THE HUNTINGTON ANNOUNCES A THRILLING AND DYNAMIC 2025/26 SEASON – EXTRAORDINARY STORIES, BOTH EPIC AND INTIMATE
CONTACT:
Temple Gill, Director of Public Affairs and Strategic Partnerships
617-273-1560
Gabrielle Jaques, Publicist
617-273-1520
HE HUNTINGTON ANNOUNCES A THRILLING AND DYNAMIC 2025/26 SEASON – EXTRAORDINARY STORIES, BOTH EPIC AND INTIMATE
The Huntington announces seven dynamic titles, including two of Broadway’s recent hit plays, lively new comedies, a reimagined classic, and a poignant contemporary musical
(BOSTON) – Huntington Norma Jean Calderwood Artistic Director Loretta Greco and Executive Director Christopher Mannelli announce seven titles in The Huntington’s electrifying 2025/26 season, featuring poignant fresh works, a bitingly funny comedy, and a love-affirming contemporary musical – powerful stories about love and family, both epic and intimate in scale and scope.
“Every play this season is impassioned, magnetic, cathartic, surprising,” says Artistic Director Loretta Greco. “When we chose these titles for this coming season, we were fascinated by the themes of legacy and family: where we come from, what we leave behind, and what truly matters most. These seven plays will crack us open with revealing humor and transcendent emotion.”
Greco is a longtime champion of artists and a passionate advocate for new plays, and her third full season of artistic programming at The Huntington will build upon the successes of her highly acclaimed 2023/24 and 2024/25 seasons. The 2025/26 season will be comprised of three productions at the Huntington Theatre, one production in the intimate Maso Studio space in the Huntington Theatre, one production in the Wimberly Theatre and one in the Roberts Studio Theatre at The Huntington’s Calderwood Pavilion at the BCA, and one production presented at Boston University’s Joan & Edgar Booth Theatre.
The Huntington’s 2025/26 season includes: Tony Award winner Jez Butterworth’s The Hills of California, the haunting, international hit drama which asks, when home calls us back, how can we face everything we left behind; the poignant and hilarious toast of the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Sardines (a comedy about death) written and performed by Chris Grace of TV’s Superstore, which wonders how we keep dancing even when the music stops; the groundbreaking and emotionally rich Tony Award-winning musical Fun Home, with music by Jeanine Tesori and book and lyrics by Lisa Kron, based on Alison Bechdel’s beloved graphic novel about how we learn to see our parents with grown-up eyes; Joshua Harmon’s heartfelt and funny We Had a World; an electrifying reimagining of the ancient myth of Oedipus with modern urgency to discover whether any of us can escape our fate in Oedipus El Rey by Luis Alfaro; and Eureka Day by Jonathan Spector, a biting, on-the-pulse, Broadway satire exploring all the ways we disagree with laugh-out-loud results.
As part of 7-play season packages, The Huntington will also include access to the world premiere of Mfoniso Udofia’s The Ceremony, which will be produced by Chuang Stage in association with Boston University School of Theatre and Boston Playwrights’ Theatre in fall of 2025. This piece was commissioned by The Huntington and offers a vibrant, heartwarming celebration of love that weds Nigerian and Nepali cultures. The Boston Globe states that “Mfoniso Udofia’s cycle of nine plays about three generations of a Nigerian American family has to be counted as the main event of Boston’s 2024-25 theatre season.” Under The Huntington’s leadership, over 35 community and cultural partners have come together to make this unprecedented and ambitious Ufot Family Cycle possible.
“As Boston’s leading professional theatre company, we are committed to creating work that resonates deeply within our community while also contributing to the broader national theatre landscape,” says Huntington Executive Director Chris Mannelli. “This season reaffirms our dedication to artistic excellence, accessibility, and the transformative power of live theatre.”
Performances in this new season will begin in September with shows taking place at the Huntington Theatre (264 Huntington Ave) and The Huntington’s Calderwood Pavilion at the BCA (527 Tremont Street), and the special add-on presentation of The Ceremony taking place at Boston University’s Joan & Edgar Booth Theatre in Brookline (820 Commonwealth Ave). See below for the list of titles and details.
Season ticket packages are available for purchase at huntingtontheatre.org or by calling 617-266-0800. Season ticket holders receive up to 65% off single ticket prices. Single tickets to individual shows will go on sale in late spring/early summer.
THE HUNTINGTON’S 25/26 SEASON:
The Hills of California
by Jez Butterworth
Directed by Huntington Artistic Director Loretta Greco
The Huntington Theatre
September 11 – October 12, 2025
In association with Berkeley Repertory Theatre
Internationally renowned Olivier and Tony Award-winning playwright Jez Butterworth (The Ferryman, Jerusalem) weaves the compelling, tender, and savagely funny tale of the four adult Webb sisters’ homecoming to the seaside guest house where they grew up. As girls, their fierce and ambitious mother Veronica trained them for a singing career à la The Andrews Sisters. Now adults, the sisters must reconsider the choices their mother made, the nostalgic call of youthful harmonies, and the unbreakable bonds of family. Critically acclaimed on Broadway and the West End, The Hills of California will be seen in a new production at The Huntington, directed by Loretta Greco (The Triumph of Love, Prayer for the French Republic).
From Huntington Artistic Director Loretta Greco: “I adore this stunning, truly sublime play from one of our greatest living writers, and I love the ferocity of Veronica Webb, who sees the road to transcendence for her four daughters through the power of performing a song. As the eldest of five sisters, this intense, mysterious, and hilarious homecoming resonates deeply for me, when the complicated past converses fluidly and passionately with the present. I’m thrilled to create a new production of this big-minded West End and Broadway hit for Boston!”
From playwright Jez Butterworth: “There is something at the heart of this play about the idea of really, really wanting to be special. And the folly of that. You can live through what we call ‘the 60s’ and completely miss out on being a hippie or a punk, but that doesn’t mean you didn’t live. You don’t have to be special to be worth remembering.”
Critical acclaim:
“Jez Butterworth’s relentlessly entertaining new play drops you deep into the devastations of time and lifts you gently into the consolations of song.” – The New York Times
“Although The Hills of California has dramatic moments aplenty, it is also laugh-out-loud funny, displaying Butterworth’s gift for creating characters with distinct voices who are always trying to get the last word.” – Broadway Direct
“Essential viewing for anyone who loves theatre.” – The Sun
Sardines (a comedy about death)
Written and performed by Chris Grace
Directed by Eric Michaud
Maso Studio, The Huntington Theatre
September 30 – November 16, 2025
Fresh from a celebrated run at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Sardines explores – with tremendous grace and humanity – the tragic, hilarious, and important questions of our time: Can we enjoy life if we know how it ends? Does making art actually help? And if Rihanna’s song is called ‘Don’t Stop the Music’, why does the music… stop? Find out in this deliciously authentic, insightful, and laugh-out-loud show created and performed by actor-comedian Chris Grace (TV’s Superstore, Dropout’s Chris Grace: As Scarlett Johansson).
From Huntington Artistic Director Loretta Greco: “I fell in love with Chris Grace and Sardines at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival this summer, and I know you will too. Chris explores grief alongside the joy of living with generosity, insight, and a delicious sense of humor. His writing demonstrates the beauty and rigor of human observation; his performance deploys the razor-sharp radar of a comedian — both content and form blew me away! The spirit of Sardines is simply contagious, encouraging us to flex our imaginations toward a playful and deeply meaningful communal evening of theatre.”
From playwright Chris Grace “Sardines is about family, loss, and finding your way to the present moment while accepting both the limitations and gifts of life. The first work-in-progress presentation of the show was performed in Boston, and it’s very satisfying to complete the circle by bringing Sardines back to where it started.”
Critical acclaim:
“A breath of fresh, sincere air!” – Playbill
“A beautiful piece of artwork that everyone deserves to see.” – EdFest Magazine
“Beautiful, tender storytelling…truly memorable.” – The List
Fun Home
Music by Jeanine Tesori
Book & Lyrics by Lisa Kron
Based on the graphic novel by Alison Bechdel
Directed by Logan Ellis
The Huntington Theatre
November 14 – December 14, 2025
Winner! Five Tony Awards, including Best Musical, Best Score, and Best Book
Winner! Two Obie Awards, including Outstanding Musical
Winner of five Tony Awards including Best Musical, Fun Home is a beloved, groundbreaking, and emotionally rich story of seeing your parents through grown-up eyes. Based on Alison Bechdel’s best-selling graphic memoir, the musical traces Alison through childhood, college, and adulthood, as she unravels her complex relationship with a brilliant, volatile, and closeted father. How have the mysteries of her father’s life shaped her own understanding of love and self-acceptance? With a soaring score by Jeanine Tesori and a sharp, heartfelt book by Lisa Kron, Fun Home is a beautiful, can’t-miss theatrical experience, directed by Logan Ellis.
From Huntington Artistic Director Loretta Greco: “This beloved Broadway anomaly is one of my all-time favorites. Experiencing Fun Home with my then-teenage daughter, and then listening obsessively to its recording on the way to and from school for months, is a memory I hold close to my heart. Lisa Kron and Jeanine Tesori (two big-hearted geniuses) conjured something remarkable and infused it with the essentialness of looking back in order to move forward, the beauty of a soaring score to convey the journey, and the transcendent power of truth. One of the country’s most exciting emerging directors, Logan Ellis, will direct an unmissable production of this extraordinary musical for us. If you have ever been a parent or a child, this work of art is for you!”
From playwright and book writer Lisa Kron: “Fun Home is probably going to be much funnier than you will expect it to be. It picks you up and carries you to a lot of places that are funny, quite moving, and never quite where you expect – but, always a place you are interested in being engaged in that place. At the end, it will take you apart a little, but then it will put you back together.”
From composer Jeanine Tesori: “If you know the pull of looking for your parents in any way, shape or form, or the pull of being a parent, those two things, that is the story and it’s to be seen by those who you’re in a deep and primal relationship with as a family unit and it never goes away – I don’t know one person who isn’t pulled in some way by the people who made them.”
Critical acclaim:
“A rare beauty, extraordinary and heart-gripping!” – The New York Times
“Exquisite. An emotional powerhouse!” – Chicago Tribune
“Fun Home has enormous intelligence and sensitivity. It’s not your ordinary Broadway musical, because it is extraordinary.” – Time Out New York
Fun Home is presented by arrangement with Concord Theatricals. concordtheatricals.com
We Had a World
by Joshua Harmon (Prayer for the French Republic, Bad Jews)
Wimberly Theatre, The Huntington’s Calderwood Pavilion at the BCA
February 12 – March 15, 2026
A dying woman calls her grandson and asks him to write a play about their family. “But I want you to promise me something,” she says. “Make it as bitter and vitriolic as possible.” In this searing, funny, and deeply personal play, the author of Prayer for the French Republic recreates thirty years of family fights, monstrous behavior, enduring love, and unexpected dishes of home-cooked spaetzle.
From Huntington Artistic Director Loretta Greco: “We didn’t want to go another season without a play from our brilliant friend, the playwright Joshua Harmon (Prayer for the French Republic), and it’s our absolute pleasure to produce Josh’s latest, We Had a World – a poignant, hilarious, and complicated 30-year slice of his family’s history. For me, it’s a roller coaster ride seen through the voracious appetite of young Joshua, full of laughter, lokshen, truly awful behavior, and enduring love – in other words, it’s just like family! I laughed while I cried throughout the entire thing. You are going to love it.”
From playwright Joshua Harmon: “When Loretta produced the West Coast premiere of Bad Jews, she said she wasn’t just interested in a single play, but in supporting writers over the course of their careers, and she has more than lived up to that commitment. This is the third play of mine she’s producing, in addition to many years of support and development opportunities. I am thrilled We Had a World will start its own journey out in the world at a theatre I so admire, led by one of my favorite people on the planet.”
Critical acclaim:
“A poignant story of family dynamics, compassionate and real.” – The New York Times
“A masterwork. Wildly funny!” – New York Stage Review
“Extremely moving!” – TheaterMania
Oedipus El Rey
by Luis Alfaro
Directed by Huntington Artistic Director Loretta Greco
Roberts Studio Theatre, The Huntington’s Calderwood Pavilion at the BCA
May 7 – June 7, 2026
Luis Alfaro reimagines Sophocles’ classic in his acclaimed and electrifying Oedipus El Rey, set in the heart of Los Angeles. Oedipus dreams of rewriting his own story — but liberation comes at a price: can he truly escape the destiny laid out before him? What’s fate, and what’s just the system? A searing tale of love, family, and prophecy, Oedipus El Rey blends ancient myth with modern urgency and Chicano swagger with swaths of sly humor. Artistic Director Loretta Greco, who led the acclaimed premiere of Oedipus El Rey at the Magic Theatre, creates a production especially for Boston.
From Huntington Artistic Director Loretta Greco: “Luis Alfaro is one of our national treasures. A poet, playwright, teacher, and activist, Luis creates award-winning work that has resonated across cultures and generations for decades. Audiences in San Francisco and cities throughout the country have been mesmerized as this young Oedipus traverses the world of today while poignantly wrestling with the ancient predicament of fate and hubris. I am so looking forward to revisiting Luis’s masterwork and sharing its urgency, humanity, Chicano swagger, hilarity, and heart with Boston audiences.”
From playwright Luis Alfaro: “It’s such a joy to see Oedipus El Rey making its debut in Boston, where I spent a considerable amount of my time as an up-and-coming artist, first in poetry, performance art, and finally, theatre. I always wished that this play’s themes would lose their resonance as we continue to practice democracy in our culture. Instead, our reliance on the prison industrial complex has continued to grow and become a fabric of American life. The classic Greek play asks us one question of how we make society, ‘Is it destiny or is it fate?’ and we continue to wrestle with these ideas in our public spaces of inquiry, the theatre being one of vital spirituality and importance. I can’t wait to see what audiences think.”
Critical acclaim:
“What Sophocles left offstage – the violence, the sex – Oedipus El Rey confidently stages. This gives it swagger, oomph and economy, but it also makes for a salacious watch.” – The New York Times
“Alfaro may be the first, Sophocles included, to place the love of Oedipus and Jocasta squarely at the play’s tragic center. More than that, he makes it resonate with a passion fully enhanced not only by the spare poetry of his text but also by Greco’s intense staging and the naked vulnerability of two fully committed actors.” – San Francisco Chronicle
“An adaptation that feels both urgently relevant and timeless. Alfaro illuminates the ancient themes of the Oedipus story in thrillingly modern ways, giving us a new appreciation for the myth.” – TheaterMania
“Oedipus El Rey dazzles. It strikes to the bone of one of our more disturbing ancient legends and gives it new, breathtakingly vital life.” – San Jose Mercury News
Eureka Day
by Jonathan Spector
Directed by Margot Bordelon (John Proctor is the Villain at The Huntington)
The Huntington Theatre
May 29 – June 28, 2026
Hot from celebrated productions on Broadway and in London, Eureka Day is a new, wildly funny, on-the-pulse satire which asks if parents at a progressive, welcoming private school can uphold their harmonious shared values when Eureka Day faces an outbreak of the mumps. Jonathan Spector’s sharp comedy explores in surprising turns what happens when facts become subjective, when inclusivity turns performative, and a “community activated conversation” turns into an all-out brawl — with uproarious, fresh, thought-provoking results. Margot Bordelon returns to direct following her hit production of John Proctor is the Villain.
From Huntington Artistic Director Loretta Greco: “When I saw this premiere in Berkeley, pre-pandemic, I thought it was for parents like me – who had a child inside the Bay Area’s vast array of tremendous yet precious and privileged independent schools – and it gave us a chance to laugh at ourselves. It’s still a chance to laugh at ourselves and at how quickly our best intentions can go awry – but also to ask knotty questions in real time about how to compassionately balance the needs of individuals with the larger needs of the collective within society. Eureka Day was a hot ticket on Broadway this season, and we are thrilled to create our own spectacular production, which promises to be as thought-provoking as it is hilarious.”
From playwright Jonathan Spector: “I’m thrilled to get to share this play with Huntington audiences. Eureka Day explores, among other things, the dangers of vaccine misinformation, and the challenge of forming any kind of civil society when people cannot agree on baseline truth. When I sat down to write this play seven years ago, I could never have fathomed these would be issues that hit so close to home for so many of us. Unfortunately, here we are.”
Critical acclaim:
“Gaspingly funny!” – New York Magazine
“A shiny, insightful, and damn funny little gem. One of the best plays of the season!” – Deadline
“An impeccably polished satire.” – The Guardian
AS PART OF SEVEN-PLAY PACKAGES:
The Ceremony
by Mfoniso Udofia
Directed by Lyndsay Allyn Cox
Boston University’s Joan & Edgar Booth Theatre
Produced by Chuang Stage in association with Boston University School of Theatre and Boston Playwrights’ Theatre
September 11 – October 5, 2025
For all seven-play subscribers, the sixth installment of Boston’s city-wide Ufot Family Cycle, The Ceremony by Mfoniso Udofia, and produced by Chuang Stage in association with Boston University School of Theatre and Boston Playwrights’ Theatre, will be included in their subscription.
Mfoniso Udofia continues her Ufot Family Cycle with a vibrant, heartwarming celebration of love intertwining Nigerian and Nepali cultures. When Abasiama and Disciple’s only son, Ekong asks Lumanti Rathi to be his wife, they accept that their dream wedding might have to go on without either of their fathers present. But when Lumanti’s dad has a sudden change of heart, Ekong dares to attempt a reconciliation with his long-estranged father in order to make the ritual of their wedding ceremony truly whole. Chuang Stage, with Boston University School of Theatre and Boston Playwrights’ Theatre, join forces to produce this world premiere, commissioned and developed by The Huntington.
From Huntington Artistic Director Loretta Greco: “When we envisioned a city-wide cycle of production and activation for the Ufot Family Cycle here at the Huntington two-plus years ago, The Ceremony was the only play that had yet to be commissioned, so we enthusiastically adopted it before a word had been written. Now, this beautiful, hard-won wedding odyssey just might be my favorite! The Ceremony is being produced by our friends at Chuang Stage, with Boston University School of Theatre and Boston Playwrights’ Theatre, at BU’s Booth Theatre. We knew you wouldn’t want to miss it, so we’re thrilled to present their production as part of our season. Enjoy!”
From playwright Mfoniso Udofia: “The Ceremony is the sixth play in the Ufot Cycle, and it follows Ekong Ufot – the baby of the family, and the only son – as he steps toward marriage. But for me, it’s not just about the wedding day. It’s everything that leads up to it. Ekong has to ask himself: what do I need to do, what do I need to face, to build the life I actually want? Because the wedding is just a moment. It’s the love before and after that really tells the story. This play lets us watch an Ufot man wrestle with his history, and try to shape something better. It doesn’t always go easy on him, but it was a joy to tell. And by the end, I hope we’ve all earned Ekong’s celebration.”
Praise for Mfoniso Udofia and the Ufot Family Cycle:
“In terms of concept, scope, and execution, Mfoniso Udofia’s nine-play cycle about three generations of a Nigerian American family has proven to be one of the most exciting things to happen in Boston theatre in a long time.” – The Boston Globe
“Boston theatre companies and other arts organizations placed a dauntingly big bet on a playwright many — most? — local theatregoers had never heard of. So far, that bet is paying off not just handsomely, but excitingly.” – The Boston Globe
“Playwright Mfoniso Udofia has given us an extraordinary theatrical gift which exceeds all the demands of the medium.” – Joyce’s Choices
“Udofia’s writing makes one feel like part of the family, sharing the Ufots’ happiness and pain.” – The Harvard Crimson
About the Ufot Family Cycle
When nationally acclaimed playwright Mfoniso Udofia grew up in Southbridge, Massachusetts and went to Wellesley College, she rarely saw stories about Africans and African Americans that felt like her family. Inspired in part by meeting August Wilson at The Huntington, she set out to create a richly textured and emotionally engrossing cycle of nine plays that follows one family through three generations: parents, children, grandchildren. Each play stands alone, yet together form a rich tapestry of storytelling traditions that will resonate with everyone.
ABOUT THE HUNTINGTON
Celebrating over 40 years of outstanding theatre, The Huntington is Boston’s theatrical commons and leading professional theatre company. On our stages and throughout our city, we share enduring and untold stories that spark the imagination of audiences and artists and amplify the wide range of voices in our community.
Under the leadership of Norma Jean Calderwood Artistic Director Loretta Greco and Executive Director Christopher Mannelli, The Huntington is committed to welcoming broad and diverse audiences, provides life- changing opportunities for students through its robust education and community programs, is a national leader in the development of playwrights and new plays, has acted as the host organization for a multi-year residency of The Front Porch Arts Collective, a Black theatre company based in Boston, and serves the local arts community through our operation of The Huntington Calderwood/BCA.
The Huntington reopened the historic Huntington Theatre in fall of 2022 after its transformational renovation, and is currently in phase two of the project; the renovation and building project of this storied venue with a bold vision for the future will allow us to innovatively expand our services to audiences, artists, and the community for generations to come. For more information, visit huntingtontheatre.org.
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