NJ Rep to Launch 2026 Season With SAMANTHA INSIDE OUT​ Directed by Theresa Rebeck

New Jersey Repertory Company is launching its 2026 Mainstage Season with the world premiere of Samantha Inside Out, running February 19 through March 15, 2026, at the Lumia Theater in Long Branch. Opening night will be February 21, 2026.

Led by Artistic Director Suzanne Barabas and Executive Producer Gabor Barabas, the 2026 season continues NJ Rep’s legacy of developing bold new work that speaks directly to the moment. The season opens with a sharp, funny, and deeply human exploration of reinvention, identity, and the courage it takes to finally say the quiet parts out loud.

Samantha is a woman of a certain age who has had it with her life as it is currently arranged. A high school English teacher, the mother of grown children, and the wife of a cruel, pompous, philandering college professor, she finds herself pushed past her breaking point after a humiliating encounter at a party. Fleeing the scene, Samantha lands unexpectedly in the host’s daughter’s bedroom, where an evening of self-pity turns into something far more revealing. As the walls come down, Samantha opens up, excavating long-buried secrets and taking stock of the emotional wreckage she has carefully stepped around for years.

The production stars Elizabeth Heflin as Samantha, a resident company member with the REP at the University of Delaware and a former longtime member of The Alley Theatre. Her extensive body of work spans classical tragedy and contemporary comedy, including Medea, Macbeth, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, August: Osage County, Noises Off, and numerous new works by Theresa Rebeck, including O’ Beautiful, The Bells, and Yeah Bab