Shakespeare & Company Completes 2025 Season Lineup with MOTHER PLAY And More

Shakespeare & Company has unveiled the final productions rounding out its 2025 season, including the regional premiere of Paula Vogel’s Mother Play: a play in five evictions, a new family-friendly Shakespearean circus experience, and the return of its Plays in Process and winter programming.

The newly announced productions join a robust season already in motion and, according to Artistic Director Allyn Burrows, offer “something for everyone.”

“We truly have a whole gamut of offerings this coming season,” said Burrows. “We hope that folks can take in several shows, as they’re all so different—some familiar, and some not at all!”

The summer will include Circus & The Bard, a collaboration with Spirit of Circus (based in Sarasota, Fla.), which merges Shakespeare’s classic characters with high-flying circus arts. The production features aerialists, jugglers, quick-change artists, and more, blending Elizabethan drama with contemporary spectacle. Co-created by Allyn Burrows, Robin Eldridge, and Pedro Reis, the show runs August 21–31 at the Tina Packer Playhouse, and is suitable for all ages.

Following that, Pulitzer Prize-winner Paula Vogel’s Mother Play arrives at the Elayne P. Bernstein Theatre from August 29 to October 5. Directed by Ariel Bock, the sharply comic and deeply human family drama spans 40 years, multiple homes, and numerous heartbreaks. The play had its Broadway debut in 2024, where it earned four Tony nominations, two Drama Desk Awards, and an Outer Critics Circle Award.

Also returning is the company’s popular Plays in Process series, which runs August 26–28 at the Rose Footprint Theatre. This intimate, outdoor series presents readings of new works as they take shape. This year’s lineup includes The Shallows by Jim Frangione (directed by Judy Braha), Free and Equal by Kaia Calhoun (co-directed by Calhoun and Tina Packer), and Adults at Play, written and directed by Ken Ludwig.

To close the season, Shakespeare & Company will stage a costumed reading of Sense & Sensibility by Kate Hamill, based on the Jane Austen novel. Directed again by Ariel Bock, the show runs December 12–14 at the Elayne P. Bernstein Theatre, continuing the Company’s tradition of festive winter storytelling.

These productions build on an already rich season that includes:

• The Victim by Lawrence Goodman, directed by Daniel Gidron, running June 19–July 20 at the Elayne P. Bernstein Theatre

• Shake It Up: A Shakespeare Cabaret, co-created by Allyn Burrows and Jacob Ming-Trent, running July 1–6 at the Tina Packer Playhouse

• Romeo and Juliet, co-directed by Kevin G. Coleman and Jonathan Epstein, July 12–August 10 outdoors at the Arthur S. Waldstein Amphitheatre

• August Wilson’s The Piano Lesson, directed by Christopher V. Edwards, July 25–August 24 at the Elayne P. Bernstein Theatre

• The Taming of the Shrew, directed by Nicole Ricciardi, August 14–24 at the Tina Packer Playhouse

• Celebrating Jewish Plays: An Immersive Weekend of Staged Readings, October 10–12 across both the Elayne P. Bernstein Theatre and the Tina Packer Playhouse