FIRE!! Included in Sixteenth Season of Classic Theatre at Quintessence Theatre

Since 2010, Quintessence Theatre has produced epic works of classic theatre for the Contemporary Stage at Mt. Airy’s historic Sedgwick Theater (7137 Germantown Ave., Philadelphia, PA 19119). Exploring the theme of “chosen family,” the theatre’s upcoming 16th season presents Wallace Thurman’s Fire!!, Gilbert and Sullivan’s Pirates of Penzance, Shakespeare’s Rare Accidents, and Moliere’s The Hypochondriac. The four productions offer audiences a World Premiere literary cabaret weaving together dance, live music, and literature from the Harlem Renaissance, a classic comedic operetta, an epic Shakespearean family drama, and a witty new translation of Molière’s final comedy. Patrons can choose from several subscription packages starting at $72, available online now. 

“In times of uncertainty, ignorance, and darkness, the classical theatre remains a bastion for words, humanism and hope,” said Producing Artistic Director Alexander Burns. “As the fabric of our community is torn apart, the sheer act of joining your neighbors at the theatre is a necessary event for cerebral stimulation, radical empathizing, and communal sharing. Our 16th season is a collection of complex stories filled with adventure, laughter, and love. And at the heart of each is the celebration of the ‘chosen family,’ those individuals you chose to spend your life with, invest your resources in, and love and cherish without the formal commitment of blood or law. It is through these bonds that humanity has endured its most harrowing episodes. Bringing together the finest classical theatre artists, we are eager to reignite these old tales as we celebrate community, companionship, honor and duty. Season 16 promises to be our most quintessential season yet.”

The company’s XVI season opens with the world premiere of FIRE!! by Marilyn Campbell-Lowe and Paul Oakley Stovall (co-adaptor of Giovanni’s Room), running October 8 to November 2. In this blazing theatrical event Director Raelle Myrick-Hodges (Father Comes Home from the Wars, 2024) will bring to life the rebellious and brilliant young artists who produced the groundbreaking 1927 Harlem magazine, Fire!! Devoted To Younger Negro Artists. Meet Wallace Thurman, Zora Neale Hurston, Langston Hughes, Gwendolyn Bennett, and Richard Bruce Nugent, and others, in the exuberance of youth, as they struggle to define themselves as artists while trying to self-publish their self-edited magazine by hosting a benefit soiree featuring plays, poetry, songs and dance, to raise money for their next issue of FIRE!! With special development funding by the William Penn Foundation, Fire!! continues Quintessence’s collaboration with Chicago’s New Classics Collective and the writing team of Written by Phyllis to establish “new classics” for the American Theatre.

Quintessence has become a holiday destination for musical theater, and that continues this season with Gilbert and Sullivan’s classic comedic opera, The Pirates of Penzance, onstage from November 19 to January 4, 2026. Relive the madcap journey of Frederic, a young man who, bound by a comical twist of duty to a band of tender-hearted pirates, who falls for the daughter of the eccentric Major-General Stanley and must choose between love, loyalty, and an absurd sense of moral obligation.

“And nothing pleaseth but rare accidents.” In 2026, Quintessence returns to its high-octane Shakespeare with Rare Accidents, Henry IV Parts I & II abridged and directed by Artistic Director Alex Burns. One of Shakespeare’s most beloved and humorous creations, the portly inebriated knight Sir John Falstaff will make his Quintessence debut. In this abridgement, presented from February 11 to March 15, the story focuses on Prince Hal, and his two disparate father figures Henry IV and Falstaff, as he is pulled between his desire to sow his wild oats and become his nation’s hero. A familial drama, a comedic masterpiece, and a military thriller, Shakespeare explores the choices we have in becoming a good son, a loyal friend, and a great leader.

The XVI Season concludes with a timely new production of French playwright Molière’s The Hypochondriac, in a never-before-seen, witty translation by Sir Ranjit Bolt (Quintessence’s The Venetian Twins). Directed by Philadelphia-based director and physical theatre artist Trey Lyford (Quintessence’s One Man, Two Guvnors), the French King of Comedy’s final play follows an affluent hypochondriac father addicted to elaborate enemas, who schemes to marry his daughter to a doctor to secure free health care, only to discover that the real threat to his happiness and wealth may not be health related. The Hypochondriac runs at Quintessence from April 15 to May 10, 2026.