ANN ARBOR: Theatre NOVA, Ann Arbor’s resident nonprofit professional theatre specializing in new plays, is thrilled to announce its 2025-26 Season, featuring the hottest new plays at affordable prices. The season will feature 100 performances of six professionally produced new plays from around the country between October 2025 and August 2026, including two world premieres, two musicals (including a holiday show for families), and two Michigan premieres, plus its annual Michigan Playwrights Festival.
Founding Artistic Director Carla Milarch says she “couldn’t be prouder” of the plays at Theatre NOVA. “After celebrating our milestone 10th season last year, NOVA is on a roll. Patrons often tell us that this is their favorite theatre for thoughtful, interesting plays, and that they know they will always find high-quality performances on our stage.”
“It’s an exciting time to return to Theatre NOVA,” says Producing Artistic Director Diane Hill. “This collaborative leadership model reflects the values we hold dear—equity, creativity, and community. I’m thrilled to be part of a team (Carla Milarch, Briana O’Neal and Shelby Seeley) that’s committed to bold, engaging storytelling and to continuing NOVA’s tradition of producing powerful new work.”
Supporting the arts has never been more important. Theatre NOVA offers a subscription program as the best way to see quality productions at a discounted price. Subscribers save on single-ticket prices and guarantee their reserved seats with easy exchanges. A Theatre NOVA subscription also includes a free pass to Theatre NOVA’s Michigan Playwrights Festival. And if patrons buy their subscription before June 29th, they can get another $10 off the price by using the code EARLYBIRD25.
Next season’s patrons may notice several upgrades to NOVA’s theatre space, including a new lighting board and curtain tracks (as well as a number of upgrades behind the scenes) thanks to a generous capital grant from the Michigan Art and Culture Council, part of its “Next Ten X” Capital Campaign to improve artistic quality and comfort for patrons.
Theatre NOVA’s 2025-26 season opens October 10 with the world premiere of “Dry Summer” by Robert Axelrod. Depressed and longing to get his life back on track, gay, Jewish, twenty-something Ethan returns to his Ann Arbor family home. When he takes a job as a “sober companion” to his recovering alcoholic neighbor, an unconventional friendship ensues. Full of Ann Arbor references, this charming and nostalgic play takes us all home. Directed by Brittany Connors.
October 10 – November 2, 2025
The holiday hilarity of Theatre NOVA’s annual Panto continues with the return of “DJ Whittington’s Kool Kat: A Hip Hop Panto” by Carla Milarch and R. MacKenzie Lewis, based on the beloved fairytale, Dick Whittington’s Cat. Bring the whole family to this rollicking all-ages entertainment with a hip-hop twist. Cheer the hero, boo the villain, and enjoy original tunes and kid-friendly parodies of popular hip-hop songs — set to the Kool Kat’s sick beats. December 5, 2025 – January 4, 2026
Kicking off the New Year, Theatre NOVA presents “Kayak” by Jordan Hall. Alone on a vast stretch of water, Annie Iversen recounts the chain of events which stranded her in her son’s old kayak. A doting suburban mother, Annie is blindsided when her son, Peter, falls in love with Julie, a passionate environmental activist. Desperate to protect her son from what she sees as a reckless path, Annie fights to hold on—until the danger she feared finds her instead. January 30 – February 22, 2026
The season continues with the National New Play Network Rolling World Premiere of “The JonBenét Game” by Tori Keenan-Zelt. When best friends Molly and Rae were 12, they secretly played JonBenét Ramsey at sleepovers. Twenty years later, in the wake of Molly’s tragic death, Rae returns to her hometown school as a guidance counselor. But when Molly’s 12-year-old daughter, Hazel, knocks on Rae’s door, she and Rae slide back into the game, and the dark and liminal spaces of their unresolved grief. Directed by Founding Artistic Director, Carla Milarch.
March 27 – April 19, 2026
The second musical of TN’s 11th season is the Michigan premiere of “The Last Wide Open” by Audrey Cefaly, a love song in three movements. Over the course of three brief acts, the lives of weary waitress Lina and immigrant dishwasher Mikolaj play out in parallel universes—each a variation on a theme of longing, chance, and connection. With echoes of fate and flashes of magic in the mundane, this tender, time-bending story asks: what if love is less about destiny, and more about timing? Directed by returning Producing Artistic Director, Diane Hill.
May 22 – June 14, 2026
The mainstage season ends with “Athena” by Gracie Gardner, dubbed “A deadly serious comedy about ambition, success, and owning your superiority” by the New York Times.
Mary Wallace and Athena are brave, and seventeen, and fencers, and training for the Junior Olympics. They practice together, they compete against each other, they spend their lives together. They wish they were friends. Can they overcome their fierce competitiveness? Would they even want to?
July 17 – August 9, 2026 Rounding out the season is the 2026 Michigan Playwrights Festival. This dynamic event showcases six original, full-length plays by Michigan-based playwrights, each presented as a staged reading followed by optional talkbacks and audience feedback sessions.
August 12 – 16, 2026
Theatre NOVA is located at 410 W. Huron St, Ann Arbor, MI 48103. Performances are on Fridays at 8pm, Saturdays at 3pm and 8pm and Sundays at 2pm. To accommodate families with children, “DJ Whittington’s Kool Kat: A Hip Hop Panto” will hold performances on Fridays at 7:30 pm, Saturdays at 3:00 pm & 7:30 pm, and Sundays at 2:00 pm.
General admission tickets for plays are $30, with discounts for seniors and students. Tickets for the holiday musical panto are $32 for adults and $12 for children 16 years and under. Theatre NOVA continues to make theatre accessible by offering pay-what-you-can tickets to all performances for those who need them. Tickets, memberships, flex passes, and subscriptions may be purchased online at www.TheatreNOVA.org. Tickets may also be purchased in person one hour before each performance. Seating in the theatre will begin 30 minutes before each performance. There is ample free parking and quick access to the city’s restaurants, bars, bakeries, and coffee shops. New patrons can find Theatre NOVA across Huron Street from Ann Arbor’s YMCA through a parking lot entrance on the north side of the street. For more information, visit www.TheatreNOVA.org.
Theatre NOVA is grateful for support from the Michigan Arts and Culture Council, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Shubert Foundation, along with hundreds of members and donors to its annual and capital campaigns. Theatre NOVA’s mission is to raise awareness of the value and excitement of new plays and playwrights and to provide resources for playwrights to develop their craft by importing, exporting, and developing new work.
