2026-2027 Season, Austin Shakespeare
WHO: Austin Shakespeare – Classic theater in Central Texas
WHAT: Austin Shakespeare's 2026-2027 season. Lineup includes: The Verdict of Love, Stride Piano and Ragtime Songs, Lear, Cabaret of Holiday Songs, a staged reading of Rock 'n' Roll, The Hypocrite (Tartuffe), Free Shakespeare in the Park's The Complete Works of Shakespeare (Abridged), and Young Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet
WHERE: The Verdict of Love, Austin Opera's new Butler Performance Space; Stride Piano and Ragtime Songs, Parker Jazz Club; Lear, Rollins Theatre at the Long Center; Cabaret of Holiday Songs, Zach Topfer Lobby; The Hypocrite, Rollins Theatre; Rock ‘N’ Roll, KMFA; The Complete Works of Shakespeare (Abridged), Zilker Hillside Theatre; Romeo & Juliet, Scottish Rite Theatre
Austin Shakespeare’s 2026-2027 season spans new music and favorite classics, opening with the first public look at an opera in development and closing with the company’s teen actors at the Scottish Rite Theatre. Along the way, the season takes in two Parker Jazz Club cabarets, Franchelle S. Dorn leading Lear, a Tom Stoppard staged reading set against Prague's Velvet Revolution, Molière's comedy of hypocrisy, and Shakespeare’s complete works on stage at Zilker Park.
“Every season we try to give Austin audiences something they haven’t seen before, whether that’s a brand-new piece finding its shape in front of an audience or a play they think they already know told a different way,” Austin Shakespeare Artistic Director Ann Ciccolella said. “This year does both.”
The season opens Sept. 11-12 with a workshop performance of The Verdict of Love, a new opera with music by Jeff Britting and a libretto by Ciccolella, at Austin Opera’s new Butler Performance Space. Based on Nathaniel Hawthorne's final novel, “The Marble Faun.” The production marks the first time an outside organization will stage a production at the new venue.
Austin Shakespeare’s Parker Jazz Club cabaret-style fundraisers have become a tradition, and this year’s season will feature Stride Piano and Ragtime Songs on Oct 11 and a Tribute to Motown next summer.
In November, Austin Shakespeare brings Lear to the Rollins Theatre at the Long Center. One of Austin Shakespeare’s inimitable staged readings in costume, the production stars Franchelle S. Dorn alongside her daughters, Amani and Mary, and Helen Merino.
Austin Shakespeare closes out the year with a Cabaret of Holiday Songs, featuring Claude DuCloux and friends at Zach Theatre’s Topfer Lobby.
Early spring brings Molière’s The Hypocrite, also known as Tartuffe, as well as a staged reading of Rock 'n' Roll, Tom Stoppard's drama set against Prague's Velvet Revolution.
The season’s cornerstone returns in May, when Free Shakespeare in the Park comes back to the Zilker Hillside Theatre. This year’s edition, an improvisation of The “Complete” Works of Shakespeare (Abridged), tears through (almost) the Bard’s entire canon in one breathless sitting, with Austin improv master Les McGehee directing a small cast racing the clock and playing every role for laughs. Free Shakespeare in the Park has been an Austin summer tradition for more than four decades, drawing audiences on blankets and lawn chairs for a free night of theatre under the stars.
Young Shakespeare closes the season in June with Romeo & Juliet performed at the historic Scottish Rite Theatre. The program brings together teen actors for an intensive month-long experience that culminates in the public performances.
“I am thrilled by this amazing season. We get to put one of Austin’s great actresses on stage in Shakespeare’s towering role with Fran Dorn, our Medea, taking on LEAR. Our audiences already eager for us to explore a new opera based on Nathaniel Hawthrone's final dark Romantic novel with some of Austin’s powerful singers. I am ready to climb on for the comedy ride of a lifetime with Moliere's classic, now set in a fashionista world by this season’s imaginative costume designer, Aaron Kubacak.”