YELLOW FACE Regional Premiere and More Set for Ground Floor Theatre 2026 Season

Ground Floor Theatre has unveiled the titles for the 2026 season including two Austin premieres, a regional premiere and a world premiere.

Premiering Off-Broadway in 2007 with a Broadway revival by Roundabout Theatre Company in 2024, Yellow Face by David Henry Hwang is a memoir based on both fact and fiction. Drawing from experiences with the 1990 Miss Saigon casting controversy, the play includes questions on race and of the interaction between culture, media, and politics with humor and warmth.

Written by Dillon Chitto, an Indigenous playwright of Mississippi Choctaw, Isleta, and Laguna Pueblo descent, Pueblo Revolt is a dark comedy that tells the story of two brothers in Pueblo Isleta. On the cusp of the Pueblo Revolt in New Mexico, the two discuss their place in history, in society and in their assigned social status, revolution, and what they are willing to do to live freely in this regional premiere.

Developed through GFT Writes, Emiliana: A Revolution Cabaret by Jessica L. Peña Torres will make its world premiere in the 2026 Season including several performances in Spanish. Telling the story of a respectable young woman with a secret life as a cabaret singer, Jessica Peña Torres explores many themes relative to our current lives with heart and soul.

Closing the season is A Strange Loop, the Tony Award-winning musical by Michael R. Jackson. Originally produced Off-Broadway in 2019, A Strange Loop premiered on Broadway in April 2022 winning Best Musical and Best Book of a Musical. Following central character Usher, a Black queer man writing a musical about a Black queer man writing a musical, this Pulitzer Prize-winning musical is renowned for its raw, incisive humor and its deep dive into identity, self-perception, and artistic struggle.

Yellow Face | Feb 12 – 28, 2026 | REGIONAL PREMIERE

by David Henry Hwang | Directed by Sandy Lam*

*part of GFT’s Directors Rising program.

Yellow Face by David Henry Hwang is a sharp, semi-autobiographical comedy that blurs the line between truth and fiction. Following Hwang himself as a character, the play tackles questions of race, identity, and representation in the American theatre with biting wit and satirical edge.

Pueblo Revolt | May 7 – 23, 2026 | REGIONAL PREMIERE

by Dillon Chitto

Pueblo Revolt is a wrenching, hilarious, and deeply human two-person play set against the 1680 Pueblo Uprising in New Mexico. Through the lives of two Indigenous brothers—one young, queer, and dreaming; the other eager, duty-bound, and torn—the story confronts colonialism, identity, family, and the enduring cost of resisting oppression. It is history made urgent, intimate, and alive.

Emiliana: A Revolution Cabaret* | August 13 – 29, 2026 | WORLD PREMIERE

by Jessica L. Peña Torres

*developed through GFT Writes program.

Mexico City, 1940s — By day, Silvia Ibarra is a well-bred doctor’s daughter preparing for life as a respectable wife. By night, she becomes Emiliana, a cabaretera who worships Emiliano Zapata and dreams of returning her grandfather’s land to the campesinos. When her double life is exposed, Silvia’s future is thrown into turmoil. Inspired by the prostitute melodramas of Mexico’s Golden Age of film, Emiliana reimagines the genre through a lens of social justice for Indigenous, femme, and queer communities.

As part of GFT’s commitment to accessibility, there will be several performances in Spanish.

A Strange Loop | December 3 – 19, 2026 | AUSTIN PREMIERE

Music, Lyrics, and Book by Michael R. Jackson

A Strange Loop is Michael R. Jackson’s Pulitzer Prize– and Tony Award–winning musical about Usher, a Black, queer writer navigating his own self-doubt, his family’s expectations, and a chorus of intrusive thoughts as he tries to write a musical about a Black, queer writer. Bold, hilarious, and unflinchingly honest, it’s a groundbreaking show that dives deep into identity, creativity, and the messy loop of self-discovery. 

2026 SEASON PROGRAMS:

GFT Writes | January – December 2026

GFT Writes is a yearlong fellowship for 4 Austin-based playwrights to write and revise in community with one another. Each playwright develops a new play culminating in a public reading at Ground Floor Theatre in January of 2027. groundfloortheatre.org/writes

GFTQ Camp | July 2026

GFTQ Camp is a tuition-free summer theatre program for LGBTQ+ teens ages 13 to 17. Over two weeks, campers build community, develop theatre skills, and explore the arts as a tool for social change. The camp culminates in a public performance of a devised original work in August. groundfloortheatre.org/camp

Directors Rising

Austin Awards - Live Stats

Best Musical - Top 3

1. MATILDA: THE MUSICAL (Gaslight-Baker Theatre)

16.8% of votes

2. SISTER ACT (Bastrop Opera House)

6.1% of votes

3. SHREK (Broke Thespians Theatre Company)

5.6% of votes

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