April 20, 21, 27 & 28, 2024; May 4 & 5, 2024
Ramona Bowl
27400 Ramona Bowl Rd.
Hemet, CA
(951) 658-3111
ramonabowl.com
Cost: $25-65
Ramona is an outdoor play in the Ramon Bowl set in a valley in Hemet at the foot of the San Jacinto mountains. The play is based on a fictional novel written over 100 years ago by Helen Hunt Jackson in 1884. The play adaptation is set to Southern California and a heroine named Ramona.
The canyon where the pageant takes place was altered in 1988. The lower area was filled in, creating a new stage area that moved the action closer to the audience. Many scenes are still played up on the hillside, on trails and clearings created in the 1920s and '30s. (The Ramona Bowl also hosts top name concerts, plays and even local high school graduations during the year.)
The story: A mixed-race Scots-Native American orphan girl, Ramona, is taken in by a Mexican American woman who never loves her adopted child because of Ramona's mixed blood. When Ramona falls in love with Alessandro, a young Indian sheepherder and the son of Pablo Assis, the chief of a tribe, Senora Moreno is outraged. She doesn't want her half-Indian "daughter" to marry an Indian. Ramona realizes that Senora Moreno has never loved her and she elopes with Alessandro. They face constant hardship, chased from their land, their tools stolen and encroachment by the new immigrants constantly forcing them into further isolation. They have a child, Ramona, but unfortunately Allesandro's mental health deteriorates. He is shot and killed. Ramona takes her daughter of the same name back to the home she knew with Senora Moreno.
She marries Moreno's son who is smitten by her and her child. Ramona bears several children to her new husband, but young Ramona remains their favorite.
Events are not guaranteed. It is your responsibility to confirm before going.