A traveling circus built partly on a San Diego dining room table finally rolls into its hometown this week. Water for Elephants, the Tony-nominated musical about a Depression-era circus veterinarian, opens its first San Diego engagement tomorrow at the San Diego Civic Theatre, bringing with it more than 75 costumes designed by local theater artist David I. Reynoso.
Reynoso, a San Diego-based producer, costume designer and scenic designer, earned a Tony Award nomination for his work on the musical, one of seven nominations the production received during its Broadway run, according to The San Diego Union-Tribune. That Broadway staging, directed by Jessica Stone, ran for more than 300 performances at the Imperial Theatre after opening in March 2024, according to Wikipedia. The show, with a book by Rick Elice and music by PigPen Theatre Co., is based on Sara Gruen's 2006 novel, which spent more than four years on The New York Times bestseller list before its 2011 film adaptation starring Reese Witherspoon and Robert Pattinson.
From a Tryout in Atlanta to a Homecoming Run
Stone invited Reynoso to join the production during its 2023 out-of-town tryout at Atlanta's Alliance Theatre, the Union-Tribune's report notes. The two had a history together: Reynoso and director Sam Pinkleton began collaborating in 2019 on a production of Richard O'Brien's The Rocky Horror Show for American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco, a project that was later shelved by the COVID-19 pandemic. Reynoso, who was also nominated for costume design of a musical for that Rocky Horror production, reunited with Pinkleton in 2024 for La Cage aux Folles at Pasadena Playhouse.
Stone's own path has since brought her back to San Diego's theater scene in a bigger way. In November 2025, La Jolla Playhouse named the two-time Tony-nominated director its new artistic director, succeeding Christopher Ashley starting in early 2026, according to KPBS. Stone earned Tony nominations for directing both Kimberly Akimbo and Water for Elephants, giving the touring circus musical an unusually direct tie to San Diego's premier regional theater.
Costumes Built for Acrobatics, Not Just Applause
The musical follows Jacob Jankowski, who joined the circus at age 23, looking back on his early days as a veterinarian for a traveling circus during the Great Depression. Much of the first act unfolds outside the performance tent, and the story centers in part on Marlena, an equestrian acrobat who is August's wife. Reynoso designed hyper-engineered costumes able to withstand acrobatics and dance, including circus worker overalls with cloth buttons, no metal fittings, and hidden reinforced stretch fabric sewn into the legs to survive nightly physical performance.
His work extended well beyond the human cast. Reynoso created animal costumes including an ostrich, a peacock, an orangutan, and a unicycle-riding bear, combining semi-puppet and semi-costume elements. Other looks lean the opposite direction: simple, patched and faded outfits for circus laborers meant to look worn from years on the road. Beyond his Tony nomination for this production, Reynoso previously won an Obie Award for his costume designs on Punchdrunk's immersive hit Sleep No More, and per the Folger Shakespeare Library, has designed for major productions in London, New York, Shanghai and Seoul.
A Designer Rooted in San Diego's Experimental Theater Scene
Reynoso's ties to San Diego run deeper than a single touring show. Through his San Diego-based immersive theater company Optika Moderna, he has created and directed local productions including Waking La Llorona, Portaleza, Las Quinceañeras, and La Lucha, the latter co-presented in 2023 by La Jolla Playhouse and the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, according to Krop's profile of his design work. He hopes to create another show for Optika Moderna, which specializes in interactive, multisensory installations. Reynoso, who has two children ages 9 and 12, said his community in San Diego will finally get to see the circus he built, per the Union-Tribune's reporting.
His next local project is already lined up: Reynoso will design costumes for A Black-Billed Cuckoo, a world-premiere bird-watching-themed play by Mat Smart, at La Jolla Playhouse next month. At this year's Tony Awards, Qween Jean won the 2026 award for costume design for Cats: The Jellicle Ball, the category Reynoso had been nominated in for Water for Elephants.
When and Where to See It
The touring production, which recently marked its one-year anniversary on the road, will visit San Diego for the first time at the San Diego Civic Theatre, 1100 Third Ave. downtown. Performances run Tuesday and Wednesday at 7 p.m., Thursday at 7:30 p.m., Friday at 8 p.m., Saturday at 2 p.m. and 8 p.m., and Sunday at 1 p.m. and 6:30 p.m., with tickets starting at $68. The Civic Theatre, which opened in 1965 and is owned by the City of San Diego, is operated by the nonprofit San Diego Theatres and is the region's largest performing arts venue with 2,967 seats, according to Broadway San Diego.
The San Diego run is part of Broadway San Diego's 48th season, which also includes touring productions of Hell's Kitchen and The Phantom of the Opera. San Diego Theatres and Broadway San Diego caution buyers that sandiegotheatres.org, broadwaysd.com and Ticketmaster remain the only authorized vendors for the Civic Theatre, warning that third-party brokers frequently list inflated or invalid resale tickets for high-demand touring shows. After San Diego, the national tour continues up the coast, with an earlier Hoodline report noting the production is booked at San Francisco's Orpheum Theatre from November 24 to 29.
The Civic Theatre run also arrives alongside a broader downtown transformation. San Diego's Civic Center Plaza, which surrounds City Hall and the theater, is undergoing a cultural revitalization initiative under Mayor Todd Gloria, though how that ongoing construction might affect patron traffic and theater accessibility during major Broadway San Diego engagements remains an open question for local audiences heading downtown this week.
