MEXODUS, BAD DATES: END GAME, BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN Set for Arena Stage Season

Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater has added three productions to its 2026/27 Season: Brian Quijada and Nygel D. Robinson's Mexodus, Theresa Rebeck's Bad Dates: End Game, and Ashley Robinson's Brokeback Mountain. They will join The Fruits of Our Labor and Are You Now or Have You Ever Been?, both now in performances; Step Afrika!'s Magical Musical Holiday Step Show, DC's beloved holiday tradition; the U.S. regional premiere of Suzie Miller's Prima Facie; and the first-ever in-the-round staging of Branden Jacobs-Jenkins's Purpose.

The Lortel, Drama Desk, and Outer Critics Circle Award–winning Mexodus kicks off 2027 in the Kreeger Theater. This groundbreaking hip-hop musical reimagines the Underground Railroad heading south to Mexico—unearthing a powerful, untold chapter of American history. Written by Brian Quijada and Nygel D. Robinson, directed by David Mendizábal (Arena's Sanctuary City), with choreography by Tony Thomas (Arena's Tempestuous Elements), Mexodus uses instruments to build a live soundscape each night, layering rhythms, melodies, and harmonies to create full arrangements on the spot each performance.

Mexodus premiered in 2024 as a co-production with DC's Mosaic Theater Company and Baltimore Center Stage. Following award-winning Off-Broadway runs in 2025 at Audible's Minetta Lane Theatre and 2026 at the Daryl Roth Theatre, the musical returns to the DMV with its original creative team, including set designer Riw Rakkulchon (& Juliet), lighting designer Mextly Couzin (JOB), and Tony Award-winning sound designer Mikhail Fiksel (Dana H.), with costume design by Mendizábal. The cast will be announced at a later date.

In April, two-time Emmy nominee Theresa Rebeck (NYPD Blue) reunites with Tony Award winners John Benjamin Hickey (The Normal Heart) and Julie White (The Little Dog Laughed) to reprise their roles as writer, director, and star, respectively, in the follow-up to Rebeck's acclaimed 2003 comedy Bad Dates. This sequel finds Haley—now 58 and widowed—as she navigates new technology and dating apps. Sharp-witted and deeply human, Bad Dates: End Game is a funny, fearless, and fresh portrait of one woman learning—on her own terms—what comes next. The comedy makes its DC premiere following early 2027 runs at Hartford Stage and George Street Playhouse. The full creative team will be announced at a later date.

Adapted by Ashley Robinson from Pulitzer Prize winner Annie Proulx's short story, with songs by Dan Gillespie Sells (Everybody's Talking About Jamie), Brokeback Mountain will close Arena's 2026/27 Season. In the summer of 1963, Ennis Del Mar and Jack Twist met while tending sheep on an isolated Wyoming mountain. Their unexpected connection becomes a love that endures across two decades, even as marriage, family, distance, and the threat of violence keep them apart. Country-and-western music and intimate theatrical storytelling express what the men cannot say aloud in this stage adaptation of the award-winning novel and film. This Summer 2027 production will mark this play with music's East Coast premiere, following earlier runs at London's @sohoplace and Chicago Shakespeare Theater. The full cast and creative team will be announced at a later date.

The previously announced production of NIKOLA – A New Musical will no longer run during the Arena Stage 2026/27 Season.

COMPLETE 2026/27 SEASON DETAILS

THE FRUITS OF OUR LABOR

By Step Afrika!
Directed by Jakari Sherman
with Conrad R. Kelly II and Vusi Mdoyi
NOW IN PERFORMANCES: September 10 – November 1, 2026
In the Fichandler Stage

In commemoration of America's 250th anniversary, Step Afrika! premieres The Fruits of Our Labor—a powerful new production exploring rhythm, resilience, and the unfinished story of the American experience.

Blending stepping, percussion, and striking visual imagery, this visceral dance piece examines what it means to believe in a nation still in the making. Created in collaboration with artists Jakari Sherman, Conrad R. Kelly II, and Vusi Mdoyi, The Fruits of Our Labor asks: What have we inherited and what are we still fighting to become?

The Fruits of Our Labor is made possible through the extraordinary generosity and the visionary support of Tiffeny Sanchez and Reg Brown, Lead Sponsors of the production and national tour.

ARE YOU NOW OR HAVE YOU EVER BEEN?

By Eric Bentley
Directed by Anna D. Shapiro
NOW IN PERFORMANCES: October 17 – December 6, 2026
In the Kreeger Theater

Straight from Off-Broadway comes a timely revival of Eric Bentley's American docudrama, directed by Tony Award winner Anna D. Shapiro. This electrifying play drops you into the tense world of the 1940s House Un-American Activities Committee hearings, where fame offered no protection and political pressure could end a career.

Are You Now or Have You Ever Been? brings to life the words of iconic artists Arthur Miller, Jerome Robbins, Paul Robeson, Elia Kazan, Lillian Hellman, Abe Burrows, and Lionel Stander as they faced impossible choices: defend their integrity, protect their careers, or betray their peers. And yet the probing, chilling questions posed by the committee are as powerful as the testimonies themselves, revealing a climate of intimidation and moral conflict that resonates far beyond its time.

Are You Now or Have You Ever Been? is sponsored by Decker Anstrom and Sherry Hiemstra.

STEP AFRIKA!'S MAGICAL MUSICAL HOLIDAY STEP SHOW

December 4 – 23, 2026
In the Fichandler Stage

Step into the spirit with the joyful return of DC's favorite holiday tradition, Step Afrika!'s Magical Musical Holiday Step Show! With unforgettable moments for all ages, this family-friendly production is a celebration of music, movement, and cheer—featuring DJ Nutcracker and his Arctic friends alongside the award-winning Step Afrika! performers. As the world's first holiday show highlighting the African American tradition of stepping, this beloved performance promises to bring the spirit of the season to the stage and audiences out of their seats!

PRIMA FACIE

By Suzie Miller
Directed by Candis C. Jones
January 8 – March 7, 2027
In the Arlene and Robert Kogod Cradle

Tessa is a brilliant criminal defense attorney who has fought her way to the top of her field, defending men accused of sexual assault. She knows how to win, and she trusts the system that made her success possible. But when the unthinkable happens to her, she finds herself sitting where her clients' accusers once sat.

What follows is a reckoning with the law's patriarchal power and the gap between the burden of proof and truth. Prima Facie by Suzie Miller is an electrifying, award-winning one-woman show that doesn't just ask what justice means. It demands we do something about it.

Support for Prima Facie is provided by Deborah Bowles and Derik Burgess, Catherine and Chris Guttman-McCabe, and Vicki J. Hicks.

MEXODUS

Written by Brian Quijada and Nygel D. Robinson
Choreographed by Tony Thomas
Directed by David Mendizábal
In Partnership with Mosaic Theater Company
Presented by Arrangement with P3 Productions and Audible
January 29 – March 7, 2027
In the Kreeger Theater

A freedom seeker and an unlikely ally forge a bond that transcends borders in this thrilling hip-hop musical that uncovers a hidden chapter of American history—when thousands of enslaved people fled across the Rio Grande to freedom in Mexico. Mexodus is a two-person tour de force that blends live-looped music, storytelling, and raw theatricality.

Created by Brian Quijada and Nygel D. Robinson as a co-production with DC's Mosaic Theater Company and Baltimore Center Stage, and following award-winning Off-Broadway runs, this “electrifying theatrical experience” (The New York Times) runs to the nation's capital in Arena Stage's Kreeger Theater.

Support for Mexodus is provided by Daniel Korengold, Martha Dippell, and Ourisman Automotive of Virginia, and Anthony D. Coley.

PURPOSE

By Branden Jacobs-Jenkins
Directed by Jade King Carroll
March 12 – May 2, 2027
In the Fichandler Stage

Meet the Jaspers—a Black political dynasty of civil rights leaders, pastors, and congressmen who have long anchored Black American life. But beneath the surface, cracks and secrets simmer. When the youngest son, Naz, returns home with an unexpected guest, long-buried resentment boils over, fracturing the family's foundation.

Wickedly smart, outrageously funny, and ultimately devastating, Branden Jacobs-Jenkins's Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award-winning Purpose is a provocative, deeply felt exploration of legacy, belonging, and the cost of believing in something bigger than yourself.

BAD DATES: END GAME

By Theresa Rebeck
Directed by John Benjamin Hickey
Starring Julie White
In Association with Hartford Stage and George Street Playhouse
April 23 – June 6, 2027
In the Kreeger Theater

Tony Award winner Julie White stars as Haley in this witty, heartfelt comedy about what life is like when you step back into the wild world of dating at 60. Three years after losing her husband, she's navigating dating apps, awkward setups, and men who were considerably more appealing in theory.

With a sharp sense of humor and plenty of reservations, White once again brings to life Theresa Rebeck's Haley in Bad Dates: End Game.

BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN

A Play by Ashley Robinson
With Songs by Dan Gillespie Sells
Based on Annie Proulx's Short Story
By Special Arrangement with Nica Burns and Adam Blanshay
July 9 – August 29, 2027
In the Kreeger Theater

On Brokeback Mountain, Ennis Del Mar and Jack Twist find something neither expected: a love that feels as open and unguarded as the landscape surrounding them. When the summer ends, they return to separate lives, carrying a connection too powerful to forget and too dangerous to name.