2025-2026 Season Announcement
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
ACTORS THEATRE OF LOUISVILLE ANNOUNCES EXCITING 2025-26 SEASON LINEUP
‘A Christmas Carol’ and Bold New Works Headline a Transformative Year
LOUISVILLE, KY – May 15, 2025 – Actors Theatre of Louisville enthusiastically unveils its 2025-26 season, a lineup of inventive new works, daring theatrical collaborations, and the return of a holiday classic. From Shakespeare to the underworld, the season invites audiences to gather for unforgettable stories rooted in creativity, connection, and community. Explore the full lineup of productions below:
Gender Play, or what you Will
co-created by Will Wilhelm & Erin Murray
directed by Emily Tarquin
performed by Will Wilhelm
part of the Bingham Signature Shakespeare Series
June 13 to 22, 2025 in the Victor Jory Theatre
Will invites you to an impromptu party to celebrate their new friendship with one of the oldest and queerest playwrights of the English language—William Shakespeare! Total besties Will & Will reclaim the Bard’s old plays in all their original homoerotic, cross-dressing, gender-fluid glory in a mystical evening of joy, laughter, tarot, and queer self-discovery.
★ WORLD PREMIERE ★
FDR’s Very Happy Hour
written by Regan Linton
additional contributions by M. Graham Smith
conceived by Regan Linton and M. Graham Smith
directed by M. Graham Smith
October 15 to 26, 2025 in the Bingham Theatre
Tickets on sale to the public 9/2/25
Franklin Delano Roosevelt hosted a cocktail hour nearly every day at the White House, welcoming folks from different backgrounds to sip martinis, laugh, and connect. Inspired by FDR’s love of stirring up drinks and lively conversation to unwind in challenging times, this immersive new play mixes humor and history to build on this tradition for our era, asking how the 32nd President’s triumphs and failures might illuminate our own civic health. Strangers become friends—and perhaps, together, we can find ways to talk with our neighbors again.
This project prioritizes accessibility. Open Captioning, ASL Interpretation, Audio Description, and design of the physical space for wheelchair access are part of the show. (FDR used a wheelchair, after all.)
Wakka Wakka presents
Dead as a Dodo
directed by Gwendolyn Warnock and Kirjan Waage
written by Gwendolyn Warnock and Kirjan Waage
with help from the ensemble
October 30 to November 9, 2025 in the Pamela Brown Auditorium
Tickets on sale to the public 9/2/25
Take a journey through the underworld, a dark realm filled with glittering light and mystery where the dead are very much alive. In this fantastical adventure infused with astonishing puppetry, humor, music, and magical visual effects, two skeleton friends, a dodo and a boy, are drawn into the epic battle between existence and extinction as they fight to stay together. Experience this mesmerizing odyssey from the Obie Award-winning company Wakka Wakka, international leaders in stretching the boundaries of theatrical imagination.
A Christmas Carol
by Charles Dickens
adapted by Lavina Jadhwani
co-directed by Amelia Acosta Powell and Emily Tarquin
December 4 to 21, 2025 in the Pamela Brown Auditorium
Tickets on sale to the public 9/2/25
Scrooge is back in all of his humbug glory! His disdain for Christmas is no match for visits from enchanting ghosts, a lively ensemble of characters, and the music of the season. Honoring Dickens’ classic tale, this acclaimed adaptation embraces generosity, community, and second chances. Bring your friends and family to Actors Theatre of Louisville for a new production celebrating this beloved tradition.
Fiasco Theater and Actors Theatre of Louisville present
Fiasco Theater’s
The Comedy of Errors
by William Shakespeare
created in collaboration with The Saunders Collective
directed by Ben Steinfeld
part of the Bingham Signature Shakespeare Series
March 4 to 15, 2026 in the Bingham Theatre
Tickets on sale to the public 1/20/26
Actors Theatre of Louisville welcomes back New York-based company Fiasco Theater as they combine their joyful, actor-driven approach to Shakespeare with the ingenuity of The Saunders Collective—a family of multi-talented performers, singers, composers and producers. Featuring original music, this collaboration breathes magical new life into the classic madcap farce about two pairs of identical twins, separated in a shipwreck, whose day roaming the same city leads to mistaken identities, cascading misadventures, and gloriously silly comic confusion.
Storytelling (r)Evolution Festival
new work exploring the wonder and complexity of our time
hosted by Actors Theatre of Louisville
in collaboration with the Louisville Fringe Festival
April 2 to 12, 2026 throughout Actors Theatre’s Main Street Complex
Join us for a vibrant grassroots festival celebrating bold new work from artists and companies across our region. Experience stories that spark wonder, challenge convention, and reflect the heart and complexity of Kentucky as our stages come alive with discovery and creative possibility. Gather in community to toast imaginative new art as Actors Theatre shares a project alongside two weekends of performances curated in collaboration with our friends at the Louisville Fringe.
The After Show Show
featuring Dusty Ray Bottoms and May O’Nays
joined by local, touring and youth musical theatre performers
throughout the 2025-2026 Season in the Victor Jory Theatre
The After Show Show is back for the 2025-2026 season with four fabulous performances! Hosted by drag superstars Dusty Ray Bottoms and May O’Nays, this cabaret-meets-musical-theatre spectacular brings together local legends, touring talent, and rising youth performers for an unforgettable staging of sequins, show tunes, and slaying. Grab a cocktail and your friends and get ready to kiki all year long in the Victor Jory Theatre.
"We are thrilled to announce this season full of magic, music, and memories,” shares Interim Artistic Director Amelia Acosta Powell. “From reimagining our beloved holiday tradition of A Christmas Carol, to premiering brand new plays, and welcoming familiar figures like Shakespeare and FDR in fresh, surprising ways, this season has something wondrous to offer for theatre aficionados and first-time audience members alike.”
Tickets for the 2025–26 season go on sale to members starting June 1. Memberships start at zero dollars, making it easy to sign up and get early access. Stay tuned for updates at www.actorstheatre.org or on Instagram at @actorstheatre .
Community Partner Productions:
Faith Works Studios presents
Ragtime: The Musical, a concert
book by Terrence McNally
music by Stephen Flaherty
lyrics by Lynn Ahrens
based on the novel Ragtime by E.L. Doctorow
June 20, 2025 at 7:30 p.m. in the Pamela Brown Auditorium
Tickets on sale to the public 6/9/25
Celebrate Juneteenth with Faith Works Studios as they share a one-night-only concert performance of this sweeping musical whose score blends a lush tapestry of styles, from the ragtime of Harlem to the klezmer music of New York’s Lower East Side, from gorgeous ballads to banjo tunes and beyond. Set at the volatile start of the 20th century, when everything is changing and anything is possible, Ragtime weaves together the stories of three communities—Black, suburban White, and Jewish immigrant—confronting what it means to be American as a new era dawns.
Redline Performing Arts presents
Dreamgirls
book and lyrics by Tom Eyen
music by Henry Krieger
original Broadway production directed and choreographed by Michael Bennett
orchestrations by Harold Wheeler
September 19 to 28, 2025 in the Pamela Brown Auditorium
Tickets on sale to the public 6/19/25
This dazzling Tony Award-winning musical traces the rise of the Dreamettes, a sensational trio inspired by 1960s Motown girl groups like The Supremes, who are on the verge of catching their big break. But can their friendship—and their music—survive as they navigate ambition, romance, and the precarious world of show business along the path to superstardom? Full of onstage joy, backstage drama, and powerhouse vocal performances, Dreamgirls is propelled by an electrifying score that blends R&B, gospel, pop, and the arrival of disco, capturing the sound of a transformative era in American music.
Kentucky Shakespeare presents
Emma
by Kate Hamill
based on the novel by Jane Austen
directed by Amy Attaway
January 9 to 18, 2026 in the Pamela Brown Auditorium
Tickets on sale to the public 11/1/25
Emma Woodhouse is clever, educated, and energetic…and in imminent danger of going mad with idleness. In a time when respectable ladies are expected to sit quietly at home, she desperately needs projects—and prides herself on matchmaking, much to the chagrin of her friend Mr. Knightley. But where Emma’s considerable energies focus, screwball comedy follows… A fresh feminist take on a treasured classic, this Emma breaks down convention, expectation, and even the fourth wall with vibrant comic flair—leading audiences “forward, onward, and upward!”
Previously Announced for June 2025:
In addition to the shows above, Actors Theatre of Louisville is also excited to present the following previously announced events:
78th Tony Awards Watch Party
June 8, 2025 at 8 p.m. in the Pamela Brown Auditorium
New Voices Showcase
featuring the creative work of young artists
from the 2025 Summer Intensive with UNIVERSES
June 28, 2025 at 4 p.m. in the Victor Jory Theatre
About Actors Theatre of Louisville
Actors Theatre of Louisville unlocks human potential, builds community, and enriches quality of life by engaging people in theatre that reflects the wonder and complexity of our time. We are an arts and culture organization as a social enterprise, dedicated to creating a more just and inclusive society. We strive to create a community hub that is a welcoming space of belonging for all, to serve as the State Theatre of Kentucky by activating experiences throughout our state, and to cultivate life-long learning and creative engagement.
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