R.O.I. Rolling World Premiere and More Set for San Francisco Playhouse 26-27 season
The seven-show lineup includes world premieres, Bay Area debuts, and musicals like Rent and Sweeney Todd.
San Francisco Playhouse has revealed its 24th season, which will be presented August 2026 to September 2027. Artistic Director Bill English and Producing Director Susi Damilano revealed the three musicals and four plays the nonprofit theatre company will present in San Francisco. Five works will be staged at the company’s home theatre in the heart of San Francisco’s Union Square Theatre District. This season, the Playhouse will also present two additional works six blocks away at the Creativity Theater, located at 4th and Howard Streets in San Francisco. Subscriptions ($225-$495) are now available.
San Francisco Playhouse will premiere productions commenting on cutting edge tech: the rolling World Premiere of R.O.I. (Return on Investment), which examines ethics in Silicon Valley venture capitalism, and the World Premiere of Perfect Daughter, a play about artificial intelligence disrupting a father-daughter relationship. The Playhouse will also give Bay Area audiences their first look at the theatrically inventive Broadway retelling of a beloved novel and film Life of Pi and the hilarious high-speed sendup of a fairytale favorite Peter Pan Goes Wrong. The lineup also includes comic book-infused indie folk rock musical Lizard Boy, era-defining Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award-winning rock musical Rent, and legendary Tony Award-winning horror musical Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street.
R.O.I. (Return on Investment)
The season begins in the fall with the rolling World Premiere of R.O.I. (Return on Investment) (August 6 – September 5, 2026). Commissioned by San Francisco Playhouse and written by Playhouse resident playwright Aaron Loeb (First Person Shooter; Ideation; Abraham Lincoln’s Big, Gay Dance Party), this darkly comedic, eerily prescient drama follows Silicon Valley venture capitalist May, fresh off a Forbes 40 under 40 inclusion and on the hunt for a unicorn startup with a $1 billion valuation. She meets visionary scientist Dr. Willa McGovern, who is on the precipice of a biotech breakthrough destined to change the world. As innovation hurtles forward at an alarming pace, science fiction becomes reality and May and her boss Paul grapple with thorny questions of ethics, power, and greed. This future-focused psychological thriller was seen at London’s Hampstead Theatre in March 2026. Acclaimed theatre director Jonathan Moscone helms the Playhouse production with Bay Area theatre veterans Anthony Fusco, Sharon Shao, and Lauren English leading the cast.
Peter Pan Goes Wrong
Then, the Playhouse will stage the Bay Area Premiere of Peter Pan Goes Wrong (September 26 – November 28, 2026). This hilarious high-speed spoof comes from the award-winning creatives behind The Play That Goes Wrong, seen at the Playhouse in an uproarious production in 2024. Henry Lewis, Jonathan Sayer, and Henry Shields imbue J.M. Barrie’s classic story with their trademark madcap mischief. The Cornley Drama Society once again battles backstage chaos and technical mishaps as its members embark on a certain to be ill-fated journey to Neverland.
Rent
During the holidays, the Playhouse will present the Tony Award and Pulitzer Prize-winning rock musical phenomenon Rent (December 11, 2026 – February 6, 2027). Loosely based on Puccini’s La bohème, Jonathan Larson resets the action to Manhattan’s East Village on the precipice of the Millennium. A ragtag group of artist friends struggle to create and get by, while facing the looming HIV/AIDS crisis. Premiering Off-Broadway at New York Theatre Workshop days after Larson’s passing, Rent transferred to Broadway in 1996, where it won the Tony Awards for Best Musical, Best Original Score, and Best Book of a Musical as well as the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. It ran for more than 10 years on Broadway and was adapted into a film.
Lizard Boy
The season continues with the San Francisco Premiere of indie folk-rock musical Lizard Boy (February 19 – April 3, 2027). Performed by actor/musicians playing myriad instruments, Justin Huertas’ wildly imaginative, comic book-infused musical follows Trevor, an introvert cursed with lizard scales in a childhood accident. Trevor bravely leaves his apartment for a first date turned epic quest, attempting to save the world and find himself along the way. Seen Off-Broadway and featuring an infectious original score that has garnered more than one million streams on Spotify.
Perfect Daughter
The Playhouse will next present the World Premiere of Chloé Hung’s Perfect Daughter (February 25 – April 3, 2027). This high-tech dramedy follows a father’s relentless pursuit of his ideal child, seeking out a scientist to build the adult daughter of his dreams in a lab using artificial intelligence. When the resulting creation falls short of his desires, his world cracks open in an ominously of-the-moment exploration of cultural expectations, intergenerational trauma, and the delicate balance of parent-child relationships. The recipient of IAMA Theatre Company’s The Shonda Rhimes Unsung Voices Commission, Perfect Daughter received a reading at IAMA’s New Works Festival.
Life of Pi
In the spring, the Playhouse will stage the Northern California Premiere of Life of Pi (April 16 – June 19, 2027). Yann Martel’s Man Booker Prize-winning best-selling novel, which was adapted into an Academy Award-winning box office smash film, comes to the stage in an inventive and striking play adapted by Lolita Chakrabarti (Hamnet, Red Velvet). Featuring breathtaking theatrical design including immersive lighting and vivid puppetry, this captivating drama follows 16-year-old Pi, who survives a shipwreck in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. Treachery lurks as Pi finds refuge on a lifeboat alongside a menagerie of dangerous zoo animals, including a ferocious Bengal tiger named Richard Parker. Man and beast forge an unlikely alliance in this astonishing voyage exploring morality and survival against all odds. Winning the Olivier Award for Best New Play for its West End run, Life of Pi made its North American Premiere at American Repertory Theatre before opening on Broadway in 2023.
Sweeney Todd
The 2026-27 season will conclude with Stephen Sondheim and Hugh Wheeler’s Tony Award-winning Broadway hit Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (July 2 – September 11, 2027). This dark, brooding musical tale of love, murder, and revenge follows the infamous London barber Sweeney Todd, who seeks vengeance against the judge who tore apart his family. He teams up with pie shop proprietress Mrs. Lovett to fuel her meat pies with his thirst for blood. Sweeney Todd opened on Broadway and in London’s West End in 1980, winning eight Tony Awards including Best Musical, Best Original Score, and Best Book of a Musical as well as the Olivier Award for Best New Musical.
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