OUR 2025-2026 SEASON
THE RED VELVET CAKE WAR
By JONES HOPE WOOTEN • Directed by MIKE BEEHM
In this riotously funny Southern-fried comedy, the Verdeen cousins picked the worse time to throw their family reunion: the hottest day of July in the middle of Texas tornado season. Things spin out of control when a high-stakes wager is made on who bakes the best red velvet cake. Uproarious antics!
September 5, 6, 7, 12, 13, 14, 2025
MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG
Music & Lyrics by STEPHEN SONDHEIM • Book by GEORGE FURTH • Directed by CHRISTIAN SHAEFER
Music Direction by SARAH COHEA
Spanning three decades in the entertainment business, this musical charts the turbulent relationship between composer Franklin Shepard and his two lifelong friends—writer Mary and lyricist and playwright Charley. Features some of Stephen Sondheim’s most celebrated and personal songs.
October 16, 17, 18, 19, 23, 24, 25, 26, 2025
SEASON EXTRA
(NOT INCLUDED IN SEASON SUBSCRIPTION)
MIRACLE ON SOUTH DIVISION STREET
By TOM DUDZICK • Directed by CARL DeFRANCO
The Nowaks have known they were special ever since the Christmas miracle in Grandpa’s barbershop! Ruth plans a show about it, but a deathbed confession causes the family legend to unravel. The results are heartfelt and hilarious.
December 5, 6, 7, 2025
THE GODS OF COMEDY
By KEN LUDWIG • Directed by ERIC ALMLEAF
What do you do when you’re a classics professor at one of the greatest universities in America and find a long-lost manuscript by Euripides that will make you famous throughout the world? You lose it, of course. And then you call on the ancient Greek Gods of Comedy to get you out of the mess!
January 23, 24, 25, 30, 31, February 1, 2026
SEASON EXTRA
(NOT INCLUDED IN SEASON SUBSCRIPTION)
LOVE LETTERS
By A. R. GURNEY • Directed by DEBORAH MARTIN
Andrew and Melissa are childhood friends whose lifelong correspondence begins with birthday party thank-you notes and summer camp postcards... and continues through the college years... and for the rest of their lives. Andy’s last letter makes it clear how much they’ve meant to each other over the years — as only true lovers can.
February 13, 14, 2026
BUS STOP
By WILLIAM INGE • Directed by MARILEE ENSIGN
In the middle of a howling snowstorm, a bus out of Kansas City must stop at a small roadside diner where the weary travelers on board must take refuge until morning. Cherie, a nightclub singer, is being pursued by “a young cowboy with all the romantic finesse of a rodeo bull.” A classic!
April 2, 3, 4, 10, 11, 12, 2026
SWEENEY TODD
Music & Lyrics by STEPHEN SONDHEIM • Book by HUGH WHEELER • Directed by NOAH A. PRICE
Music Direction by CAROLYN GOODFELLOW
The hit Broadway musical about a Victorian-era barber who swears revenge on the corrupt judge who ruined his life. When revenge eludes him, Sweeney turns to murder, while Mrs. Lovett bakes the bodies into meat pies and sells them to the unsuspecting public. Dark comedy and terror in one amazing musical.
June 4, 5, 6, 7, 11, 12, 13, 14, 2026
Players Theatre At Home Online Programs
Players of Utica also has a wealth of original content — video and audio programs — that are available 24/7.