Cat on a Hot Tin Roof and Next to Normal among titles in 2025/26 Denver Center Theatre Company Season

Denver Center Theatre Company Artistic Director Chris Coleman is proud to announce the 2025/26 season for the regional producing theatre arm of the Denver Center for the Performing Arts (DCPA). The new Theatre Company season kicks off performances on September 19 and will feature eight mainstage productions including a Tennessee Williams American classic, two world premieres from the 2024 Colorado New Play Summit, and a pop-rock musical.

“Next season we are thrilled to share an extraordinary lineup of Pulitzer Prize-winning plays, a powerful pop-rock musical, and new works that are filled with heart and promise to inspire audiences to lean in and engage,” said Artistic Director Chris Coleman. “The season includes a one-person play with resilience and gratitude at the forefront, a timeless American family drama that never fails to stir the soul, two groundbreaking world premieres that are thought-provoking and unforgettable, a deeply moving musical about mental health and family ties, a poignant comedy about the challenges of learning a new language, and we close the season with a dance-filled portrait of hope, family bonds, and the American Dream by a Denver audience favorite. This season is a celebration of beautifully authentic storytelling, and we can’t wait to share these incredible productions with our community.”

Theatre Company Subscription Shows

• The Happiest Man on Earth – Sep 19-Nov 2, 2025 – Singleton Theatre
• Cat on a Hot Tin Roof – Oct 3-Nov 2, 2025 – Kilstrom Theatre
• WORLD PREMIERE: Cowboys and East Indians – Jan 16-Mar 1, 2026 – Singleton Theatre
• WORLD PREMIERE: Godspeed – Jan 30-Feb 22, 2026 – Kilstrom Theatre
• Next to Normal – Apr 3-May 3, 2026 – Wolf Theatre
• English – Apr 17-May 31, 2026 – Singleton Theatre
• Somewhere – May 1-31, 2026 – Kilstrom Theatre

Added Attractions

• A Christmas Carol – Nov 21-Dec 28, 2025 – Wolf Theatre
• Colorado New Play Summit – Feb 14-15, 2026 – Helen Bonfils Theatre Complex

Theatre Company Tickets and Subscriptions 

Subscribers enjoy instant savings on tickets, free exchanges, priority access to almost all DCPA productions, savings on additional guest tickets, reduced service fees on subscription packages, a dedicated VIP hotline, and the best seats at the best prices. Starting in the 2025/26 season, as a subscriber convenience, all Theatre Company full season subscription packages will automatically renew for the following season.

New and renewing subscribers can now reserve tickets to 2025/26 Theatre Company subscription packages online at denvercenter.org/theatrecompany. Standard tickets will go on sale at a later date. Due to the nature of live performance, all productions, prices, and dates are subject to change.

Please be advised that the Denver Center for the Performing Arts – denvercenter.org – is the ONLY authorized ticket provider for these productions in Denver. As with all productions produced and/or presented by the DCPA, ticket buyers who purchase tickets from a ticket broker or any third party run the risk of overpaying or purchasing illegitimate tickets. Patrons should be aware that the DCPA is unable to reprint or replace lost or stolen tickets and is unable to contact patrons with information regarding time changes or other pertinent updates regarding the performance. Patrons found in violation of the DCPA Ticket Purchase and Sale Terms and Policies may have all their tickets cancelled.

ABOUT THE SHOWS:

(In order by date) 

THEATRE COMPANY SUBSCRIPTION SHOWS

The Happiest Man on Earth

By Mark St. Germain
Adapted from The Happiest Man on Earth: The Beautiful Life on an Auschwitz Survivor by Eddie Jaku
Directed by Ron Lagomarsino
Sep 19-Nov 2, 2025
Singleton Theatre

Based on The New York Times best-selling memoir by Eddie Jaku, this “powerful and magnificent new work” (BroadwayWorld) tells a remarkable story of survival, revealing a paradox of joy built on a foundation of grief.

Underneath his warm optimism, Eddie had long hidden painful memories of coming of age in Nazi Germany and his remarkable escapes from three different concentration camps. As his new friends, he invites us on his journey through the unimaginable horrors he faced, his struggle to bury the past, and how he discovered the key to truly living.

In this triumphant performance by stage and screen veteran Kenneth Tigar, Jaku’s story of resilience and kindness is testament to the indomitable strength of the human spirit as he declares himself “The Happiest Man on Earth.”

Cat on a Hot Tin Roof

By Tennessee Williams
Directed by Chris Coleman
Oct 3-Nov 2, 2025
Kilstrom Theatre

Tennessee Williams’ Pulitzer Prize-winning drama unfolds one sweltering Mississippi night on the Pollitt family estate, where three generations reunite to celebrate Big Daddy’s birthday. As speculation about Big Daddy’s health simmers just beneath the festivities, rivalries for his favor and the family fortune heat up. Determined to come out on top, Maggie struggles to get her troubled husband Brick to fall in line as they dance around the secrets and sexual tensions that threaten to destroy their marriage.

As the sun sets and the veneer of Southern gentility slips away, family betrayals and unburied truths leave no one unscathed. Raw, turbulent, and riveting from start to finish, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof is a bona fide American classic that you simply can’t afford to miss.

WORLD PREMIERE
Cowboys and East Indians

By Nina McConigley and Matthew Spangler
Directed by Chris Coleman
Jan 16-Mar 1, 2026
Singleton Theatre

Adapted from Nina McConigley’s award-winning collection of short stories, Cowboys and East Indians follows the Sen family as they grapple with expectations and cultural collisions moving from India to Wyoming.

Lakshmi “Lucky” Sen’s dad calls her a prairie dog — hesitant and scared on the side of the road. Now on a mission to fulfill her mom’s final wish, Lucky has to figure out saris, how to stop burning the spices, and the many other things she didn’t pay attention to while she was busy trying to fit in. But on the eve of her sister’s wedding, a family secret resurfaces, and Lucky realizes there might be a lot more about her mom and being a “good Indian daughter” that she doesn’t know.

A rare exploration of rural immigrant experiences in the American West, Cowboys and East Indians examines the question of how one understands their identity when they don’t see a reflection of it in their community.

WORLD PREMIERE
Godspeed

By Terence Anthony
Directed by Delicia Turner Sonnenberg
Jan 30-Feb 22, 2026
Kilstrom Theatre

It’s 1865. Slavery has just been abolished in Texas. And a gunslinger named Godspeed returns to the Lone Star State with a six-shooter, one bullet, and vengeance on her mind.

Having escaped bondage by fleeing to Mexico a decade earlier, she’s ready to stare down danger and near-certain death as she sets out on a perilous journey across the frontier with both wanted and unwanted companions in tow. But, when the time comes to satisfy her own personal vendetta, an unexpected discovery will make her question if the vengeance she desires can deliver the justice she’s been seeking.

Steeped in the ethos of a classic Western, Godspeed casts light on an often-ignored chapter of American history while taking audiences on an epic theatrical adventure.

Next to Normal

Music by Tom Kitt
Book and Lyrics by Brian Yorkey
Directed by Nancy Keystone
Original Broadway Production Produced by David Stone,
James L. Nederlander, Barbara Whitman, Patrick Catullo and Second Stage Theatre
Apr 3-May 3, 2026
Wolf Theatre

Winner of three Tony Awards and the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, Next to Normal deploys wry humor and brutal honesty to explore how a family navigates their darkest hours — and finds the path to new beginnings.

On the surface, Diana has it all — a house in the suburbs, a successful architect husband, and two sharp-witted teens. But beneath this perfect facade is a nuclear family on the verge of exploding, doing everything they can to make it through another day in one piece. Propelled by an unforgettable pop-rock score, this is an honest and unflinching ride through the complexities of mental health and unconditional love.

This groundbreaking musical is a story of love and resilience that hits close to home, making you laugh, cry, and reflect on the struggles that shape us along the way.

Next to Normal is presented through special arrangement with Music Theatre International (MTI). All authorized performance materials are also supplied by MTI. www.mtishows.com

English

By Sanaz Toossi
Directed by Hamid Deghani
Apr 17-May 31, 2026
Singleton Theatre

“English Only.” This one rule governs language instructor Marjan’s classroom, where she teaches four adult students outside of Tehran. Together, they leapfrog through a linguistic playground, chasing fluency through a maze of word games, listening exercises, and show-and-tell sessions. They hope that one day English will make them whole. But it might be splitting each of them in half.

Sanaz Toossi’s Pulitzer Prize-winning English is a disarmingly funny and tender play about the foibles of language and miscommunication. Make sure you’re marked as “present” for a work Variety calls “undeniably one of the best plays of the decade,” when it makes its Denver debut in spring 2026.

Somewhere

By Matthew López
Directed by Laurie Woolery
May 1-31, 2026
Kilstrom Theatre

From the Tony Award-winning writer of The Inheritance and The Legend of Georgia McBride comes a music and dance-filled portrait of a tight-knit Puerto Rican family striving to make it in show business.

It’s 1959, West Side Story is a Broadway sensation, and the Candelarias’ small Manhattan apartment is filled with big love and plenty of talent. With news of a film version of the hit musical in the works, it seems that the family’s dreams of the spotlight might finally come true. But a sudden notice announcing a neighborhood-wide eviction threatens to destroy their home and the passions that have sustained their American Dream.

Dance, family bonds, and unextinguishable hope take center stage in Somewhere by DCPA fan-favorite Matthew López.

ADDED ATTRACTIONS

A Christmas Carol

By Charles Dickens
Adapted by Richard Hellesen
Music by David de Berry
Directed by Anthony Powell
Nov 21 – Dec 28, 2025
Wolf Theatre

Essential to the holiday season in Denver, A Christmas Carol is a joyous and opulent musical adaptation for the whole family that traces money-hoarding curmudgeon Ebenezer Scrooge’s triumphant overnight journey to redemption.

Based on Charles Dickens’ classic novel, the DCPA Theatre Company’s production is “a splendidly festive tradition” (BroadwayWorld) that illuminates the meaning of the holiday season in a way that has resonated for generations.

Colorado New Play Summit

Feb 14-15, 2026
Helen Bonfils Theatre Complex

Celebrating 20 years of “local theater’s premiere event!” (The Denver Post)

At the Colorado New Play Summit, it’s your time to shine as you meet some of theatre’s most ambitious writers while helping them fine-tune their newest works. Listen to play readings by fabulous actors, give your feedback on where you think the story should go, and enjoy two fully produced Theatre Company productions: the world premiere of Cowboys and East Indians and Godspeed, both of which were featured readings at the 2024 Summit.