Previews: SEASON PREVIEW at Iowa Stage

One of the exciting parts of the year is when theatres start announcing their new seasons. It's such a thrill finding out which shows will be included, and if you ever get to attend an announcement party, you can feel the room fill with excitement. Iowa Stage announced its 2026 season at the end of 2025. While I wasn't able to attend the announcement party, I was still full of excitement as I anticipated the shows they would include in their season.

Iowa Stage opens its season with a classic, reflected through a new lens. They last did this in their 2024 season with their production of "The Glass Menagerie." Their season opens with "Anton Chekhov's The Seagull," directed by Alex Wendel, who also directed "Menagerie." If you aren't familiar with "The Seagull," it tells the story of Konstantin Treplev, a young playwright who is in love with the local girl Nina Zarechnaya. Nina dreams of becoming an actress, but loves Boris Trigorin. Boris is a writer and is in a relationship with the aging Irina Arkadina. Irina is also the mother of Konstantin. What makes this production especially engaging is its new adaptation by director Alex Wendel, which invites audiences to experience a familiar story in a fresh way. "The Seagull" runs from March 13-22, 2026.

Another thing I love about Iowa Stage is its willingness to bring newer pieces to the area that audiences may not be familiar with. They are doing that again this season with "I'm Gonna Marry You Tobey Maguire". We all had celebrity crushes growing up. In this show full of Y2K nostalgia, a 14-year-old girl obsessed with the Spiderman movies decides to kidnap and marry Tobey Maguire. The question is, does he live up to her expectations of who he is? Or will this reality she has created start to crumble? "I'm Gonna Marry You Tobey Maguire" runs June 5-14, 2026.

Iowa Stage continues its partnership with Salisbury House for the annual Shakespeare on the Lawn. This season, the partnership will present Shakespeare's "Measure for Measure." This show centers around Angelo, who has been put in charge of Vienna while the Duke is away. He enforces strict laws and sentences Claudio to death for sleeping with his fiancée, Juliet. Isabella, Claudio's sister, pleads with Angelo to spare her brother's life. And that's just the beginning of the play. It will be directed by Carl Lindberg, who has recently appeared in Iowa Stage's productions of "The Glass Menagerie" and "Buried Child. While I was unable to find performance dates, the show usually runs in mid-July.

This fall, Iowa Stage is putting its own spin on the cult classic musical "Reefer Madness." Inspired by the 1936 film of the same name, this show starts with a lecturer telling a group of parents about a new drug that threatens America and the youth. He shares the story of Jimmy Harper and Mary Lan, a pair of teens who are studying Romeo and Juliet. When Jimmy goes to the local teen hangout, he is introduced to the world of marijuana. From there, a campy political satire unfolds as we see Jimmy's fall from the all-American teen. This hysterical show runs October 2-11, 2026.

The 2026 season wraps with the show that Iowa Stage has presented in some form every holiday since the company formed in 2017. The season closes with a production of Charles Dickens' "A Christmas Carol." One of the things I've enjoyed about this tradition is that it has used multiple scripts over the years, as well as different directors. So while the story remains the same, the production always seems to have a new spin. While it hasn't been announced which adaptation or director(s) will helm this production, it's sure to be a show the whole family can enjoy. "A Christmas Carol" will run from December 4-20, 2026.