THE MOORS, SPRING AWAKENING, PASSAGE, and CYRANO Set for Villanova Theatre

Villanova Theatre has announced its 2026–2027 season: a four-production lineup spanning gothic comedy, rock musical, contemporary drama, and classic romance.

The season opens with Jen Silverman's The Moors, a dark comedy set on the desolate English moors, where two sisters and their maid carefully guard family secrets. When a governess arrives expecting a conventional post, she instead discovers unwritten rules, shifting alliances, and real danger. Drawing inspiration from the Brontë sisters' novels, Silverman's play is, by turns, humorous, savage, and seductive — gothic intrigue complete with an unexpectedly lovestruck dog. The Moors runs from September 24th to October 4th.

Next, Villanova Theatre Partners with Villanova Student Musical Theatre for Spring Awakening, the Tony Award-winning musical by Duncan Sheik and Steven Sater, directed by Valerie Joyce. Adapted from Frank Wedekind's 1891 play, the musical follows young people in 19th-century Germany colliding with a world determined to control their desire, curiosity, and need to be understood. Wedekind's play scandalized audiences; more than a century later, it remains urgently relevant. Spring Awakening runs from November 5th to November 15th.

The season continues with Christopher Chen's Passage, in which a physician and a visiting teacher from opposing nations attempt a genuine friendship across a vast geopolitical divide. Inspired by E.M. Forster's A Passage to India and praised by The New York Times as “guaranteed to raise audiences' heart rates,” Chen's urgent, mysterious drama asks whether true connection is possible when history and power color every exchange. Passage runs from February 11th to February 21st.

The season closes with Cyrano, Edmond Rostand's 1897 classic adapted by Aaron Posner and Villanova's own Michael Hollinger, Professor of Theatre. Brilliant, brave, and convinced he is unworthy of love, Cyrano de Bergerac has the soul of a poet and the sword of a champion — yet pens another man's love letters to win the heart of the woman he secretly adores. The Philadelphia Inquirer called Hollinger's translation "funny, touching, pathetic, kinetic — a joy to watch." Cyrano runs from April 8th to April 18th.

“This is a season with tremendous range — from Silverman's gothic wit to Gershwin's political satire to Rostand's romanticism. What unites them is the quality of the writing and the ambition of the artists bringing them to life,” said Peter Hilliard, Artistic Director of Villanova Theatre.

Season subscriptions and single tickets ($10-$30) are available now at mullenboxoffice@villanova.edu or by calling 610-519-7474. The Mullen Center for the Performing Arts is located on the campus of Villanova University at 800 E. Lancaster Avenue, Villanova, PA 19085.

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The Moors: by Jen Silverman

• September 24-October 4
• Directed by Edward Sobel
• Court Theatre in the Mullen Center for the Performing Arts

Spring Awakening: Music by Duncan Sheik, Books & Lyrics by Steven Sater

• November 5 – November 15, 2026
• Directed by Valerie Joyce
• Co-Production with Villanova Student Musical Theatre
• Topper Theatre in the Mullen Center for the Performing Arts

Passage: by Christopher Chen

• February 11 – February 21, 2027
• Directed by Krista Apple
• Court Theatre in the Mullen Center for the Performing Arts

Cyrano by Edmond Rostand, Adapted by Villanova Theatre Professor Michael Hollinger and Aaron Posner

• April 8 – April 18, 2027
• Directed by Amy Dugas Brown
• Topper Theatre in the Mullen Center for the Performing Arts