THE HEART SELLERS and More Join Austin Playhouse 2025-26 Season
Add ons include Carmela Full of Wishes and more.
By: Chloe Rabinowitz Jun. 27, 2025
Austin Playhouse has expanded its 2025-26 Season lineup with three additional shows. Two offerings in the intimate Studio Stage include The Heart Sellers by Lloyd Suh and Erma Bombeck: At Wit’s End by Margaret Engel and Allison Engel. The third offering on the Main Stage is a theatre for young audiences production of Carmela Full of Wishes. Studio Stage add-on shows are included as part of the All-Inclusive Subscription package on sale now at austinplayhouse.com/subscriptions. Single tickets will be available at a later date. More information can be found at austinplayhouse.com.
“We're thrilled to add these amazing shows to our 26th season,” said Producing Artistic Director Lara Toner Haddock. “The Heart Sellers is a funny, heartwarming and timely play that gives voice to the Asian-American immigrant experience in the 1970's. Erma Bombeck: At Wit's End was a top pick in our subscriber poll, written by the playwrights of our fan-favorite production Red Hot Patriot: The Kick-Ass Wit of Molly Ivins. These intimate plays are wonderful complements to our main stage season and perfect fits for our studio stage!”
2025-26 Studio Stage Add-Ons
The Heart Sellers | October 3–19, 2025
by Lloyd Suh
This moving new comedy is set eight years after the Hart-Celler Act of 1965 overhauled the U.S. immigration system. The play illuminates the Asian immigrant experience and asks, “Would you give up your heart to make a new home?”
Erma Bombeck: At Wit’s End | June 12–28, 2026
by Margaret Engel and Allison Engel
With wisecracking charm, iconic humorist Erma Bombeck takes us through her journey from homemaker to popular syndicated columnist, to feminist crusader and more. This one-woman show is a frank, poignant look at Bombeck’s ambition to define herself beyond the roles of wife and mother—while still embracing how these “ordinary” things can bring extraordinary joy.
2025-26 Main Stage Add-On
Carmela Full of Wishes | February 28–March 15, 2026
adapted by Alvaro Saar Rios
based on the book by Matt de la Peña, illustrated by Christian Robinson
A heartfelt journey filled with hope, imagination, and the magic of wishes! It’s Carmela’s birthday, and she’s finally old enough to tag along on errands with her older brother. When she discovers a lone dandelion sprouting from the sidewalk, a simple outing becomes a whirlwind of dreams and possibilities. Poetic, playful, and brimming with heart, Carmela Full of Wishes is a moving celebration of growing up, speaking out, and holding on to what matters most.
Age Recommendation: Recommended for 5 and up.
2025-26 Main Stage Season
The Importance of Being Earnest | September 19–October 19, 2025
by Oscar Wilde
Fake names, real feelings, and plenty of tea to spill. Jack and Algernon invent alter egos to escape their duties, but get tangled in a mess including mistaken identities, romantic entanglements, and two extremely judgmental butlers. Wilde’s razor-sharp wit skewers social conventions as Victorian etiquette turns into pure comedic chaos.
Peril in the Alps | November 21–December 28, 2025 | REGIONAL PREMIERE
by Steven Dietz
Hercule Poirot is back in Steven Dietz’s sequel to the hit comedy Murder on the Links! This diabolically funny romp travels to the snow-capped Alps, where a daring kidnapping and a web of eccentric suspects await. Inspired by Agatha Christie’s Poirot Investigates, six actors play dozens of colorful characters in an exhilarating blend of suspense, humor, and theatrical magic.
Describe the Night | January 30–February 22, 2026 | AUSTIN PREMIERE
by Rajiv Joseph
A gripping historical thriller tracing the blurred line between truth and fiction. Beginning in Poland, 1920, a war correspondent befriends an officer of the Russian Red Cavalry. In 1989, a Stasi agent spies on a woman in Dresden and falls in love. In 2010, an aircraft carrying Polish government officials crashes in Smolensk. Connecting seven lives over 90 years, this Obie Award-winner is a powerful and timely look at memory, misinformation, and how lies have the power to shape history in an increasingly unstable world.
A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder | April 17–May 17, 2026
music and lyrics by Steven Lutvak
lyrics and book by Robert L. Freedman
A murderous musical farce with rapid-fire wit, a dazzling score…and a body count. When a charming but penniless young man discovers he’s ninth in line to inherit the D’Ysquith family fortune, he begins a killer climb to the top, eliminating the eight heirs who stand in his way. The result is a wickedly funny battle for love, legacy, and a life of luxury.
Seared | June 5–28, 2026 | AUSTIN PREMIERE
The heat is on in this sizzling new comedy! A brilliant but temperamental chef creates a dish so good it puts his struggling restaurant on the map, but success comes with a side of chaos. As business booms, egos clash and loyalties are tested in this fiery battle between passion and profit. Perfect for fans of The Bear, Seared is filled with sharp dialogue, mouthwatering stakes, and a feast for the senses. Audiences will be up close to the action as Austin Playhouse is transformed into the intimate kitchen of a New York City restaurant.
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