Chesapeake Shakespeare Firm (CSC) has introduced its 2026/27 season, a compelling lineup that explores the fragility and power of human nature — the place ambition, worry, and the pleasant dysfunction of affection rework people and complete communities. Spanning horror, historic drama, and Shakespearean comedy, the season pairs among the canon’s most fascinating works with CSC’s signature dedication to imaginative staging and design.
“At CSC, neighborhood is one thing we construct every time we collect in the identical room to listen to a narrative. This season was formed with that in thoughts,” writes CSC’s Producing Govt Director, Lesley Malin. “I’ve chosen performs that spark dialog, that give us causes to be collectively—whether or not to get pleasure from a very good scare, a gripping drama, or a joyful comedy.”
Opening the season in October is Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, directed by CSC’s Founding Creative Director Ian Gallanar.
Arriving with the chills of fall, this well timed staging of Shelley’s gothic basic follows a younger scientist whose monstrous ambition offers start to one thing he can’t comprise. As his forsaken creation turns towards vengeance, Frankenstein confronts the ethical value of his curiosity and the boundary between creator and creation.
The corporate’s beloved vacation custom A Christmas Carol, tailored by Laura Rocklyn and directed by Quāé Simpson, returns in December. Set in Nineteenth-century Baltimore, this enduring manufacturing of Dickens’ hauntingly stunning story affords a well-recognized story, reimagined in a well-recognized setting and renewed every year within the heat of neighborhood. As all the time, surrounding neighborhood occasions and partnerships will prolong the manufacturing past the stage, making it a cornerstone of the area’s winter season.
CSC’s season journeys from monsters to ghosts to witchcraft. With the brand new 12 months comes Arthur Miller’s The Crucible, directed by Lise Bruneau, returning to the Firm following her 2025 efficiency within the title position of Mary Stuart and 2024 route of The Oresteia. Set in 1692 Salem, this searing American basic traces how worry will be weaponized in society. As whispers of witchcraft flow into, rumour hardens into proof, and a small city activates itself. Miller’s edge-of-your-seat drama stays an enchanting reflection of mass hysteria and the value of integrity amidst all of it.
Spring brings laughter and love in William Shakespeare’s A lot Ado About Nothing, directed by Megan Behm, who earlier this season directed CSC’s regional premiere of Jane Austen’s Persuasion. This Sixteenth-century romantic comedy bursts with glowing wit as two good rivals are tricked into falling in love whereas a darker plot threatens to upend a joyous wedding ceremony. It’s a fast-paced, sharp-tongued “merry struggle” and a celebration of affection’s messy, triumphant magic.
Closing out the season, CSC In-The-Ruins returns to the Patapsco Feminine Institute with The Two Gents of Killarney, tailored and directed by Séamus Miller. This energetic reimagining of Shakespeare’s The Two Gents of Verona blends Irish folks music and follows two buddies whose loyalties are examined throughout continents. The play premiered in March at Avant Bard Theatre to nice acclaim. Carried out underneath the celebrities, this rhythmic manufacturing continues the Firm’s custom of expansive, out of doors storytelling.
Alongside the mainstage and In-The-Ruins exhibits, the Firm’s neighborhood initiatives proceed. CSC’s Scholar Matinee program returns with its annual spring staging of Romeo and Juliet, providing 1000’s of Maryland college students an immersive encounter with Shakespeare by stay efficiency. Coming into its fourth summer season, CSC’s Shakespeare Past is again, bringing free academic applications and performances into neighborhood parks throughout the state, on its Shakespeare Wagon.
Collectively, the 2026/27 season facilities the human expertise and affirms the ability of gathering. These are tales that problem, thrill, delight, and finally convey us into nearer dialogue with each other. Chesapeake Shakespeare Firm stays devoted to creating area for that alternate.
Full particulars for every present, together with casting, will probably be introduced nearer to the dates of manufacturing. Subscription packages are actually on sale; single tickets for mainstage exhibits will go on sale later this summer season. For extra details about subscriptions, single tickets, and College Matinees, go to www.chesapeakeshakespeare.com or name the field workplace at 410-244-8570.
PRODUCTION INFORMATION
Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein
Tailored from Mary Shelley
Directed by Ian Gallanar
October 9 – November 1
A Christmas Carol
Tailored from Charles Dickens by Laura Rocklyn
Directed by Quāé Simpson
November 28 – December 23
Arthur Miller’s The Crucible
By Arthur Miller
Directed by Lise Bruneau
February 12 – March 7
Scholar Matinee: Romeo and Juliet
By William Shakespeare
Performances run: March 23-Could 7
A lot Ado About Nothing
By William Shakespeare
Directed by Megan Behm
April 23 – Could 16
The Two Gents of Killarney
Tailored from William Shakespeare by Séamus Miller
Directed by Séamus Miller
June 18 – July 25
ABOUT CHESAPEAKE SHAKESPEARE COMPANY
Based in 2002, Chesapeake Shakespeare Firm brings nice basic theater to Baltimore, Howard County, the state of Maryland, and past. The corporate affords performances of Shakespeare and different performs of basic stature which might be unforgettable, difficult, and revolutionary. In 2012, Chesapeake Shakespeare Firm acquired the Mercantile Secure Deposit and Belief Firm constructing in downtown Baltimore, renovating it into a contemporary Globe Theater for indoor performances. CSC produces out of doors Shakespeare each summer season on the PFI Historic Park in Howard County and brings free Shakespeare performances straight into neighborhoods throughout Maryland with our revolutionary travelling Shakespeare Past Wagon. The group usually serves 34,000+ folks yearly by creative initiatives and intentional neighborhood engagement. CSC’s vibrant schooling program contains an in depth matinee sequence, camps, courses, and in and out-of-school residencies. The corporate invitations patrons, college students, and neighbors to turn into a part of the inventive collaboration that generates highly effective, magical theater and a extra purposeful, engaged, and related neighborhood.
