Wirtz Center’s 2025-26 season embraces individual courage

The 2025-26 season at the Virginia Wadsworth Wirtz Center for the Performing Arts at Northwestern University’s Evanston Campus explores themes of resilience and resistance. 

“Each show is distinct, but one theme that weaves through all of them is their celebration of individual courage in the face of systems and institutions that would seek to diminish their characters’ humanity,” said Tanya Palmer, artistic director of the Wirtz Center and assistant dean of Northwestern’s School of Communication.  

The season kicks off in October. Imagine U, Northwestern’s theater for young audiences, presents “Doctor De Soto” based on the well-known children’s book written by William Steig. “The Addams Family – A Musical Comedy” is the Wirtz Center’s fall musical offering in November.

Flex passes and individual tickets are on sale now. The $130 Flexpass can be redeemed for six tickets to any production in any combination during the 2025-26 season. 

Tickets can be purchased from the Wirtz Center website by calling 847-491-7282 or by visiting the Wirtz Center box office located in the lobby of the Ethel M. Barber Theater, 30 Arts Circle Drive on Northwestern’s Evanston campus. Visit the Wirtz Center website for box office hours. 

Wirtz Center’s 2025-26 season includes: 

Imagine U presents “Doctor De Soto” 
Oct. 23 to Nov. 2  
By Idris Goodwin
Based on the book by William Steig
Directed by Jamal Howard  

Award-winning playwright Idris Goodwin brings William Steig’s tale of wit, wisdom and whimsy to the stage with an eye-popping blend of live-action, puppetry, music and rhyme. Despite the sign outside stating that they do not treat predators, the De Soto family dentist practice takes pity on a suffering fox with a rotten tooth. But once he opens his jaws and they must step inside, they begin to rethink their decision. Full of excitement and laughter, this modern-day fable proves that even the smallest creatures can make a big difference with kindness and a little quick thinking.  

“The Addams Family — A New Musical Comedy” 
Nov. 14 to 23    
Book by Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice  
Music and Lyrics by Andrew Lippa    
Orchestrations by Larry Hochman  
Based on characters created by Charles Addams  
Directed by Christopher Llewyn Ramirez   

Eccentric, morbid, spooky and more than a little bit kooky — the far-from-normal Addams family faces a normal family challenge when their macabre daughter, Wednesday, falls in love with Lucas, a sweet young man from a respectable family who her parents have never met. Worried her family might not approve of this all-too-normal match, Wednesday confides in her father and begs him not to tell her mother. Now, Gomez Addams must do something he’s never done before: keep a secret from his beloved wife, Morticia. Things take a hilarious turn when the Addams Family hosts a dinner for Lucas and his unsuspecting parents. On that fateful evening, relationships are tested, secrets are revealed, and the Addams family tackles both love and change by embracing the wackiness that resides in every family.    

MFA Collaboration Series: “Among the Dead”
Nov. 21 to 23   
By Hansol Jung   
Directed by Eunbi Lee   

Ana, a Korean American, travels to Seoul in 1975 to retrieve her recently deceased father’s ashes. When a bellboy named JC shows up at Ana’s hotel with a package containing her father’s World War II diary, three separate time periods collide in the small hotel room. We meet Luke, a young American soldier fighting in the jungles of Myanmar in 1944 and Number Four, a Korean comfort woman camping out on a bridge in Seoul in 1950, waiting for the return of the young American soldier who fathered her daughter. Time, space and Ana’s own origin story are connected by a shape-shifting Jesus in this dark comedy about a family broken apart by betrayed promises and how they find each other again through SPAM, journals and Jesus — mostly Jesus.    

MFA Collaboration Series: “Hand to God” 
Jan. 30 to Feb. 1   
By Robert Askins   
Directed by Jamel Booth   

After the death of his father, Jason finds an outlet for his anxiety at the Christian Puppet Ministry, in the devoutly religious, relatively quiet small town of Cypress, Texas. Jason’s already complicated relationships with the town pastor, the school bully, the girl next door and — most especially — his mother are thrown into chaos when Jason’s puppet, Tyrone, takes on a shocking and dangerously irreverent personality all its own. “Hand to God” explores the startlingly fragile nature of faith, morality and the ties that bind us.   

“The Caucasian Chalk Circle” 
Feb. 5 to 8  
By Bertolt Brecht  
Translation by Alistair Beaton 
Directed by Hamid Dehghani 

In the heat of civil war, the Governor of the region and his wife flee an angry uprising, abandoning their infant son amid the chaos. The responsibility to rear the child falls upon Grusha, a servant girl, who sacrifices everything to respectfully raise the young boy as her own. But when the biological mother returns, a debate arises as to who the rightful mother of the boy is. Written at the close of World War II, Brecht’s masterpiece explores the impact of war on ordinary people who find their humanity amidst a chaos they did not invite. This show focuses on storytelling and performance with basic production elements.  

“How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying”
Feb. 20 to March 1   
Musical by Frank Loesser   
Book by Abe Burrows, Jack Weinstock, Willie Gilbert   
Directed by Christopher Michael Richardson   

Big business means big laughs in this riotous romp through the corporate world that took Broadway by storm, winning both the Tony Award for Best Musical and a Pulitzer Prize. As sharp as it is hilarious, the story follows the meteoric rise of J. Pierrepont Finch, an ambitious window washer who stumbles upon a book titled “How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying.” Armed with this handy guide, Finch sets out to conquer the Worldwide Wicket Company with a mix of wit, charm and a bit of scheming. This reinvigorated production of “How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying” is a tune-filled comic gem full of ambition, love, luck and a whole lot of nerve!  

Imagine U: Theatre for the Very Young presents
“Imagine That!” and “Splish, Splash: A Day on the Lake”
March 7 to 15
Director Ellie Levine 
“Splish, Splash: A Day on The Lake” co-creator Jamal Howard 
Artistic mentor Lynn Kelso 

Imagine U’s Theatre for the Very Young program returns with a vibrant and engaging introduction to the magic of live theatre, specially designed for children aged two to five and their grown-ups. Two separate remounted shows will be presented: “Imagine That!” on March 7 and 15; and “Splish, Splash: A Day on the Lake” on March 8 and 14.

These multi-sensory performances are crafted by a dedicated team of educational artists who specialize in early childhood development alongside undergraduate students focused on theatre for young audiences. The shows were developed in collaboration with preschool age children at Total Child in Evanston.  

“Danceworks 2026: Semiquincentennial”  
March 13 to 15   
Artistic Director Melissa Blanco Borelli

Join us for Northwestern’s annual dance showcase featuring new works by acclaimed and nationally recognized guest choreographers and faculty.  

“Love and Information” 
May 1 to 10  
By Caryl Churchill   
Directed by Claire Bauman   

Someone sneezes. Someone can’t get a signal. Someone won’t answer the door. Someone put an elephant on the stairs. Someone’s not ready to talk. Someone is her brother’s mother. Someone hates irrational numbers. Someone told the police. Someone got a message from the traffic light. Someone’s never felt like this before. In this fast-moving kaleidoscope, more than 100 characters try to make sense of what they know.  

MFA Collaboration Series: “David’s Redhaired Death”
May 8 to 10  
By Sherry Kramer   
Directed by Rosalind Faires   

Two women find that they have everything in common until the death of a brother drives them apart in this part stand-up comedy, part stand-up tragedy for two. The redhaired mythology that glorifies and empowers two women leads them into a big love but can’t lead them safely out again. This is a play about the heaviness of the things we carry.  

“In the Time of the Butterflies”
May 22 to 31  
By Caridad Svich   
Based on the novel by Julia Alvarez   
Directed by Mariana Parejo Molinares   

Known as “The Butterflies,” the spirited and courageous Mirabal sisters inspired a fight for freedom in the Dominican Republic. For 30 years, President Trujillo’s iron fist of authoritarianism tightened around the throat of the Dominican Republic. But the people would not be silenced, and as the revolution grew, so too did the four Mirabal sisters. As the girls became women, their deep love for their family and passion for their country led them to become activists and martyrs for the revolution against the Trujillo dictatorship. Their legacy led to the creation of the United Nations International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women. Based on the acclaimed novel by Julia Alvarez, this play bears witness to the joy and laughter, terror and violence that shaped a nation and its people.