James Henry Trotter has it rough. His parents are dead, and he lives with his awful aunts Sponge and Spiker—two of the meanest people on earth. But then something wonderful happens. A peach on a tree in his garden begins to grow, and grow, and grow, and inside are seven unusual insects ready to take James on adventures.
The stage adaptation of Roald Dahl’s children’s classic James and the Giant Peach returns to the main stage of Cuesta College’s Cultural and Performing Arts Center on Friday, Jan. 16 (7 p.m.), and Saturday and Sunday, Jan. 17 and 18 (1 p.m.; $25 general or $15 for children 12 and under at tickets.cuesta.edu).
Originally mounted last October in the CPAC’s Experimental Theater, the play was recently selected to compete at the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival regional competition—one of just four selected plays—in Glendale from Feb. 10 to 14.
Cuesta has also launched a crowdfunding campaign to offset “production, travel, lodging, and transportation expenses,” according to the college. “All donations are being matched dollar-for-dollar up to $5,000, doubling the impact of each gift and helping ensure every student can participate in this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.”
The donation site is givelively.org, but the easiest way there is to plug “Cuesta Foundation donation James and the Giant Peach” into Google. Δ
This article appears in Jan 15-22, 2026.