2025/26 Season

Written by ensemble member Rajiv Joseph
Directed by ensemble member K. Todd Freeman
Featuring ensemble members Kate Arrington, Tim Hopper and Caroline Neff

Sep 11 – Nov 2, 2025
In the Downstairs Theater

14 years ago, the infant Theresa was stolen from her parents. Now, the precocious 15-year-old has been rescued, and quickly returned to a family that had nearly forsaken hope—a family she neither recognizes nor understands. In ensemble member Rajiv Joseph’s unflinching play, a miraculous reunion sets the stage for provocative conversations: what makes a house a home? What nightmares are we willing to face for the sake of our children? And ultimately, what part do we play in the grand saga of human existence?

Written by Peter Shaffer
Directed by Robert Falls
Featuring ensemble members Ian Barford, Robert Breuler, Francis Guinan, Yasen Peyankov and Karen Rodriguez

Nov 6, 2025 - Jan 4, 2026
In the Ensemble Theater

Vienna: a cacophony of music and intrigue. The emperor’s composer, Antonio Salieri, holds court until the flamboyant entrance of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: prodigy and wild child. The two artists begin a vicious and thrilling duet, a rivalry that will define their lives and their legacies for years to come. Winner of 5 Tonys and 8 Academy Awards, Amadeus is the ultimate ode to ambition and musical genius, a brilliant requiem for a villain in history—but a hero in his own story. Vi saluto!

Written by August Strindberg
In a new version by Conor McPherson
Directed by ensemble member Yasen Peyankov
Featuring ensemble members Kathryn Erbe and Jeff Perry

Jan 29 - Mar 22, 2026
In the Downstairs Theater

In the high stone tower of an isolated naval fortress, Alice and Edgar approach their 25th wedding anniversary, haunted by shadows of resentment and bitterness. When Alice’s cousin Kurt comes to visit, the delicate balance of their dreary cohabitation falls off its axis, cracks growing into canyons. In Conor McPherson’s riff on August Strindberg's master class in marital warfare, a timeless love triangle waltzes to the surreal rhythm of madness, plunging us all into the deep.

Written by ensemble member Tarell Alvin McCraney
Directed by Awoye Timpo
Featuring ensemble members Alana Arenas, Glenn Davis, Jon Michael Hill and Namir Smallwood

Apr 9 - May 31, 2026
In the Ensemble Theater

This is a story about money. Don’t let them fool you otherwise. When Mac loses his child in a clash with the local police, he is visited by three strangers who advise him to take the city's cash settlement, relocate and forget his grief–or else stay and remain impoverished surrounded by memories of the world his child fought so hard to protect. This world premiere from Academy Award-winning ensemble member Tarell Alvin McCraney explores how grief, justice, sexuality, gender, history and even pride become secondary concerns in the wake of currency.

Written by Mia Chung
Directed by ensemble member Amy Morton
Featuring ensemble members Gary Cole, Audrey Francis and Tim Hopper

Jun 4 - Jul 12, 2026
In the Downstairs Theater

When a prodigal son returns to blue collar New England, his homecoming sets off a spiraling crisis for two families, threatening not only their relationships but their very identities. In Mia Chung’s wildly inventive Catch as Catch Can, three actors take on six roles, bridging generation and gender, in a theatrical tour-de-force that upends the kitchen sink drama and asks what happens when we refuse to play the roles we’re prescribed. Spanning hilarity, stunning virtuosity and outright horror, this ferocious Chicago premiere—featuring an all-ensemble cast—must be witnessed to be believed.