Northern Stage Reveals 2026/27 Season - JOHN PROCTOR IS THE VILLAIN and More

Northern Stage has revealed its 2026/27 Season, featuring five Main Stage productions in the Byrne Theater at the Barrette Center for the Arts. The season will open with the regional premiere of the Tony-nominated John Proctor Is The Villain by Kimberly Belflower, fresh off its successful Broadway run, from September 23 to October 11, 2026. Next up is the worldwide phenomenon, Disney’s Frozen, with music and lyrics by Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez and book by Jennifer Lee, from November 18, 2026 to January 3, 2027. In the new year, we present the gripping new true-crime drama The Getaway Driver by Deborah Salem Smith and Charlie Thurston from February 3 to February 21, 2027; Conor McPherson’s modern Irish masterpiece The Weir, celebrating its 30th anniversary, from March 17 to April 4, 2027; and a musical to be announced, from May 5 to May 30, 2027.

Also on the Main Stage this season, Northern Stage will introduce an exciting new program called Northern Stage In Concert that will feature a semi-staged professional presentation of Sondheim’s Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street this August. Additionally, Jazz at the Junction will return, alongside readings of new works, and additional special performances to be announced.

In conjunction with its Main Stage season, the theater has announced its 2026/27 educational offerings. Students in the Summer Musical Theater Intensive will tackle the seminal Rodgers and Hammerstein musical Oklahoma! in Summer 2026 in a full production on the Main Stage, while Youth Ensemble Studio (YES) students will present the musical Little Women in Spring 2027. The educational programming includes expanded summer camp and vacation camp offerings, after-school programming, and the theater’s flagship BridgeUp: Theater in the Schools program, which will serve hundreds of fourth and fifth graders around the region in Spring 2027. 2026/27 Full Season and Pick-3 Subscriptions will be available March 17, 2026. 

About Northern Stage’s 2026/27 Programming

John Proctor Is The Villain by Kimberly Belflower

The regional premiere of John Proctor Is The Villain by Kimberly Belflower, directed by BOLD Associate Artistic Director Sarah Elizabeth Wansley, opens the season, running September 23 to October 11, 2026 in the Byrne Theater at the Barrette Center for the Arts. When a rural Georgia high school English class begins reading The Crucible, their classroom discussions ignite a firestorm. As #MeToo allegations surface in their own community, the students begin to question the narratives they’ve inherited and the heroes they’ve been taught to defend. Sharp, funny, and electrifyingly current, this Tony-nominated drama captures the thrilling danger of young people finding their voice and rewriting the story.

Disney’s Frozen

This holiday season, Disney’s Frozen, the global phenomenon, comes to the Upper Valley, directed by Kyle Brand with Associate Director Kevin David Thomas, running November 18, 2026 through January 3, 2027. Featuring a cast of more than twenty performers, including talented students from Northern Stage’s education programs, and the beloved music of Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez, this dazzling production transforms the Byrne Theater into the kingdom of Arendelle. Journey with sisters Anna and Elsa through snowstorms, self-discovery, and sisterhood. Audiences of all ages will be swept up in this breathtaking theatrical event celebrating love, courage, and the power of being true to yourself.

The Getaway Driver

Continuing the season is the world premiere of The Getaway Driver by Deborah Salem Smith and Charlie Thurston, directed by Curt Columbus, who will this year conclude an incredible 20-year run as Artistic Director at Trinity Repertory Company in Providence, RI. Performing February 3 to 21, 2027. Based on the true story of Katherine Ann Power and Clare Schroeder, this gripping new drama follows two women bound by a single, life-altering moment. It’s 1970. College student Power joins an activist group to protest the war. When their resistance turns deadly, Schroeder must grow up in the shadow of her father’s murder while Power disappears and spends decades on the FBI’s Most Wanted List. Years later, when Power resurfaces seeking redemption, she must confront Schroeder and the past that shaped their lives. Unfolding like a true crime thriller, this remarkable story asks: How far is too far in the fight to do what’s right?

The Weir

In spring 2027, Northern Stage celebrates the 30th anniversary of Conor McPherson’s modern classic The Weir, directed by Peter Hackett, running March 17 to April 4, 2027. In a small Irish pub battered by wind and rain, four local men swap ghost stories to impress a newcomer. But as the evening unfolds, the most haunting revelations prove to be deeply human. Atmospheric, poetic, and quietly devastating, The Weir is a masterwork about loneliness, vulnerability, and the fragile magic of connection.

The season concludes with a musical to be announced, from May 5 to May 30, 2027.

Pushing Boundaries with New Works Now

Northern Stage will continue its commitment to the development of new work for the American theater with public presentations on April 24 and 26, 2026 of Avery Deutsch’s The Age of Mary, the winner of the 2025 Neukom Institute Literary Arts Award for Playwriting. This inventive and timely new play asks urgent questions about performance, technology, and the shifting nature of identity in a digitized world. Established in 2018, the annual Neukom playwriting award is a collaboration between The Neukom Institute for Computational Science at Dartmouth College, the Department of Theater at Dartmouth College, and Northern Stage. The award considers plays and other full-length works for the theater that address the question, “What does it mean to be a human in a computerized world?” The 2026 Neukom Institute Literary Arts Award for Playwriting will be open for submissions in the spring. More information can be found HERE.

And more…
Northern Stage will continue its successful series Jazz at the Junction in July 2026 with the return of Vermont jazz great Ray Vega and his Afro-Caribbean Jazz Ensemble.

And, new this season, Stephen Sondheim’s gothic thriller Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street will be the inaugural offering in the Northern Stage In Concert series from August 4-6, 2027. These fully-produced concert performances, performed by top-tier professional artists in an intimate, stripped-down setting, celebrate the power of iconic scores and invite audiences to experience legendary shows in a bold, immediate way.

About Northern Stage’s Educational Offerings

This summer, Northern Stage’s celebrated Summer Musical Theater Intensive (SMTI) program, featuring students ages 12-18 from around the region, presents the Rodgers and Hammerstein classic, Oklahoma!, July 29 to August 9, 2026. This groundbreaking musical helped define the Golden Age of Broadway and forever changed the landscape of musical theater. Set against the wide-open plains of turn-of-the-century Oklahoma Territory, this sweeping story follows farm girl Laurey and cowboy Curly as they navigate love, jealousy, and the promise of a new state on the horizon. Directed by Broadway veteran and Northern Stage’s Co-Director of Education, Kevin David Thomas, Oklahoma! features a vibrant cast of rising young performers and a soaring score.

New this year is the Summer Technical Theater Workshop (STTW), a program for students interested in the technical elements of theater. With direct mentorship from production staff, students ages 16-18 will gain hands-on experience and learn what it means to work behind the scenes for a live musical. 

In winter 2027, the YES (Youth Ensemble Studio) company students will bring their talents to the stage with the musical Little Women, with book by Allan Knee, music by Jason Howland, and lyrics by Mindy Dickstein. Based on the beloved novel by Louisa May Alcott, this production will give 6th-12th grade students the opportunity to workshop and showcase their theatrical skills. Directed and choreographed by Sam Empey, performances will take place from February 19 to 21, 2027.

Northern Stage brings back YES’s full company Showcase in the spring of 2027, directed by Sam Empey and Kevin David Thomas. The Showcase will feature musical theater songs and scenes selected to provide each and every student actor with an opportunity to take center stage and shine.

The YES company continues its work throughout the school year in afternoon classes, workshops, special trainings, and visits to Main Stage productions. Learn more about year-round opportunities for students ages 6-18 at northernstage.org.

Registration for all YES programming will be open on May 4, 2026. 

Subscription and Ticket Information

Starting March 17, 2026, patrons will be able to choose from:

- Center Section Subscriptions or Side Section Subscriptions
- Early Bird Subscriptions with the best deal and Pick-3 Subscriptions for ultimate flexibility
- Young Patron Membership (3 flexible tickets for patrons 30 and under) for emerging theater lovers

Subscribers can save up to 40% off single ticket prices. Single tickets go on sale July 1, 2026. For tickets and details, call (802) 296-7000 or visit northernstage.org/subscriptions.