main theater and 100 in a studio theater. It would go on the eastern part of the city-owned Historic Town Center Park, at 31872 and 31882 El Camino Real.

The same report says that night's vote didn't include the real estate deal needed to build on the park. Any lease or sale of that city land requires its own City Council approval. The applicant on the city's paperwork is SJC Performing Arts Center, not Camino Real Playhouse, and the Orange County Register covered the playhouse's relocation as a separate effort.

Both projects share one design idea: a large main room plus a smaller second space. The proposed center would have a 100-seat studio next to its 350-seat theater. The playhouse already has its version, with Stage II beside the main stage, and it's running a nine-show season in it. "Dracula" plays its final two performances on Stage II this Friday and Saturday at 7:30 p.m. "A Christmas Story" opens on Nov. 27.

Eisner told the Dispatch that community theaters depend on ticket sales, donors and volunteers. Tickets, audition notices and donation details are at caminorealplayhouse.org.

At Tony Salay Real Estate Group, we follow how San Juan Capistrano's downtown corners are changing, from the playhouse's new stage on Del Obispo Street to the construction across from the Mission. If you'd like to talk about what these projects could mean for a home on your side of town, contact us. We're glad to help.