Olney Theatre Center to Celebrate Campus Grand Reopening With SUMMERFEST and Sutton Foster Concert
The free community celebration on August 9 will feature a ribbon-cutting, performances, tours, workshops, and a special evening concert by the Tony Award winner.
Olney Theatre Center will celebrate the grand reopening of its transformed campus with its annual Summerfest on Sunday, August 9, highlighted by a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the newly renovated Bernard Family Theatre, the new Jim & Carol Trawick Education Center, and the Gana L. Dunlop Makers' Center.
The ribbon-cutting ceremony begins at 12:15 p.m., with Summerfest activities running from 11:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. The free community event will conclude with a benefit concert by two-time Tony Award winner Sutton Foster at 7:30 p.m. on the Roberts Mainstage.
"It is with immense pride and gratitude that we've reached this day when we can welcome the entire community to see the new Olney Theatre Center," said Executive Director Debbie Ellinghaus. "This is a celebration of all of the generous support we've received from every corner of our community... It's also an invitation to those who may never have been here before to come spend the day at Olney Theatre for free, and experience everything we have to offer."
Summerfest Highlights
The annual open house will feature behind-the-scenes tours, performances, educational workshops, and a marketplace showcasing local businesses.
Visitors can enjoy previews of the 2026–2027 season with songs from Some Like It Hot, Les Misérables, Crowns, Kimberly Akimbo, and Million Dollar Quartet. Additional insider programming includes discussions with Artistic Director Jason Loewith, an audition workshop with casting director Irene Martinko and Senior Associate Artistic Director Hallie Gordon, a look at the creation of musical orchestrations with music director Chris Youstra, and behind-the-scenes tours of the theater's newly completed facilities.
Free classes throughout the day include sessions in sound design, musical theater dance, playwriting, acting for children, arts and crafts, and an introduction to Dungeons & Dragons.
Community performances will feature local dance companies, choirs, and performing groups, while the Summerfest Marketplace will include more than 17 local vendors, food trucks, a Friends of the Montgomery County Public Libraries used book sale, and the theater's popular used costume sale.
Sutton Foster Headlines Evening Benefit
The celebration concludes with Sutton Foster in Concert at 7:30 p.m. on the Roberts Mainstage.
The two-time Tony Award winner is known for her acclaimed performances in Thoroughly Modern Millie, Anything Goes, The Music Man, Once Upon a Mattress, Sweeney Todd, and Into the Woods, as well as television roles in Younger, Bunheads, Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life, and The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel.
The concert was rescheduled from its original June 14 date. Tickets, priced from $107 to $175, are now on sale, with limited availability remaining.
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