July 8, 2025: The Keegan Theatre is pleased to announce its 2025-2026 mainstage season, the company’s 29th. Next season’s lineup features 7 mainstage productions — including 2 World Premieres and 2 DC Premieres — and will be presented at Keegan’s theatrical home on Church Street, where audiences are welcomed into the company’s intimate space to experience extraordinary theater just 2 blocks from Dupont Circle.
“We always strive to build theatrical seasons that offer something for everyone,” explains Artistic Director, Susan Marie Rhea, “with a lineup that strikes a thoughtful balance between diversion and inspiration. Season 29 at Keegan features a vibrant mix of shows that will entertain us, challenge us to think bigger, and serve as catalysts to connect with ourselves and each other in new and exciting ways. Our 2025-2026 shows explore themes of forgiveness, privilege, liberation, and identity — and they are in equal measure deeply moving, excitingly new, and hilariously entertaining. We hope audiences will subscribe to the whole journey and join us all season long!”
Tickets are now on sale and can be purchased online or through the Box Office. Special discounts are currently available on our most popular ticket packages until August 31, 2025:
- Save on Season Subscriptions! Purchase 1 Adult ticket to 5 or more mainstage shows to receive a 30% discount and pay no fees — only until August 31. Our biggest ticket discount of the season!
- Our popular Flex Pass returns! Purchase a Flex Pass, which includes 5 tickets to be used however you like, for just $250 until August 31. Buy it now and schedule your dates later. Use your Flex Pass to see one show or five!
by Chelsea Marcantel
** DC PREMIERE **
What happens when forgiveness collides with deeply buried grief? Acclaimed playwright Chelsea Marcantel offers a moving, thought-provoking exploration of reconciliation, faith, and family. After a tragic accident, a young woman returns to her Amish roots to confront the life — and the people — she left behind. As wounds reopen and secrets surface, the boundaries between forgiveness and forgetting are tested… LEARN MORE
by Steven Cheslik-deMeyer, Tim Maner, & Alan Stevens Hewitt
Get ready to rock… and bleed! On October 31, Keegan unleashes LIZZIE, the ferocious punk-rock musical that rips the lid off the legend of Lizzie Borden. Fueled by rage, retribution, and a blistering all-female rock score, LIZZIE reimagines the infamous 1892 axe murder in a show that’s equal parts gothic horror, riot grrrl rebellion, and rock concert. LIZZIE is a visceral, unapologetic thrill ride. Blood will spill. Guitars will wail. Justice will scream. LEARN MORE
by Matthew J. Keenan
** KEEGAN’S OWN HOLIDAY TRADITION **
An original work by Keegan company member Matthew J. Keenan, AN IRISH CAROL is an homage to Dickens’ classic – told as only the Irish can. This comic and touching play, set in a modern Dublin pub, follows one evening in the life of David, a wealthy pub owner who has lost touch with his own humanity in the interest of self-protection and material success. But on this Christmas Eve – challenged by a voice from the past, provoked by those in the present, and faced with the reality of a lonely future – David’s life may change forever. LEARN MORE
by Angelle Whavers
** WORLD PREMIERE **
People-avoider Zia suffers from anthropophobia, the fear of people. People-watcher Doe suffers from being dead. And naturally, only Zia can see him. Brought together by chance, fate, or potentially ghostly revenge, the two set out on a journey to uncover Doe’s forgotten life while Zia faces perhaps a fate worse than death… socializing. JOHN DOE is a world premiere… LEARN MORE
by Drew Anderson & Dwayne Lawson-Brown
** WORLD PREMIERE THEATER FOR YOUNG AUDIENCES **
Welcome to the wild world of MIDICULOUS, where middle school banter is reviewed in real-time by publicists, where students psychoanalyze their own teenage hijinks with post-pandemic therapy speak way beyond their years, and where viral TikTok dances can kick off a zombie apocalypse! Inspired by and with input from DC students, MIDICULOUS is a world premiere from spoken-word playwriting duo Drew Anderson and Dwayne Lawson-Brown that explores what it means to be a middle schooler… LEARN MORE
by Tracy Letts
** DC PREMIERE **
Night falls on Big Cherry, USA — a seemingly ordinary town with secrets festering beneath its folksy charm. As the city council meeting unfolds in real time, tensions rise, alliances shift, and a routine agenda veers into chaos. What begins as civic procedure spirals into a gripping unmasking of buried truths — and a chilling question: How far would you go to protect your version of the truth? From the razor-sharp pen of Pulitzer Prize winner Tracy Letts (AUGUST: OSAGE COUNTY), THE MINUTES is a darkly hilarious, slow-burning thriller that… LEARN MORE
by Henry Lewis, Jonathan Sayer, & Henry Shields
The Cornley Polytechnic Drama Society is presenting its newest production, THE MURDER AT HAVERSHAM MANOR, but things are quickly going from bad to utterly disastrous. This 1920s whodunit has everything you never wanted in a show — an unconscious leading lady, a corpse that can’t play dead, and actors who trip over everything (including their lines). Nevertheless, the accident-prone thespians battle against all odds to make it through to their final curtain call, with hilarious consequences! Part Monty Python, part Sherlock Holmes, this… LEARN MORE
The 2025-2026 season at Keegan will also feature special events and performances from the Boiler Room Series — Keegan’s initiative for new works and unique performances — as well as social offerings to bring our community of artists and arts lovers together to celebrate and connect. Stay tuned for announcements throughout the season.
