Announcing the 2025-26 Season

The return of Million Dollar Quartet, the 45th anniversary of A Christmas Carol and a rotating repertory of Edward Albee’s Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? and God of Carnage highlight SCR’s 62nd Season

South Coast Repertory (Artistic Director David Ivers and Managing Director Suzanne Appel) announced its 2025-26 season today, featuring the return of Million Dollar Quartet, the milestone 45^th anniversary of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol and two Tony Award-winners running in rotating repertory—Edward Albee’s Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf and Yasmina Reza’s God of Carnage.

The season also includes the regional theatre hit, The Heart Sellers by Lloyd Suh, two world premieres, including the previously announced Fremont Ave. by Reggie D. White, and another to be announced, SCR’s Theatre for Young Audiences and Families production, Cinderella: A Salsa Fairy Tale, a bilingual take on the classic children’s story, and the return of the country’s preeminent pianist and storyteller in Hershey Felder, BEETHOVEN. SCR’s 62^nd season is the first with Ivers and Appel sharing a collaborative vision, programming one of the West Coast’s largest regional theatres with a powerful, electrifying lineup of productions.

“By design, each offering in the season converses with the others, providing performance after performance of impactful, moving, transformative theatre. The slate embraces wildly entertaining offers woven together with contemporary plays, world premieres newly sprung directly from the past two Pacific Playwrights Festivals, and at the center, a rotating repertory of two Tony Award-winning plays—the hilarious and theatrical God of Carnage and the powerful American classic Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?,” Ivers said.  “Add the wondrous work of Hershey Felder portraying Beethoven, and you’ll discover a season about family, intimacy, longing and joy.”

With six productions, the 2025/26 Season features more plays in the subscription series than the past four seasons. Additionally, the rotating repertory will perform continuously for eight weeks—one of the longest performance runs in SCR’s history. The Rep will also feature opportunities for theatregoers to see both plays in the same weekend, or even back-to-back on the same day.

And SCR will offer some earlier performance times. The Segerstrom Stage schedule features Sunday performances at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m., Tuesdays and Wednesdays at 7 p.m., Thursdays and Fridays at 7:30 p.m. and Saturdays at 2 p.m. and 8 p.m. On the Julianne Argyros Stage, all evening performances will start at 7:30 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays, with 2 p.m. matinees on Saturdays and Sundays.

SCR is also introducing a $40 annual Family Fun Membership, which provides access to a special slate of discounts and early access to single tickets for theatre-loving families with children ages 4 to 18. Along with providing quality time at the theatre, members also save on acting classes in the SCR Youth Theatre Conservatory—along with other exclusive benefits and opportunities.

“Next season is designed to fulfill South Coast Repertory’s promise of excellence. Every play and musical on our stage, whether a true classic of American drama or a world premiere, is a work of great literature and theatrical craft,” Appel said. “Our season was also designed with feedback from our audiences in mind. We’ve pushed weekday curtain times earlier to make a night out at the theatre easier for working folks, and created a new Family Fun Membership to make theatre more accessible for families. There’s also more to see this season with six productions in our subscription series. It will be a truly unparalleled shared experience with family, friends and our Orange County community. I encourage theatregoers to make a point of putting theatre on the calendar by purchasing a full season subscription, or signing up for our Family Fun Membership.”

The latest production in the American Icons, which celebrates the artists, personalities and opinion leaders who boldly changed our world, opens the season with the return of Million Dollar Quartet, book by Colin Escott and Floyd Mutrux, original concept and direction by Mutrux and inspired by Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis and Carl Perkins. The Outside SCR hit during the summer of 2022 is back by popular demand with several members of the original cast—which had audiences dancing in the aisles—returning. The story of one impromptu night of music that became one of the greatest recording sessions in music history runs Sept. 13-Oct. 11, 2025 on the Segerstrom Stage. Directed by James Moye (Broadway cast, Million Dollar Quartet), who directed the Outside SCR production, Million Dollar Quartet features more than 20 chart-topping hits, like “Blue Suede Shoes,” “Great Balls of Fire,” “I Walk the Line” and “Who Do You Love.”

The Heart Sellers, Lloyd Suh’s touching comedy, follows Oct. 26-Nov. 16, 2025 on the Julianne Argyros Stage. Winner of the Steinberg/American Theatre Critics Association Award for Best New Play in 2023, The Heart Sellers tells the story of two immigrant women, one Filipino and one Korean, who meet by chance at a supermarket and begin a friendship made possible by the 1965 Hart-Cellar Act, which overturned U.S. immigration quotas for non-European countries and gave the play its name. Jennifer Chang (Vietgone at East/West Players) will direct The Heart Sellers, which has recently played to critical acclaim in Berkeley, Minneapolis and Milwaukee, where Broadway World described the world-premiere production—also directed by Chang—as “hilarious, heartwarming, and a little heartbreaking—a funny play with loads of depth.”

An Orange County holiday tradition, Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, adapted by Jerry Patch, celebrates its 45^th anniversary Nov. 29-Dec. 28, 2025. The milestone also marks the fifth time SCR Founding Member Richard Doyle has donned the top hat and red scarf as Ebenezer Scrooge and the fifth season Hisa Takakuwa has directed.

SCR welcomes the new year with The Theatrical Event of the Season—two Tony Award-winning plays performed in rotating repertory, alternating nightly, spotlighting overlapping casts and a single set. It begins with God of Carnage, Yasmina Reza’s brilliant, biting comedy that casts a searing light on parenting, marital tensions and the dynamics of power—all resulting from a schoolyard brawl. Marco Barricelli (Glengarry Glen Ross at Denver Center), who played Ben Hubbard in SCR’s 2023 Voices of America production of The Little Foxes and Antonio Salieri in the 2016 production of Amadeus, makes his SCR directorial debut. God of Carnage, winner of the 2009 Tony Award for Best Play, runs Jan. 23-March 21, 2026 on the Segerstrom Stage.

God of Carnage rotates with Edward Albee’s Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? The American classic provides an unflinching portrait of a marriage, taking audiences on an electric ride of razor-sharp wit, incandescent performances and memorable dialogue that will stay with them for a long time. Lisa Rothe (Steel Magnolias at The Guthrie Theater) directs the work, which won the 1963 Tony for Best Play, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? runs Jan. 24-March 21-2026 on the Segerstrom Stage.

SCR’s popular Theatre for Young Audiences and Families series takes the Julianne Argyros Stage Feb. 20-March 8, 2026 with Cinderella: A Salsa Fairy Tale, book and lyrics by Karen Zacarias and music by Deborah Wicks la Puma. Directed by Sara Guerrero (the artistic director of Breath of Fire Latina Theatre Ensemble), this classic family story gets a modern makeover as a bouncy, bilingual musical as it asks the question: What happens to Cinderella at the ball… game?

The first of two world premiere plays runs April 5-26, 2026 on the Julianne Argyros Stage. It will once again be a product of The Lab@SCR, the theatre’s respected new-play development program. It will be announced at a later date.

The second world premiere is Fremont Ave. by Reggie D. White. A co-production with the prestigious Arena Stage in Washington, D.C., Fremont Ave. runs April 25-May 23, 2026 on the Segerstrom Stage. Fremont Ave. serves as an anchor for the 2026 Pacific Playwrights Festival two years after it was a featured Festival reading. Directed by Lili-Anne Brown (The Nacirema Society at Goodman Theatre), Fremont Ave.’s vibrant humanity and richly layered characters captivated audiences with its multigenerational story of three Black men, their journeys to choose love and the woman who holds them all together.

The season concludes with audience favorite Hershey Felder returning in Hershey Felder, BEETHOVEN. Directed by Joel Zwick (My Big Fat Greek Wedding), the play featuring the music of Ludwig van Beethoven is told through the eyes of Austrian Dr. Gerhard von Breuning, who spent his boyhood at the maestro’s side. As only he can, Felder takes audiences on an illuminating journey through time that features many of Beethoven’s signature compositions, including the Moonlight Sonata and Pathétique Sonatas and selections from his 5^th and 9^th Symphonies. Hershey Felder, BEETHOVEN runs June 10-21, 2026 on the Segerstrom Stage.

On June 14, Felder will once again give a one-night only, special presentation of his Great American Songbook Sing-Along, which takes audiences through 100 years of American music—beginning with Irving Berlin, Jerome Kern, George and Ira Gershwin, Rogers and Hammerstein, Leonard Bernstein, Stephen Sondheim and more. The performance features Felder’s signature engaging style along with lots of audience participation.

Million Dollar Quartet, The Heart Sellers, God of Carnage, Edward Albee’s Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, the world premiere to be announced and Fremont Ave. can be purchased on subscription at this time. Subscribers also get exclusive early access to A Christmas Carol, Hershey Felder, BEETHOVEN and Hershey Felder’s Great American Songbook Sing-Along, which are not part of subscriptions and go on sale to the general public at a later date.

A variety of subscription plans are available now and may be purchased online at www.scr.org or by phone at (714) 708-5555. Six-play, whole season subscriptions range in price from $290 to $518, depending on the day and time of performance. Four-play Segerstrom Stage subscriptions range from $200 to $352, and two-play Julianne Argyros Stage subscriptions range from $102 to $178. Discounted subscriptions are also available for students, seniors, educators and theatregoers age 35 and under. Also available is a special six-play Opening Night subscription for two people, which includes post-show parties with the cast and artists who create the productions. Opening Night subscriptions start at $3,500 and include a tax-deductible donation of $2,326 benefitting SCR.

Family Memberships are now on sale for $40 and purchasers will be given early access to single tickets to the full 2025/26 season including A Christmas Carol and the Theatre for Young Audiences and Families production of Cinderella: A Salsa Fairy Tale and the SCR Theatre Conservatory Summer Players musical, Sponge Bob Square Pants August 2-10, 2025.

Single tickets for the fall plays go on sale Aug. 1.

2025-26 Season

American Icons
SCR’s American Icons series celebrates the artists, personalities and figures who changed our world
Million Dollar Quartet
Book by Colin Escott and Floyd Mutrux
Original concept and direction by Floyd Mutrux
Inspired by Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis and Carl Perkins
Directed by James Moye
Sept. 13-Oct. 11, 2025
Segerstrom Stage
On Dec. 4, 1956, Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis and Carl Perkins gathered for one night to play music—and ended up making history. Go inside one of the greatest rock ‘n’ roll jam sessions ever recorded with four legendary musicians.  Described as “dazzling” by New York Magazine, this Tony Award-nominated musical will have you rocking down memory lane with more than 20 chart-topping hits like “Blue Suede Shoes,” “Great Balls of Fire,” “I Walk the Line” and “Who Do You Love.”

The Heart Sellers
By Lloyd Suh
Directed by Jennifer Chang
Oct. 26-Nov. 16, 2025
Julianne Argyros Stage
Two immigrants, one Filipino and one Korean, meet by chance in a supermarket on Thanksgiving in 1973. Longing for connection, Luna invites Jane to her apartment. While their medical-resident husbands work through the night, the women bond over life in America, the families they left behind and how to cook a frozen turkey. Set eight years after the Hart-Cellar Act overhauled U.S. immigration policy, this heartwarming comedy was called “a laugh-aloud love letter to friendship,” by Broadway World.

45^th Anniversary
Charles Dickens’
A Christmas Carol
Adapted by Jerry Patch
Directed by Hisa Takakuwa
Nov. 29-Dec. 28, 2025
Segerstrom Stage
Whether it’s your first time or a cherished family tradition, this timeless classic is sure to rekindle your holiday spirit! Gather your loved ones and celebrate the season with festive music, joyful dancing and the heartwarming story of one magical, life-changing night in the life of Ebenezer Scrooge. 
Ages 6 and up. Children under the age of 6 will not be admitted.

The Theatrical Event of the Season
Two Tony Award-winning plays performed in repertory, alternating nightly, with one set and overlapping casts. One is an acclaimed American classic and the other a celebrated hit.

God of Carnage
By Yasmina Reza
Translated by Christopher Hampton
Directed by Marco Barricelli
Jan. 23-Mar. 21, 2026
Segerstrom Stage
In gentrified Brooklyn, a playground fight between 11-year-old boys brings four parents together to resolve their sons’ conflict. At first, diplomacy rules. But as each parent reveals their demands, the living room peace summit spirals into a riotous free-for-all of opposing parenting styles, conflicting personalities and marital tensions. A brilliant and biting comedy of manners (without the manners) Variety called “Elegant, acerbic… Reza’s sharpest work since Art.”

Edward Albee’s
Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
Directed by Lisa Rothe
Jan. 24-Mar. 21, 2026
Segerstrom Stage
The New York Times described this American classic as “wry and electric!” In Edward Albee’s landmark drama, George and Martha invite a young couple to their home for a nightcap.  As the clock ticks into the wee hours, Nick and Honey find themselves submerged in a cocktail of clever mind games, deep-seated resentments and broken promises.  Hilarious and harrowing, this unflinching portrait of a marriage ceaselessly astonishes audiences with its razor-sharp dialogue and thrilling performances.

Cinderella:  A Salsa Fairy Tale
Book & lyrics by Karen Zacarias
Music by Deborah Wicks La Puma
Directed by Sara Guerrero
Feb. 20-Mar. 8, 2026
Julianne Argyros Stage
Theatre for Young Audiences and Families
What happens to Cinderella at the ball…game?  The classic fairy tales gets a modern makeover as a bouncy, bilingual musical. Sweet Cenicienta, a.k.a. Cinderella, speaks only Spanish.  Rosa, the coolest, most self-centered basketball player in school, speaks only English—and she’s making things extra difficult for Cinderella. Who will Coach Prince choose to play in the Super Dooper Eastern Western Division Basketball Game? This salsa and hip-hop filled story about sportsmanship and respect will have you cheering in your seat!

A World Premiere to be Announced
April 5-April 26, 2026
Julianne Argyros Stage
We’re holding a spot for a thrilling new work coming through our play development program, The Lab@SCR. With so many exciting voices and plays-in-progress, we can’t choose just yet. So, stay tuned for an upcoming announcement.

World Premiere
Fremont Ave.
By Reggie D. White
Directed by Lili-Anne Brown
A co-production with Arena Stage
Apr. 25-May 23, 2026
Segerstrom Stage
Part of the Pacific Playwrights Festival
In 1968, George buys a suburban Southern California home—a stop on his way to something bigger—and hires Audrey as a housekeeper. In 1991, Robert is still living there, itching to start his own life.  Thirty years later, Joseph returns home, still struggling with a secret that holds him back. With humor and heart, this multigenerational drama revolves around three Black men, their journeys to choose love and the woman who holds them all together.

SCR presents
Hershey Felder, BEETHOVEN
A Play with Music
The Music of Ludwig van Beethoven
Written & performed by Hershey Felder
Directed by Joel Zwick
June 10-21, 2026
Segerstrom Stage
Based on Dr. Gerhard von Breuning’s factual Aus dem Schwarzspanierhaus, Hershey Felder brings Ludwig van Beethoven to life through the eyes of the Viennese Dr. Breuning, who spent his boyhood by the maestro’s side. Featuring some of the composer’s greatest works, from the Moonlight Sonata and Pathétique Sonata to selections from the 5th and 9th Symphonies, Hershey Felder, BEETHOVEN is an intense, illuminating, unforgettable journey through time that immerses audiences in the astounding life of Ludwig van Beethoven.

Hershey Felder’s Great American Songbook Sing-Along
One Night Only – Sunday, June 14, 2026 at 7 p.m.
Segerstrom Stage
With his signature style and lots of audience participation, Hershey Felder’s Great American Songbook Sing-Along takes audiences through 100 years of American music—beginning with Irving Berlin, Jerome Kern, George and Ira Gershwin, Rogers and Hammerstein, Leonard Bernstein, Stephen Sondheim ... The Sound of Music, South Pacific, Fiddler on the Roof, Showboat and more! Audiences are encouraged to sing along with Felder as he leads them through the familiar notes of their favorite songs.

Location: South Coast Repertory is located at 655 Town Center Drive in Costa Mesa, at the Bristol Street/Avenue of the Arts exit off the San Diego (405) Freeway in the David Emmes/Martin Benson Theatre Center, part of the Segerstrom Center for the Arts. Parking is available on Park Center Drive, off Anton Boulevard.