Chester Theatre Sets 2025 Season Including A CASE FOR THE EXISTENCE OF GOD and More
The season will also feature Mark St. Germain's Magdalene and more.
By: Chloe Rabinowitz Mar. 05, 2025
Chester Theatre Company has revealed a season of four contemporary plays and one special event. The theatre's 36th season invites theatregoers on a journey. Travel from the icy Arctic to the vibrant streets of Harlem, from a quiet room in Middle America to a humble home in the Middle East. Meet unforgettable characters as they embark on deeply personal, thought-provoking quests. Along the way, experience a spectrum of emotions—laughter and reflection, curiosity and revelation.
New Co-Artistic Directors Christopher Baker and Michelle Ong-Hendrick hope theater lovers —both returning and new—will join them in Chester this summer: “We're honored to be part of this dynamic artistic community and can't wait to welcome audiences to experience the worlds created by these artists." Tickets go on sale April 1.
MAGDALENE
Directed by Keira Naughton
JUNE 19-29
Eighteen years after the death of Christ, Peter seeks out Mary Magdalene, whom he banished after the crucifixion. Peter needs an ally against a self-proclaimed Apostle angling for power in the growing church. In Magdalene, the author of Freud's Last Session and Becoming Dr. Ruth offers a startling new look at two historical figures and the clash that impacts the course of Christianity.
A HUNDRED WORDS FOR SNOW
Directed by Michelle Ong-Hendrick
JULY 3 – 13
After her father's unexpected death, 15-year-old Rory discovers that he was planning a trip for the two of them to the North Pole. So, she picks up his ashes, her passport, and her mother's credit card, and sets out to make good on his plans. Layered, complex and as beautiful as snowfall, Hennessy's play is an epic Arctic adventure about adolescence, grief, love, and being an explorer in a melting world.
SPECIAL EVENT!
Bill Bowers Returns!
JULY 17-18
Broadway veteran and Berkshire's favorite mime returns for a limited engagement. Chester Theatre audiences saw Bowers in The Making of a Great Moment, which transferred to Off-Broadway, and last season's It Goes Without Saying, which has since toured around the globe. Stay tuned for what excitement Bowers has in store this summer!
A CASE FOR THE EXISTENCE OF GOD
Directed by Daniel Elihu Kramer
JULY 24-AUGUST 3
Somewhere in the middle of America, Keith, a mortgage broker, and Ryan, a yogurt plant worker, unexpectedly let each other into their own fragile worlds. Negotiations of bank loans transform into talk of financial insecurity and the precariousness of parenthood, as the two realize they share a "specific kind of sadness." Winner of the 2022 New York Drama Critics' Circle Award for Best Play, A Case for the Existence of God is a transcendent work from the screenwriter of the Oscar-nominated film The Whale. With humor, honesty and time-bending theatricality, Hunter intertwines the lives of two ordinary men, both outsiders to the forces that govern their lives.
MR. JOY
By Daniel Beaty
AUGUST 7 – 17
What happened to Mr. Joy? A Harlem community takes stock when a Chinese immigrant's shoe repair shop mysteriously doesn't open one morning, causing an array of customers to realize what the shop owner has meant in their lives. In a tour-de-force performance, one actor plays all of Mr. Joy's customers, from the bubbly eleven-year-old Clarissa to the sincere and savvy Bessie, leader of the “Gansta Grannies.” From them we learn about the profound impact the shop owner had on each of their lives, and the invisible ties that bind us all.
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