No, Portland isn’t “war-ravaged” – unless a full menu of spicy new plays counts as insurrection.

This month, Fuse Theatre Ensemble will stage the world premiere of Portland playwright Mikki Gillette’s first musical, Magnetic Electric, a story featuring a trans romance and a right-wing provocateur, and Shaking the Tree Theatre is examining contemporary life – and resistance – via the world of fairy tales with its production of Dancing on the Sabbath, while Profile Theatre is opening its season with Witch, Jen Silverman’s new deal-with-the-devil drama.  

Meanwhile, downstate, the Oregon Shakespeare Festival is offering its last performances for this season and Rogue Theater in Ashland is staging Waiting for Godot.

And for folks who like their theater infused with a dash of fear, check out Stage Fright Festival’s queer horror at CoHo Theatre, I Am Frankenstein at Magenta Theater in Vancouver, Dracula at Lakewood Theatre, and the immersive Frankenstein at Experience Theatre Project, while young masqueraders are invited to join the parade at Northwest Children’s Theatre’s annual Halloween Ball.

In other words, October is the month to savor the taste of tempting shows on offer throughout Oregon – no pumpkin latte required.

“Magnetic Electric”: Mikki Gillette’s first musical premieres at Fuse Theatre Ensemble.

“I feel stressed when I don’t have new ideas,” playwright Mikki Gillette says.

Luckily, a dearth of ideas hasn’t been a problem for one of Portland’s most prolific writers. Since 2022, eight of Gillette’s plays have enjoyed fully staged productions, and many others have been presented as readings at various theaters, including Twilight Theater Company’s Mikki Gillette Reading Series.

Now her first musical, Magnetic Electric, is premiering at Fuse Theatre Ensemble on October 9, and we recently met on Zoom to talk about it.

“It’s sort of funny because I don’t have musical talent,” Gillette says. “I can’t really hear pitch, and my voice isn’t very good, and I would try to learn guitar and never could.”

She hadn’t thought of trying her hand at the genre until she got to know Katherine Goforth, an opera singer and composer. “She said, ‘If you ever want to do a musical, let me know,’ so I wrote an outline, and we started working on it together.”

They didn’t continue with the project, but Gillette liked what she’d written so far and ultimately collaborated with the composer Ash, who set her lyrics to music in a way that expanded them: “That was really fun. They’d send me demos and I’d think, ‘Oh my gosh, I wrote this and now it sounds like a song.’ I’ll be walking around with a song in my head, and I’ll be like, ‘Oh wait, I wrote the words to that,’ which has never happened before. It’s a real gift.”

In a way, the seeds of Gillette’s nonmusical playwriting career – and her ability to craft sharp and colorful dialogue – were planted when she was a kid. She wasn’t in love with reading or writing fiction, but she did have conversations running through her head: “If I was doing something, I’d be acting like I was in a story.”

Later, as an English major at UCLA, she knew she wanted to be a writer and learned a lot about storytelling from reading Shakespeare and Russian writers such as Dostoevsky. She also took a playwriting class there, and says she wrote “screenplays that weren’t very good.”

Her work really got on a roll, though, at the end of 2010, when she started transitioning. “I had a conflicted relationship with writing before that – like I wanted somehow to shape it or I wanted it to not reveal things, and it made it kind of an uncomfortable process. I would like some of the stuff I was writing, but I’d just constantly revise,” she says.

“It wasn’t until I was older that I was able to have a better relationship with my imagination and felt comfortable and maybe confident to share it. I mean, there’s always a lot of anxiety, but it felt more like this is something I think people could watch and hopefully like.”

Writing a musical this time around turned out to be a fun new challenge: “There has to be room for this emotional expression through the song, so there’s a different quality to the writing. It deals with serious subjects, but it somehow feels a little lighter than the dramas I write.”

Described in its press as a “powder keg of emotions and music,” Magnetic Electric, which is directed by Ruby Welch, centers on a trans woman, Celine (Alexis Pilo), who owns a college bar where she performs her own music. The drama heats up when a romance with Rain (Cosmo Reynolds), a new adjunct professor, causes problems in Celine’s relationship with Cole (Michael Hammerstrom) … and when Archer (John Bruner), a white nationalist provocateur, targets her venue.

Gillette says it’s not easy to confront a hate-spewing character like Archer, and when Fuse had a reading of the play last June, everyone in the room was affected. “Now it feels even worse because what Archer says is basically what the federal government says, which is really unnerving.”

At the same time, she says, “The play does have humor. It has romance. There are politics also, but it’s not like a heavy night at the theater, and it’s not like eating your vegetables. I think it’s a pretty entertaining play, and Alexis is a great singer, and I think the songs are going to really impress people.”

Gillette points out that although there are statues of Shakespeare and Dostoevsky, those writers are never stuffy. “To me, they’re the most entertaining people. It always feels like you’re in the action, and you’re hearing a really good storyteller,” she says. “I hope some of that spirit comes through in this play.”

Because Gillette writes plays about trans characters – and creates roles for trans actors – ArtsWatcher Bobby Bermea called her “the Joan of Arc of the trans community in the Portland theater scene.” Bermea wrote that with shows like her Mimetic Desire, Blonde on a Bum Trip and The Queers, “Gillette has blazed her own path over the past decade or so, creating a veritable canon of plays that explore the spectrum of what it means to exist as a trans person in the 21st century. “

While Gillette appreciates Bermea’s compliment, she doesn’t see herself as heroic. “I have goals. I definitely have things I’d love to see happen around my writing, but usually when I’m in the middle of it, I’m just excited about what I’m writing, and I want to share it with the world. To do that, you come in partnership with all these other people who are doing things you can’t do. It feels like an honor that other people want to help bring something to life.”

Some of that help has come from Rusty Tennant, Fuse Theatre’s artistic director, who was the first person to share her work, at the company’s OUTwright Festival.

Asae Dean (co-founder of Salt and Sage), and Sarah Andrews (who co-founded Crave Theatre Company) have also worked with her … and respected her vision. “With me, it’s going to go where it’s going to go, and people can kind of help me get there,” Gillette says. “It’s a real gift when people want to collaborate that way.”

Because she’s written and produced so many plays in the last decade, I was curious about what drives Gillette. She says that comes from “having this kind of dream or ambition when I was young and feeling like it was thwarted along the way. Then suddenly to have it open up again, I just have so much energy around it.”

She also appreciates that writing gives her a chance to learn. “I either learn something about earlier times of my life that I might be drawing from or how I feel about things that are going on now, so to me there’s just a lot of discovery. Nothing feels quite as exciting as writing does or sharing my writing does. As long as I feel that way, I’m going to keep going.”

Magnetic Electric will be onstage at Fuse Theatre Ensemble, Oct. 9-Nov. 2. Find schedules and tickets here.

More opening shows

Stage Fright Festival at CoHo Theatre, Oct. 9-19.

With an invitation to “Come scream with us,” this festival’s mission is to build and bond communities by producing original horror theater and comedy by the highest quality professional and emerging independent artists, focusing on trans and queer creators and audiences.

The fourth annual event will be at CoHo Theatre, 2257 N.W. Raleigh St., Portland, with daily performances, most of which are 60 minutes, with a mixture of full-length productions, “double features” of shorter scares, script readings, interactive installations, a mask-making workshop, and a variety of performances by both local and international talent.

Mainstage festival performances include:

A Grave Mistake, by A Little Bit Off. The performance from this award-winning duo features botched seances, bungled grave robbing, and a ghostly curse plague on two inept swindlers.

Possession, by Zoe Brouwer. In desperate need of company, an isolated shut-in summons a demon.

You’re the One In Here, by Sophina Flores and Daye Thomas. A new musical with lyrics by Flores and music by Thomas. Three siblings live in a house where shadows stretch for too long, doors don’t lead where they should, and something is always watching, waiting. 

Nancy Boys, by Nick and Justin Condon. Playing plucky young detectives Frank and Joe Nancy, married duo Nick and Justin Condon completely improvise a mystery and play all the suspects in a campy sendup of classic Americana. 

Soli-scare, by Nick Condon. A solo improvised horror musical comedy.

The Innkeeper, by Basement Stair Collective. Taking inspiration from Japanese folklore, this group uses its signature style of movement, puppetry and play to tell a tale where a traveler suspects there is more to their hosts than meets the eye.

LARRY, by Candy Roberts. When the band doesn’t arrive, tech guy Larry tries his darndest to convince the audience that he can do the show.

Find schedules and tickets here.

Design for Living, Imago Theatre, Oct. 10-26.

Noel Coward’s polyamorous story involving a painter, a playwright, and the woman they both love was banned in England but was a hit in the U.S. when it opened on Broadway in 1933. As Imago’s press states, the farce is “more than a ménage à trois of brilliant banter” – it’s also “a celebration of embracing one’s true self, regardless of society’s conventions and sexual norms.” Directed by Jerry Mouawad, this production features actors KJ Syder, Joe Cullen, and Caitlin Rose in the roles originated by Coward and his friends, Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne.

Light Opera of Portland’s The Yeomen of the Guard, Oct. 10-26.

To celebrate its 10th anniversary, Light Opera of Portland is performing one of Gilbert & Sullivan’s most acclaimed works, renowned for its compelling blend of drama, romance, and humor. Set in the Tower of London, the operetta weaves a tale of intrigue, love, and mistaken identities. The production will feature a cast of local performers, accompanied by a live orchestra, bringing to life the appealing melodies and witty dialogue that have entertained audiences since its first performance in London on October 3, 1888.

Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, Gallery Theatre in McMinnville, Oct. 10-26.

Edward Albee’s 1963 Tony award-winning play employs edgy banter with an undercurrent of tragedy. When long-married Martha and George host a young professor, Nick, and his naïve bride, Honey, for drinks, the night turns into a burn-down-the-house verbal brawl. Directed by David Bates.

STAGES Youth Academy’s SIX, the Musical, Teen Edition, Vault Theatre in Hillsboro, Oct. 10-19.

The six wives of Henry VIII come alive with the help of current pop artists, including Beyoncé, Adele, Nicki Minaj, Rihanna, Ariana Grande and Alicia Keys in this Tony award-winning musical by Toby Marlow and Lucy Moss. SIX is a modern retelling with a concert-style format where the queens take turns recounting the trials they faced while married to the king. “This cast includes six powerhouse performers ready to wow the crowd with their vocals, on-stage chemistry, and choreography,” says director Derek Brown. The show starts out as a lively and sometimes catty competition, debating whose life was the most tragic, and the women ultimately set out to reclaim their individual identities.

Dancing on the Sabbath, Shaking the Tree Theatre, Oct. 11-Nov. 8.

In this intriguing take on the Grimm Brothers’ “The Twelve Dancing Princesses,” the most incorrigible, unruly princesses are sent to the Center of Compliance to master the art of obedience. Of the King’s twelve daughters, five have been declared unmarriageable and must be retrained to become “proper” wives. But something is amiss at the Center, and even under lock and key, the princesses are up to no good. “In our piece, dancing is used as a potent metaphor for the many aspects of life, particularly for women, that they may feel compelled to keep hidden or pursue secretly,” says Shaking the Tree’s press. Directed by Samantha Van Der Merwe, with choreography by Laura Cannon and featuring Sammy Rat Rios, Joellen Sweeney, Olivia Mathews, Kailey Rhodes, and Kayla Hanson as the princesses.

The Halloween Ball, Northwest Children’s Theatre, Oct. 11-26.

A costume parade, interactive story time, dance party, and sing-a-long await young masqueraders at this annual event. Halloween treats will also be available to purchase. Saturdays and Sundays at 10 a.m., 12:30 p.m. & 3 p.m. Most enjoyed by ages 4 and up.

Ashland New Plays Festival, Oct. 15-19.

ANPF will be presenting dramatic readings of four new plays for the 2025 Fall Festival: Tipping Point by Naya James Sonnad, In Case of Bruising by Kamila Boga, Pretend It’s Pretend by Emma Watkins, and Better by Vince Gatton. All performances will take place at Southern Oregon University’s Main Stage Theatre, 491 S. Mountain Ave., Ashland. Each performance will be followed by a talkback with the playwright. Check here for schedules and tickets. 

Rogue Theatre’s Waiting for Godot, Oct. 15 –Nov. 2.

This production of Samuel Beckett’s classic play features actor Jonathan Haugen, who worked 17 seasons as a member of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. All performances are at 1 p.m. at Grizzly Peak Winery in Ashland.

Alibrijes, Milagro Theatre, Oct. 15-Nov. 9.

This comedy about the life and almost death of Pedro Linares, original creator of alebrijes (fantastical folk-art sculptures), reveals art’s capacity to transcend mortality. Audiences will follow Pedro on his nostalgic visit to Mexico City in 1936, discover his special relationship to his animal totems, and join him in his journey through a psychedelic Oaxacan underworld. Written by Beorgina Escobar and directed by Juliana Morales Carreño. Recommended for Ages 12+.

Witch, Profile Theatre, Oct. 16 – Nov. 2 (opens Oct. 18).

Witch, Jen Silverman’s sharp, subversive retelling of a Jacobean drama, follows a charming devil who arrives in the quiet village of Edmonton and bargains for the souls of its residents in exchange for their darkest wishes. Unexpected passions flare, alliances are formed, and the village is forever changed. “Witch reinvigorated and inspired me with its invitation to imagine hope in a hopeless time,” says Profile’s Artistic Director Josh Hecht, who is directing the play. “At a time when producing theater has never been harder, reading Witch fed the need to resist despair however we can. That resistance has never been more necessary. Silverman’s ability to do so with theatrical bravura, complexity and sly humor is a tribute to their talent.”

Ride the Cyclone, Twilight Theatre, Oct. 16 –Nov. 2 (opens Oct. 17).

In this darkly comic musical, the lives of six teenagers from a Canadian chamber choir are cut short in a freak accident aboard a roller coaster. When they awake in limbo, a mechanical fortune teller invites each to tell a story to win a prize like no other – the chance to return to life. By Jacob Richmond & Brooke Maxwell and directed by Dorina Toner, with choreography by Alicia Turvin.

Tesla City Stories presents The Wraith, Oct. 17.

The live vintage radio show at the Old Church Concert Hall is a thriller featuring a ghostly crime-fighter.

Spark Plug Theatre, Dead Man’s Cell Phone, Oct 17-Nov. 2.

Performances of this production sold out so quickly that two more dates – Nov. 1 and 2 – have been added. An incessantly ringing cell phone in a quiet café. A stranger at the next table who has had enough. And a dead man – with a lot of loose ends. So begins Dead Man’s Cell Phone, a comedy by MacArthur “Genius” Grant recipient and Pulitzer Prize finalist Sarah Ruhl. A work about how we memorialize the dead – and how that remembering changes us – it is the odyssey of a woman forced to confront her own assumptions about morality, redemption, and the need to connect in a technologically obsessed world.

Twelfth Night, Red Octopus Theatre in Newport, Oct. 17-Nov. 2.

Stranded on the coast of Illyria, the quick-witted Viola assumes the disguise of a page boy for Duke Orsino and finds herself at the center of a love triangle in which identity, passion, and gender all threaten to come undone in one of Shakespeare’s most popular plays. Directed by Milo Graamans.

Honk Jr. the Musical, HART Theatre in Hillsboro, Oct. 17-Nov. 2.

This youth production for all ages is based on Hans Christian Andersen’s “The Ugly Duckling.” Two Mallard parents, Drake and Ida, hatch a chick who looks nothing like his siblings and who makes a strange “honk” sound instead of the expected quack. Book and lyrics by Anthony Drewe, with music by George Stiles. Directed by Don Cleland.

Once, Greenhouse Cabaret in Bend, Oct. 17-Nov.15.

Based on the film of the same name, this musical weaves the ethereal music of Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova into a tapestry of love and longing, as a chance encounter between an Irish musician and a Czech immigrant turns into a meaningful connection. Los Angeles actor Will Graziano leads the mostly Central Oregon cast, including singer/songwriter Beverly Anderson. 

Ping & Woof Opera presents The Medium at University of Portland, Oct. 18 & 19.

The company, which offers “opera for those who don’t yet know they love it,” opens its 11th season with Gian Carlo Menotti’s chilling one-act, inviting audiences into a world where the line between the living and the dead is dangerously blurred. Runtime is approximately 75 minutes, with one 15 minute intermission. Admission is donation-based; no ticket required.

Miz Kitty’s Parlour October Extravaganza, Oct. 18 at 7 pm.

Miz Kitty & friends are back at The Mission Theater, 1624 NW. Glisan St. in Portland, for a sassy vaudeville-style show featuring music, comedy, live painting, juggling, dance, and door prizes. Suggested for ages 18+.

Continuing shows

Orange Flower Water, 100 Lives Repertory, through Oct. 12.

This “gripping, sexy and surprisingly funny glimpse behind the closed doors of two married couples” is the debut production of a new Portland theater company.

Triangle, Broadway Rose Theatre Company, through Oct. 12.

This brilliant production blends romances from both 1911 and 2011 in the same building. ArtsWatch reviewed it here.

The Guy Who Didn’t Like Musicals, Ten Fifteen Theater in Astoria, through Oct. 18.

Comedy, music and a touch of horror mix in this show by Matt and Nick Lang. Everything in Hatchetfield is normal until a musical pandemic sweeps the city, causing people to sing and dance. Paul (an average guy who doesn’t like musicals) and his friends must stop this musical apocalypse and fight for humanity’s future.

I Am Frankenstein, Magenta Theater, through Oct. 19.

John Harman’s adaptation unearths two creatures who were tortured and abandoned by their makers: Victor’s famous monster, and the teenage writer Mary Shelley herself. A highly theatrical retelling of Shelley’s classic, the play at Magenta Theater in Vancouver, Wash., adds two principal characters: a haunting chorus known as The Blackbirds, and the troubled Mary Shelley, the story’s creative force. Directed by Darin Dahms.

Dracula, Lakewood Theatre, through Oct. 19.

An adaptation of Bram Stoker’s classic vampire novel. The talented Leif Norby stars, and Mark Pierce directs. Recommended for ages 12+.

Shake&Pop’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Odd Fellows Lodge in Milwaukie, through Oct. 25.

This reimagined Midsummer keeps the poetry, comedy, and mischief of the original while inviting audiences into a world that’s inclusive and contemporary. According to Shake&Pop’s press, “the ‘cool auntie’ of Shakespeare’s plays just got a whole lot cooler.”

A Comedy of Tenors, Pentacle Theatre in Salem, through Oct. 25.

This farce by award-winning playwright Ken Ludwig takes place in 1930s Paris, where Henry Saunders is producing the concert of the century while also keeping Italian superstar Tito Merelli and his hot-blooded wife, Maria, from causing chaos.

Primary Trust, Portland Center Stage, through Oct. 26.

Kenneth has spent his life in the small town of Cranberry, New York, but when he’s laid off from his job at a small bookstore,  he has to find the courage to get out in the world and embrace change in Eboni Booth’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play.

The Bed Trick, Artists Repertory Theatre, through Oct. 26.

This show by Seattle’s Keiko Green kicks off Artists Rep’s 2025-26 season of new plays written by women with roots in the Pacific Northwest. Called a “frisky comedy” and “a bedroom farce for the social media age,” the play was inspired by Green’s experience playing Helena in All’s Well That Ends Well and promises to dive into the complexities of sex, ethics, and Shakespeare.

Paradise Blue, Portland Playhouse, through Nov. 2.

In this jazz-infused show of Black excellence, Blue (Mikell Sapp), a gifted trumpeter, struggles to keep his beloved jazz club alive in 1949. According to ArtsWatcher Darleen Ortega, the production is not to be missed.

Frankenstein, Experience Theatre Project, through Nov. 2.

The immersive production is a blend of Mary Shelley’s 19^th-century novel, German Expressionism, and the 1931 Boris Karloff film.

Theater news

Portland’s Actors Conservatory discontinues its two-year program; artistic director opens a new space.

Due to financial considerations, The Actors Conservatory has decided to discontinue its Two-Year Conservatory Program. Among the alumni of the program are Kerrie Darner, Alex Albrecht, and Brave.

According to an announcement on social media, “We are currently reorganizing The Actors Conservatory to determine whether the Studio Program can be maintained. We are still committed to our original mission of providing rigorous actor training. How this will look in the future is still being explored.”

Meanwhile, Michael Mendelson, who became the managing artistic director at the conservatory in 2022 and is the founding artistic director of the Portland Shakespeare Project, is teaching at his new space, InSTUDIO 255, which he says “strives to create a welcoming, comfortable and supportive environment in which you are able to be your best creative self.”

Mendelson’s current Monday-night Intermediate/Advanced Scene Study class is full, but he’ll be teaching a daytime Beginning/Intermediate Scene Study class on Tuesdays in November, from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. He’s also taking on private coaching students. 

InSTUDIO 255 will also be offering a two-part Drag-Performance, Politic and Protest class led by Alec Lugo (aka Quesa D’Mondays) that focuses on performance, culminating in a special drag show. Part 1 will focus on historical context and also bring in local guest artists who’ve made a significant contribution to Portland’s drag culture. Part 2 will begin in early 2026. 

The space is at 1028 S.E. Water Avenue, Suite #255 in Portland, and is available for classes, private coaching, rehearsals for individuals and companies, auditions, meetings, small events, and visual art. There will be an open house in late October or early November. For questions about classes or booking the space and to subscribe to the mailing list, contact Michael at mvmendelson1@gmail.com.

Oregon Shakespeare Festival: Time to see a few more 2025 performances … and make plans to see the 2026 season.

Ashland’s 2025 OSF season is coming to a close in the next few weeks. Meanwhile, members can take advantage of a 2026 presale. The shows next year will include A Midsummer Night’s Dream; Come From Away by Irene Sankoff and David Hein; A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry; Yellow Face by David Henry Hwang; You Are Cordially Invited to the End of the World! by Keiko Green; August Wilson’s King Hedley II; Smote This, a Comedy About God…and Other Serious $H*T, created and performed by Rodney Gardiner; The Taming of the Shrew; Henry IV, Part One; and Emma by Kate Hamill.

Sign-ups open through Oct. 27 for Fertile Ground’s partner venue program.

The partner venue program lets Fertile Ground Producers present work in an established, well-resourced venue at reduced cost, with both artistic and staffing support. Venues are available through lottery selection. While applicants are asked to select the venue they think best fits their project’s needs, lottery placement is based on the Fertile Ground team’s assessment of each project’s suitability for the requested venue.

This year’s partners include Back Door Theatre, 21ten Theatre, The Boiler Room Theatre, and Fool House Studio. Producers can submit a venue application for one project through Oct. 27. Venue placements will be announced Nov. 7. For those working on more than one project, contact festival director Tamara Carroll at fertileground@portlandtheatre.com to determine the venue eligibility of both projects.

Mt. Hood Repertory Theatre announces first full season in more than a decade.

For the first time in more than 10 years, Mt. Hood Repertory Theatre is offering three shows for the 2025/2026 season, including True West by Sam Shepard, The Life of Galileo by Bertolt Brecht, and Hospitality Suite by Roger Rueff. True West and Hospitality Suite will be onstage at Wyrd Hut, 4704 S.E. 65th Ave in Portland, and Galileo will be presented at OMSI, the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry, 1945 S.E. Water Ave. The new season follows a successful run of the company’s production of Silent Sky at OMSI last spring.

PHAME Academy finds a new home in Southeast Portland.

After 41 years, Portland’s longest-standing arts academy for adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities now has a permanent home at The Robin, in the Ladd’s Addition neighborhood of Southeast Portland, where it will continue to provide PHAME students a chance to learn new skills, take creative risks, and build community.

The academy is also celebrating the appointment of Carrie Siahpush as its new executive director, who brings more than 15 years of leadership experience across cultural and social service organizations in the Pacific Northwest. “I’m truly honored to join the PHAME team at such an exciting and pivotal time,” says Siahpush. “With the opening of our new building, there is so much creative energy and possibility – there couldn’t be a better moment to become part of this community.”

Twilight Theater Company’s new season meets audiences at the edge.

Since its conception Twilight Theater Company has expanded the possibilities of what community theater can be, gravitating towards fresh, edgy material. Now, with a new tagline – “meet us at the edge” has replaced “theater with an edge” – the company’s 2026 season will include Marmalade by Noah Haidle (Jan. 22-Feb. 8); One Man, Two Guvnors by Richard Bean (Mar. 20-Apr. 5); Next to Normal by Tom Kitt and Brian Yorkey (May 22-June 14); The Dark Stuff  by Mikki Gillette (Aug. 20-Sept. 6); Bad Seed  by Maxwell Anderson (Oct. 15-Nov.1); and, ending the year with a bang, Jonathan Larson’s Rent (Dec. 4-Dec. 20).

Ten Fifteen Theater’s 2026 season asks if America really is beautiful.

As the United States enters its 250^th year, the Astoria theater company’s new season will take an honest look at where we’re at, while still managing to find a laugh or two along the way. The company’s 2026 shows include What the Constitution Means to Me by Heidi Schreck (Jan. 23-Feb. 7), Rx by Kate Fodor (March 27-April 11), Sensitive Guys by MJ Kaufman (May 29-June 13), Time Stands Still by Donald Margulies (July 31-Aug. 15), Hurricane Diane by Madeleine George (Oct. 2-17), and Stephen Sondheim’s Assassins (Dec. 4-19).