Sonoma’s Aubrey Mae Davis returns from New York to perform with Transcendence

Aubrey Mae Davis moved to Manhattan to make her way onto the stage as a professional actor; now, for a few magical weeks, she’s back in her hometown of Sonoma, performing at Jack London State Historic Park with the Transcendence Theatre Company.

Singing and dancing in the company’s latest production, “Another Op’nin’, Another Show,” Davis exudes enthusiasm about how meaningful it is to be performing professionally in the place she grew up and still loves. Tears glisten as she tries to explain what it’s like to look out from the stage and see her parents, siblings and most especially, her 93-year-old nana, Rita Davis.

The outdoor show starts before darkness falls and for the early songs the audience is in full view. “Usually with the lights you’re singing into a void, but being able to see faces out there makes it so real. The excitement zooms right through you,” she said.

“Connecting with people is what theater is about. It makes life better,” she said.

She’s loved acting ever since childhood, and has performed throughout her life, starting out in Sonoma with Broadway Bound Kids, the Sonoma Ballet Conservatory and Cat Austin productions. She remembers when she was a little girl being a Lost Boy in “Peter Pan,” when Lexi Fridell, another Sonoma-born Broadway success story and Transcendence Theatre performer, played the part of Peter. “I looked up to her and thought she was fantastic and then a few years later I got to be Peter.”

When she was 18, Davis got her first big break, landing a role as the Muppet Zoe in a traveling production of “Sesame Street Live,” and spent a year hopping from city to city, mostly on the East Coast. “From my first show, hearing the kids in the audience go crazy, I was so happy. And I said to myself, ‘OK, this is right. I’m on the right path.’”

When her contract was up she returned to the Bay Area and studied acting for two years at the Meisner Technique Studio with Jim Jarrett in San Francisco, while also earning an associate’s degree at Santa Rosa Junior College. Then she moved to New York City with a friend she made while performing with Broadway by the Bay, and immediately landed a role in a 10-month international tour of “Hairspray.” When the final performance of that show ended in China, she remained abroad for five weeks longer, backpacking through Southeast Asia with actor friends.

“We were like the gypsy travelers. It was a very special trip,” she said.

She has also been Mrs. Claus in the Radio City Christmas Spectacular and most recently had the lead role of Brenda Strong in a national tour of “Catch Me If You Can.”

She’s stayed in many hotels and knows how to make them comfortable, always traveling with her own pillow and framed photographs.

“I have a resume full of packing,” she said. “I’m very good at packing a suitcase.

Davis has lived in the same apartment near Central Park for six years, auditions “all the time,” continues her dance and voice classes, and loves her Big Apple lifestyle.

“I’m not ready to leave New York,” she said, but she waffles at the thought of returning here someday. “When you come from someplace like this it sort of dooms you in the best of ways. And I do want to eventually spend more time with my family.”

She is very close to her parents, her sister Lily and brother Wynfield. And she misses Nana, too, who taught her “You have to believe.”

Her sparkle for life seems to have helped her fit right in at the effervescent Transcendence Theatre Company.

“They have such a passion for what they are doing I wanted to be part of the team,” she said.

She has one solo in the show, singing “Times Like This” from the show “Lucky Stiff,” and is in many of the ensemble performances. “I love their mission at Transcendence to make every day better than the last and to always give back.”

Everything about the Transcendence experience is a joy for Davis, even the timing. When “Another Openin’ Another Show” closes on Sunday, she will stay in town for a few extra days to be here for her favorite Sonoma holiday, the Fourth of July.

“I try to always make it home for the 4th of July, it is simply the best.”

The Transcendence Theatre Company says its mission is to inspire people to live “the best life ever.” And Davis is living life perfectly in tune with that goal.

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