BEST FOR BABY World Premiere and More Set for Chautauqua Theater Company 2026 Season
The season will also feature August Wilson's acclaimed theatrical memoir How I Learned What I Learned, and more.
By: Chloe Rabinowitz Jan. 08, 2026
Chautauqua Theater Company has unveiled its 2026 mainstage season, featuring two productions: the world premiere of Best for Baby, a larger-than-life comedy by Sharyn Rothstein directed by Oliver Butler, and August Wilson's acclaimed theatrical memoir How I Learned What I Learned, directed by CTC's Producing Artistic Director Jade King Carroll. The season will also mark two major milestones for CTC: the grand opening of the Roe Green Theater Center, a state-of-the-art facility that expands CTC's capacity to commission and develop new plays, and the introduction of CTC's new playwriting fellowship in partnership with the Drama League. Together, these initiatives further solidify CTC's status as one of the nation's premier accelerators of theater talent and new work.
Best for Baby is a CTC commission and was presented as a new play workshop in the 2025 season. Its devilishly funny emcee takes audiences inside Johnson & Johnson's decades-long and still-evolving baby powder scandal. A Big American Play ripped straight from the headlines, this world premiere is equal parts showbiz spectacle and intimate human storytelling, featuring George Abud, Crystal Dickinson and Madeline Seidman alongside members of CTC's acting conservatory students. An industry reading will be held in NYC later this month, and the world premiere will run from July 18-Aug. 2, 2026.
Rothstein is an award-winning playwright and television writer. Her newest play, Bad Books, is a National New Play Network Rolling World Premiere play and winner of the David Goldman Prize for New American Plays. Her work has been produced at Williamstown Theatre Festival, Arena Stage, McCarter Theatre Center, Round House Theatre and Ensemble Studio Theater, among many others. Rothstein is currently a writer and co-executive producer on CBS's new show, 'Einstein.' She has also written for 'Suits LA,' the spin-off of the hit legal drama 'Suits,' for which she wrote and produced for five seasons. Rothstein was a writer and co-executive producer on AMC's 'Orphan Black: Echoes' and has developed shows for Apple TV, AMC and Bravo.
Butler is a Tony-nominated and award-winning director whose work includes the critically acclaimed Broadway premiere of Heidi Schreck's What the Constitution Means to Me (Best Play Tony Award nomination, Obie Award winner, Lucille Lortel Award nomination, Drama League Award nomination, Outer Critics Circle Award nomination, Drama Desk Award nomination; finalist for the 2019 Pulitzer Prize for Drama). He has directed many productions Off-Broadway at institutions such as New York Theatre Workshop, Signature Theatre Company, Vineyard Theatre, Theatre for a New Audience and Playwrights Horizons, and regionally at Yale Repertory Theatre, Hartford Stage, Williamstown Theatre Festival and The Geffen Playhouse, and others. He is also a co-founder and co-artistic director of The Debate Society, with whom he has directed 10 premieres over 15 years.
CTC will also present August Wilson's celebrated solo piece, How I Learned What I Learned, to be directed by CTC Producing Artistic Director Jade King Carroll. Performances will run from Aug. 7-16, 2026. This autobiographical tour de force follows Wilson's journey through the streets of Pittsburgh's Hill District - through odd jobs, heartbreaks and artistic awakenings - capturing the moments that forged his identity. With his trademark wit, lyricism, and truth-telling, he invites audiences into the dynamic world that shaped both the man and the master storyteller he became.
Carroll has touched Wilson's entire body of work. She has directed many of Wilson's productions, including Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, King Hedley II, Radio Golf, Seven Guitars, and a co-production of The Piano Lesson with McCarter Theatre Center and Hartford Stage. She served as dramaturg for the seminal recording of all 10 plays of Wilson's American Century Cycle, produced by WNYC/New York Public Radio. She received the Paul Green Award from the August Wilson estate and The National Theatre Conference.
CTC will also welcome playwriting fellows for the first time as part of an expanding program in partnership with the Drama League. These emerging writers will develop and present new plays in collaboration with the Future Now directing fellows, featuring the work of CTC's acting conservatory and design fellows. These designed staged readings - created entirely by the next generation of theater artists - will be the inaugural performances in the Roe Green Theater Center, igniting the kind of creativity and opportunity that the new facility was built to cultivate and inspire.
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