Join our Season Selection Committee to hear about the titles under consideration for 2026-27 and to offer your feedback! This session will be held January 15, 2026 @ 5pm in Hop Garage 131 (Across from the Courtyard Cafe).
RSVP to our Town Hall, or offer your feedback (if you cant attend) at this link
When choosing play titles to produce, the Selection Selection committee will take into consideration the department's pedagogical core values which include:
- Centering the student experience
- Maximizing learning and growth opportunities for as many students as possible
- Thoroughly considering whose stories we are telling
- Responding to the department's commitment to majors and minors
- Identifying connections to curriculum
The following 7 titles are the finalists for our 2026 - 2027 season.
Assuming there are no unforeseen issues with securing the necessary rights, the following are the finalists for next season.
Fall 2026 - Classic Play
Cloud Nine by Caryl Churchill - A two-act play exploring gender, sexuality, and colonialism. Act One is set in Victorian Africa with cross-gender casting to expose oppression; Act Two jumps to 1970s London where characters navigate sexual liberation, showing how colonial power dynamics shape contemporary identity. One of Caryl Churchill's most prominent works, an important playwright of the 20 and 21 centuries. Could be covered in our history sequence. Cast of 8.
The Cherry Orchard by Anton Chekov (adapted by Benedict Andrews) - An aristocratic Russian family faces financial ruin as their estate is auctioned. Unable to accept practical solutions, they lose everything to a former serf's son, symbolizing the end of the old order and rise of capitalism through melancholy tragicomedy. This particular translation was produced at the Donmar theatre in London and later in NY. The translation/adaption makes Chekhov' work extraordinarily accessible. It is a funny and moving work with great acting and design challenges. This play could also be taught in our theater history classes. The play deals with socioeconomic forces that seem relevant today - the decline of the aristocracy class and economic upheaval. But the primary reason for doing this is the incredible challenge for our acting students. And it's a large cast of 13 with the possibility of an ensemble.
It Can't Happen Here by Sinclair Lewis (adapted by Taccone and Cohen) - Populist demagogue Buzz Windrip wins the 1936 election and establishes a fascist dictatorship. Vermont editor Doremus Jessup joins the resistance after witnessing democracy's collapse, in this warning about authoritarianism emerging through democratic means. Could not be more relevant to the state of America today. Adapted from the Sinclair Lewis dystopian play about the rise of Facism in the US. Good size cast 12 -14 actors play multiple characters. Historically important play. Good acting challenges, deeply relevant. Could be covered in our history sequence.
Winter 2027 - World Context
The River Bride by Marisela Treviño Orta - Set in a Brazilian Amazon village, two sisters face upheaval when a mysterious stranger is pulled from the river days before one's wedding. Inspired by Amazonian folklore, it explores love, desire, loyalty, and choosing one's path. A lovely and lyrical play from Brazil that offers strong acting challenges (cast - 6). Taken from Brazilian Folklore - poetic and simple. With relevant themes of love, sacrifice, regret. A romantic piece - that is intimate and moving.
Indecent by Paula Vogel - Chronicles the true story of "God of Vengeance," a 1923 Yiddish play featuring lesbian characters that led to obscenity arrests. With klezmer music and ensemble casting, it explores Jewish identity, antisemitism, homophobia, censorship, and theater's power to tell the truth. The play focuses on Yiddish Theater, cast of 7. A play within a play. Themes of immigrants, homophobia, censorship and antisemitism. A relevant work written by a brilliant playwright. A real challenge for actors - particularly with some yiddish being spoken. The work explores elements of theater history not normally covered in the classroom. Would be very interesting against our history courses as well as a number of departments on campus.
The Language of Mermaids by Mariana de Althaus - The play follows a wealthy, superficial family who gather for drinks on a Peruvian beach, ignoring weather warnings about an impending tsunami, when suddenly a huge wave washes up a mermaid who speaks in Quechua, a language they don't understand. Unlike the typical blonde, fair-skinned mermaid of Western fantasy, this mermaid is "chola" - with Andean features, dark hair, brown skin, and speaks Quechua - and her presence unleashes the underlying tensions and exposes the hidden prejudices of each family member. The play uses corrosive humor and magical realism to confront Peru's social problems including machismo, classism, racism, discrimination, homophobia, hypocrisy, and "choleo" (racial and class-based prejudice that marginalizes Indigenous and darker-skinned Peruvians). Through the fantastical figure of this mestiza mermaid and her song, the play confronts not only the characters' practices and discourse but also their Western worldview, their subaltern condition, and the frenetic noise of capital before true horror arrives.
The Imposter by Rodolfo Usigli - The play centers on César Rubio, an unemployed history professor who moves with his struggling family to a small town in northern Mexico, where a visiting Harvard professor mistakes him for a missing revolutionary hero of the same name. Instead of correcting the error, César sees an opportunity and attempts to capitalize on the other man's fame, becoming consumed by this lie against his family's wishes, which ultimately leads to his death. The play uses this imposture to explore themes of identity, heroism, corruption, and Mexican national character in the aftermath of the Revolution, questioning the false mythology surrounding revolutionary heroes and the hypocrisy of Mexican politics.
You can review our finalist titles here. (Dartmouth Login Required).