A World Premiere and More Set for Northern Stage 2025/26 Season

 Northern Stage has revealed its 2025/26 Season, offering five main stage productions in the Byrne Theater at the Barrette Center for the Arts. The season will feature Come From Away, the world premiere comedy Wonder! A Woman Keeps a Secret by Talene Monahon, and more. 

Northern Stage will also present a limited run of This Verse Business starring Emmy winner Gordon Clapp, readings of new works, and one-night-only musical events throughout the season. See the full lineup here! 

MAIN STAGE SEASON IN THE BYRNE THEATER

Northern Stage opens the 2025/26 season with the stirring musical Come From Away by Irene Sankhoff and David Hein, directed by Producing Artistic Director Carol Dunne, running September 24 to October 26, 2025 in the Byrne Theater at the Barrette Center for the Arts. When the world stood still, a small town stepped up. Come From Away tells the remarkable true story of 38 planes unexpectedly grounded in Gander, Newfoundland on September 11, 2001. What begins as an overwhelming crisis quickly transforms into an extraordinary moment of human connection as the townspeople and passengers form lasting bonds. With humor, heart, and a soaring score, this critically acclaimed musical is a moving, uplifting reminder of how, even in the darkest times, we can find light in each other.

This holiday season, Northern Stage will bring imagination and child-like wonder to the Upper Valley with Peter & Wendy, a new adaptation by Eric Love of J. M. Barrie’s beloved classic. Directed by Love, this tale takes audiences on an adventure to Neverland with Peter, who refuses to grow up, and Wendy, who can’t wait to, as they embark on an unforgettable journey. Featuring professional actors and emerging young talent, Eric Love’s reimagining of this beloved classic will spark imagination and delight in audiences of all ages. Performances begin December 3, 2025 and run through January 1, 2026.

Continuing the season in 2025 will be Don Nguyen’s The World Is Not Silent with performances from February 4 to 22, 2026. A father. A son. A lifetime of words unspoken. The World is Not Silent tells the funny and poignant story of Don, a first-generation Vietnamese American videographer, and his father, Dau. Don grew up speaking English and never learned his father's native Vietnamese, so when Dau begins to lose his hearing, their already fragile connection is tested further. Determined to bridge the gap, Don learns sign language, opening the door to a new way of understanding between them. The World is Not Silent explores the profound ways in which language can both divide and unite us, and how love finds a way to be heard. 

What would one sacrifice to hold space for the younger people of the world when faced with an environmental disaster? The Children by Lucy Kirkwood, running March 25 to April 12, 2026, poses this question for meditation. In a remote cottage on the lonely British coast, two retired nuclear scientists have settled into a peaceful existence. Outside, the world is unraveling in the aftermath of a devastating nuclear disaster. When an old friend arrives with an unsettling proposal, they must confront the choices of their past and the moral dilemmas of their future. Directed by Northern Stage’s BOLD Associate Artistic Director Sarah Elizabeth Wansley, The Children is a gripping, suspenseful drama that The New York Times calls “bristling with chills,” and an urgent and haunting exploration of environmental responsibility, legacy, and the price of survival.

The 2025/26 season will conclude with the world premiere of Wonder! A Woman Keeps a Secret by Talene Monahon (The Importance of Being Earnest at Northern Stage, The New York Times “Four Rising Theater Stars to Watch”), running May 13 to 31, 2026. A family vacation goes awry when a famous painting is discovered missing and the culprit is suspected to be one of the passengers aboard the Aqua Royale: Paris to Portugal. Loosely adapted from Susanna Centlivre’s 1714 farce of the same name, Wonder! A Woman Keeps a Secret follows a colorful cast including a pair of jealous lovers, an iceberg-phobic captain, a frustrated musical revue performer, a scheming mother-in-law, and an enterprising toilet maid as they try to make it to Lisbon with a boat-load of secrets. Set sail for a side-splitting, laugh-’til-you-cry adventure! Wonder! A Woman Keeps a Secret is a Northern Stage co-commission with Classic Stage Company in New York City, made possible by a BOLD Ventures grant, a visionary Helen Gurley Brown Foundation initiative that supports new works for the American theater.

New Works

Northern Stage will continue its commitment to the development of new work for the American theater with several new projects as part of its New Works Now initiative. Designed to enrich the theater experience of our audiences and artists who are hungry for daring and impactful stories, New Works Now has helped rebrand Northern Stage as a bold and visionary theater. The 2025/26 New Works Now Festival will feature the winner of the 2025 Neukom Institute Literary Arts Award for Playwriting, with workshop readings in early 2026. Established in 2018, the annual Neukom playwriting award is a collaboration between The Neukom Institute for Computational Science at Dartmouth College, the Department of Theater at Dartmouth College, and Northern Stage. The award considers plays and other full-length works for the theater that address the question, “What does it mean to be a human in a computerized world?” The 2025 Neukom Institute Literary Arts Award for Playwriting is NOW accepting submissions through May 1, 2025. More information can be found HERE. 

And more…

Jazz at the Junction, Northern Stage’s one-night-only summer concert event, returns by popular demand on Wednesday, July 9, 2025, featuring the Ivan Renta Quintet and the Upper Valley Jazz All Stars, led by Ian Gollub in the Byrne Theater at the Barrette Center for the Arts. Now in its third year, Jazz at the Junction is bringing together world-class Latin jazz artists from New York City and rising young talent from the Upper Valley for a dynamic evening of music and celebration. Be prepared to sway and swing to a night of unforgettable music!

This Verse Business

This Verse Business, starring the Emmy and IRNE Award-winning Gordon Clapp, is “a must-see” that will return to Northern Stage! In this one-man show, Clapp will play poet Robert Frost, who “barded” around the country for nearly 50 years giving sold-out talks to mixed crowds of poetry readers and non-readers alike. Arguably the nation’s first superstar poet, he quipped, “What began in obscurity is ending in a blaze of publicity.” A beguiling rascal on the platform, the poet “re-lives” his verse from memory, relates his “wild surmises” on science, politics, and religion, and speaks to the purpose and meaning of art. Then, inviting us home, he drops his mask, shares losses and regrets, considers the sources of his poetic inspiration, and picks up his pencil.

EDUCATION PROGRAMMING

This summer, Northern Stage’s celebrated Summer Musical Theater Intensive (SMTI) presents Amélie, running July 29 to August 3, 2025, with book by Craig Lucas, music by Daniel Messé, and lyrics by Nathan Tysen and Daniel Messé. Based on the motion picture of the same name by Jean-Pierre Jeunet and Guillaume Laurant, Amélie is an inspiring, heartwarming tale of finding one’s voice in a crowded world. Directed by Broadway veteran and local favorite Kevin David Thomas, Amélie is filled with a cast of whimsical characters, a catchy score, and a reminder of why we need the power of human connection more than ever. Don’t miss out on SMTI, the biggest annual celebration of our local young talents, right in the heart of White River Junction!

In fall 2025, the YES (Youth Ensemble Studio) company students will also bring their talents to the stage with The Addams Family Musical: Young@Part, with book by Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice, and music and lyrics by Andrew Lippa. Performing October 10 to 12, 2025, this 60-minute version of the Tony-nominated musical comedy will give 6th-10th grade students the opportunity to explore these larger than life characters. Directed and choreographed by Sam Empey, students will rehearse and perform this piece in the intimate Schleicher Studio.

The new year will see 4th and 5th graders onstage in YES Jr.’s Twisted Tales, a 30-minute adaptation by Mandi Benjamin and Sam Empey, performing February 6 and 7, 2026 in the Schleicher Studio. Directed by Mandi Benjamin, YES Jr. students will dive into a world of twisted fairy tales inspired by the book Revolting Rhymes and Dirty Beasts by Roald Dahl! 

Northern Stage brings back YES’s full company Showcase in the spring, performing April 10 to 12, 2026, directed by Sam Empey and Kevin David Thomas. The Showcase will feature musical theater songs and scenes selected to provide each and every student actor with an opportunity to take center stage and shine. 

Northern Stage’s summer camps (ages 6-12) return with engaging half-day programs that foster creativity, teamwork, and self-confidence. 2025 summer camps run the weeks of June 16 to 20, June 23 to 27, and August 11 to 15. More information and registration can be found HERE. Make sure to secure your student’s spot before they are sold out. 2026 February and April Vacation Camps will be announced in fall 2025. Registration for all YES programming announced will be open on Monday, June 2, 2025. 

NEW SUBSCRIPTION OPTIONS & TICKET INFORMATION

Get the best seats and the best savings with Northern Stage’s new subscription options. Starting TODAY (March 17, 2025), choose from:

Center Section Subscriptions or Side Section Subscriptions
Early Bird Subscriptions with the best deal and Pick-3 Subscriptions for ultimate flexibility
Young Patron Membership (3 flexible tickets for patrons 30 and under) for emerging theater lovers
Subscribers can save up to 40% off single ticket prices. Single tickets go on sale July 1, 2025. For tickets and details, call (802) 296-7000.

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