Urbanite Theatre to Launch Season 13 With New Lineup of Productions

Urbanite Theatre has announced its 13th season. Starting off with their 7th annual Modern Works Festival, a celebration of women in theatre, and leading into four main stage regional premieres, this season promises exciting new voices and stories. Jenny Stafford's AHOY-HOY and Stacey Isom Campbell's 1999, two of the finalists from last year's Modern Works Festival, will come to life on stage alongside THE GARBOLOGISTS by Lindsay Joelle and BLACK BASTARD, an autobiographical solo-play by Jon Gentry.

Season 13 begins with the Modern Works Festival, back for its 7th year to shine a spotlight on female theatremakers. The festival opens with this year's headlining production, running September 17–20. A kickoff party on September 24 launches a weekend of staged finalist readings and special festival events, culminating in a closing celebration on September 27. “The Modern Works Festival is one of the most exciting and intimate experiences we offer,” remarks Producing Artistic Director Summer Dawn Wallace. “Audiences get an exclusive inside look at how theatre is made, experiencing staged readings and the development of bold new works and becoming part of their journey. The festival is where theatrical seeds are planted—stories that may one day bloom on our stage.” The 2026 Modern Works Festival runs from September 17 - 27, 2026.

First up on the main stage is last year's Modern Works finalist, Jenny Stafford's AHOY-HOY, A Play About That Relatable Feeling When Someone Else Invents the Telephone Three Hours Before You Do. Jenny is an award-winning playwright, bookwriter, and lyricist whose works have been heard on Broadway and beyond in numerous recognized regional and international venues. AHOY-HOY tells the story of two competing inventors on the cusp of creating the first ever telephone in this “battle of beards and bell tones,” and it is just as exciting and hilarious as it sounds. AHOY-HOY runs from October 30 - November 29, 2026.

Next, audiences will go for a ride along a New York City sanitation route with opposites Danny (white, blue-collar, garbage veteran) and Marlowe (Black, Ivy-educated, new to the route) in Lindsay Joelle's THE GARBOLOGISTS. In her own words, Lindsay writes “big-hearted comedies about the collision of different worldviews… fueled by fieldwork with insular communities across America.” This comedy of juxtaposition delves into what we throw away, what we hold onto, and what connects us. THE GARBOLOGISTS runs from January 8 - February 14, 2027.

Spring brings another Modern Works Festival finalist, Stacey Isom Campbell's 1999 to the stage. In 1999, Stacey Isom Campbell explores the uneasy intersection of artistic brilliance, moral failure, and the blurred line between complacency and complicity. Against the backdrop of the late-1990s film industry—and the shadow of a powerful, predatory filmmaker—the play grapples with one of the most urgent cultural questions of our time: can we separate art from the artist and better yet, should we? 1999 runs from March 19 - April 25, 2027.

The final main stage production is BLACK BASTARD, an autobiographical work written and performed by Jon Gentry. Gentry starred as Remy in last year's production of MONSTERS OF THE AMERICAN CINEMA on Urbanite's stage. Deeply personal yet widely relatable, this vibrant coming-of-age story blends clowning, song, and a kaleidoscope of characters to transport audiences through 1990s Houston and the many chapters of Jon's quest for identity and belonging. Hilarious, heartfelt, and deeply emotional, the play unfolds like a theatrical mixtape—an ever-shifting mosaic of memories and anecdotes that come together in symphony. BLACK BASTARD runs from June 4 - 27, 2027.

Audiences can purchase subscriptions to experience some or all of Season 13. With multiple subscription packages available, there is an option for every kind of theatre lover. Each season at Urbanite is built on a commitment to producing bold, impactful work, supporting artists, and enriching Sarasota's cultural landscape through stories that challenge, inspire, and connect us. By becoming a subscriber, audiences play a vital role in making that work possible by helping us invest more deeply in artists, productions, and the creative resources needed to bring ambitious stories to life. Subscribers also enjoy free and unlimited ticket exchanges to ensure they don't have to miss a performance if a conflict arises. Subscriptions for Season 13 are on sale now at urbanitetheatre.com/subscribe or by calling the box office Monday-Friday 12-5 PM at (941) 321-1397.

URBANITE THEATRE 2026-27 SEASON

MODERN WORKS FESTIVAL

September 17-27, 2026

MAIN STAGE PRODUCTIONS

AHOY-HOY

By Jenny Stafford
October 30 - November 29, 2026

THE GARBOLOGISTS

By Lindsay Joelle
January 8 - February 14, 2027

1999

By Stacey Isom Campbell
March 19 - April 25, 2027

BLACK BASTARD

Created by and starring Jon Gentry
June 4 - 27, 2027

MODERN WORKS FESTIVAL

September 17-27, 2026

LINE UP:

• 7:30 pm Thursday, September 17, 2026
  2026 Headlining Production (TBA)
• 7:30 pm Friday, September 18, 2026
  2026 Headlining Production
• 2 pm & 7:30 pm Saturday, September 19, 2026
  2026 Headlining Production
• 2 pm Sunday, September 20, 2026
  2026 Headlining Production
• 7:30 pm Thursday, September 24, 2026
  Festival Kickoff Party
• Friday, September 25, 2026
  2 pm Staged reading: Finalist 1
• 5 pm Staged reading: Finalist 2
• 7:30 pm Conversation with featured Guest Speaker (TBA)
• Saturday, September 26, 2026
  2 pm Staged reading: Finalist 3
• 5 pm Staged reading: Finalist 1
• 7:30 pm Staged reading: Finalist 2
• Sunday, September 27, 2026
  2 pm Staged reading: Finalist 3
• 4 pm Audience Round Table & Festival Closing Celebration

AHOY-HOY

By Jenny Stafford
October 30 - November 29, 2026

Voter Favorite in the 2025 Modern Works Festival

Synopsis: It's 1876 and also, right now. Elisha Gray is this close to inventing the telephone. He's brilliant, anxious, and ready to make history… if Alexander Graham Bell doesn't beat him to it. Spoiler: he kind of does.

• Two oversized egos.
• One telephone.
• A battle of beards and bell tones.

AHOY-HOY is a deliriously unhinged, unapologetic sprint through American ambition, innovation, and the absurd quest for legacy. History has never been this ridiculous or this fun.

Jenny Stafford is an award-winning playwright, bookwriter, and lyricist whose works have been heard on Broadway and beyond. Her work has been featured at Lincoln Center, Cirque du Soleil, the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Joe's Pub, Ars Nova, the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, Dancing with the Stars, and other regional and international venues. Awards include the Reva Shiner Comedy Award, the Paulette Goddard Award, and the Capital Repertory New Works Award. Three-time finalist status for the Kleban Prize for Musical Theatre, and a finalist for the McKnight Fellowship, the PEN Writing for Justice Fellowship, the Yale Institute for Music Theatre, and the Eugene O'Neill Musical Theatre Conference and Playwriting Conference. Nominee for the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize. Artist in Residence at the Rhinebeck Writer's Retreat, Goodspeed Musicals, Johnny Mercer Writers Colony. Dramatists Guild member; MFA NYU's Tisch School of the Arts. www.jennystafford.net

THE GARBOLOGISTS

By Lindsay Joelle
January 8 - February 14, 2027

Synopsis: Danny is a white, blue-collar, New York City sanitation worker. Marlowe is a Black, Ivy-educated newcomer just assigned to his route. Trapped together in the cab of a nineteen-ton garbage truck, they spend their days sparring over everything from “house rules” to high art, each convinced they know better than the other. But somewhere between the trash piles and the treasures they uncover, an unexpected connection begins to take shape. As their worlds collide, they discover there's more that binds them than the job at hand.

A sharp, laugh-out-loud comedy about unlikely partnership, THE GARBOLOGISTS explores what we hold onto, what we throw away, and the surprising ways we find common ground.

Lindsay Joelle writes big-hearted comedies about the collision of worldviews, a process fueled by fieldwork with insular communities across America. Published plays include TRAYF (Theater J, Geffen Playhouse, LA Drama Critics Circle nomination for best writing) and THE GARBOLOGISTS (Philadelphia Theatre Company, City Theatre, Northlight Theatre, Theater Alliance, among others). She is the recipient of the Goldberg Award for Graduate Playwriting, Desert Theater League Award for Best Original Writing, and commissions from E.S.T./Sloan Foundation and Audible's Emerging Playwrights Fund. Lindsay is a proud National New Play Network (NNPN), Playwrights Foundation, New Georges, and American Theatre Wing affiliated artist, former Playwright-in-Residence at Curious Theatre, and an alumna of Nashville Rep's Ingram New Works Lab, Florida Rep's PlayLab, PlayPenn New Play Conference, Great Plains Theatre Conference, the BMI Lehman Engel Musical Theater Workshop, Columbia University (BA), and Hunter College (MFA).

1999

By Stacey Isom Campbell
March 19 - April 25, 2027

Synopsis: When a college student protests the inclusion of a film by a disgraced #MeToo-era director in her syllabus, acclaimed producer and professor Emma is forced to confront a pivotal moment from her own past. Set against the backdrop of academia and the lasting echoes of the 1990s film industry, this compelling new play weaves together the stories of three women whose lives intersect in the aftermath of trauma. With sharp insight, it interrogates the moral complexities of consuming and teaching controversial art, raising urgent questions about culpability, memory, and power dynamics.

Stacey Isom Campbell is an Alaska-raised, Southern-rooted playwright whose work explores power, memory, and the fault lines beneath ambition. Her play 1999 received its professional world premiere at WAM Theatre and was a finalist for the O'Neill Center's National Playwrights Conference and Modern Works Festival. Her work has been developed or produced by Barter Theatre (LORT), Florida Rep's PlayLab, the Valdez Theatre Conference, the Great Plains Theatre Conference, the Seven Devils Playwriting Conference, The New Harmony Project, and the Bay Area Playwrights Festival, among others.

Her plays include THE LOOPHOLE (Susan Smith Blackburn Prize nominee), THE CONTROLLER, BUFFALO CREEK, WHEN MOUNTAINS MOVE, MEMORY OF ICE, ON THE 8's, and SMOKIN' DEVILS. Her short plays have been presented at ATHE's New Play Development Workshop and in an Equity Showcase production in New York.

A Fellow of the Hambidge Center, the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, the Helene Wurlitzer Foundation of New Mexico, and Trillium Arts, she lives in Greenville, SC with her partner and their Shih Tzu, who remains unimpressed by her theatrical accomplishments. staceyisomcampbell.com

BLACK BASTARD

By Jon Gentry
June 4 - 27, 2027

Synopsis: BLACK BASTARD, the award-winning solo show by Jon Gentry, transports us to 1990s Houston in a humorous, heartfelt coming-of-age story shaped by curiosity, imagination, and survival. When his family fractures, Jon is thrust into the role of “man of the house,” launching a search for identity in a world eager to define him before he can define himself.

Through literature, clowning, original song, and a kaleidoscope of characters, Gentry creates a theatrical landscape that is as playful as it is piercing, blending ‘90s nostalgia with sharp socio-cultural insight. As he searches for his absent father, Jon must confront not only what he might find, but who he is becoming.

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