AND I YOU Musical Will Premiere at Olney Theatre Center; 2025-2026 Season Announced
The season includes two world premiere musicals, one world premiere play, and one U.S. premiere drama.
By: Emmy Rice Apr. 04, 2025
Olney Theatre Center has announced the lineup for its 2025-26 Season that includes two world premiere musicals, one world premiere play, and one U.S. premiere drama. The season unites established theater luminaries like Lauren Gunderson, Zhailon Levingston, and Nova Y. Payton; rising star writer/composers Ari Afsar and Joriah Kwamé; award-winning UK theater artists Daniel Bailey and Tyrell Williams; and DMV resident (and celebrity chef) Carla Hall, all in one expansive season.
The program begins in the Mulitz-Gudelsky Theatre Lab with the U.S. Premiere of Red Pitch (Sep. 17 - Oct. 19, 2025) by Tyrell Williams and directed by Daniel Bailey, which transferred to the West End from London’s Bush Theatre in 2024. Next, DMV-favorite and internationally renowned vocalist Nova Y. Payton tackles the title role in Hello, Dolly! (Nov. 6, 2025 - Jan. 4, 2026), directed by Kevin S. McAllister, for the holiday season. The rescheduled World Premiere of Little Miss Perfect (Feb. 12 - Mar. 15, 2026) by Joriah Kwamé and directed by Zhailon Levingston (Cats: The Jellicle Ball) follows on the Roberts Mainstage in February 2026. One month later, Artistic Director Jason Loewith directs Branden Jacobs-Jenkins’ Tony Award-winning Appropriate in the 150-seat Mulitz-Gudelsky Theatre Lab (Mar. 18-Apr. 19, 2026), starring DMV stars Kimberly Gilbert and Cody Nickell.
I And You - The Musical (Apr. 23 - May 25, 2026) is the season’s second World Premiere at Olney Theatre, where its source play received its Rolling World Premiere in 2014, now with a new book by playwright Lauren Gunderson and Lyrics and Music by Ari Afsar, co-produced with McCarter Theatre Center. The season’s final World Premiere, Carla Hall - Please Underestimate Me (May 27 - Jun. 28, 2026) features the celebrity chef in a one-woman show co-written by Hall, Lori Kaye & Leslie Thomas. The season concludes with the resident regional premiere of A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder (Jul 2 - Aug. 23, 2026), directed by Olney favorite Eleanor Holdridge and starring Tom Story.
“A Season of Tentpoles…” is what Artistic Director Jason Loewith called this, his 13th season at Olney Theatre Center. “Like my fellow artistic directors around the country, I start season planning in search of two or three tentpoles to anchor the year. These are shows that, by virtue of their name value or the artists attached or the brilliance of their artistry, will attract enough patrons and press to get folks to sit up and pay attention to everything else. In any given year, I’m lucky to get two or three tentpoles… but this season, remarkably, extraordinarily, amazingly — I think every show fits that description!"
In addition to the seven-show member season, Loewith announced two add-on productions: Paul Morella’s solo A Christmas Carol: A Ghost Story of Christmas, returning to the Mulitz-Gudelsky Theatre Lab (Nov. 28 - Dec. 28, 2025), with Michael Russotto returning for a second year. And finally, the theater’s national tour of Michael Shayan’s Avaaz wraps up with a three-week engagement at Theater J in Washington, DC, from June 6-26, 2026.
Baltimore Awards - Live Stats
Best Musical - Top 3
1.
DISASTER: THE MUSICAL (Annapolis Summer Garden Theatre)
9.8% of votes
2.
HEDWIG AND THE ANGRY INCH (Maryland Ensemble Theatre)
6.6% of votes
3.
THE HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME (September Song)
6% of votes
Videos