South Coast Rep’s 2026-27 Season is a Return to Form
- Paul Hodgins
- 4 minutes ago
- 4 min read
Audiences are growing, allowing for more productions and more adventurous programming.
South Coast Repertory’s 2026-27 season, announced today, is in many ways the kind of lineup the Tony-winning regional theater has often delivered over the years: a diverse mix of classics and modern masterpieces with challenging new work, the latter a result of the company’s status as one of America’s most important centers for new play development.
What’s new this season is, ironically, a return to old familiar ways: more classics, more productions, longer runs, a musical, and a renewed embrace of repertory theater, something implied by its 62-year-old name.
This season, SCR offered two thematically similar plays in rep, “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” and “God of Carnage.” In the 2026-27 season, Lauren Yee’s “Mother Russia” and Oscar Wilde’s “The Importance of Being Earnest,” described in the press release as “two plays about love and identity,” will perform in rotation continuously for eight weeks, with overlapping cast members, on the Segerstrom Stage.
Other season highlights include “Hamlet,” starring well-known screen actor Raymond Lee (“Top Gun: Maverick,” “Quantum Leap”); Stephen Sondheim’s and James Lapine’s “Into the Woods”; the West Coast premiere of “Blind Runner” by Iranian writer/director Amir Reza Koohestani; and two world premieres that will anchor the 2027 Pacific Playwrights Festival, “Three-headed Monster” by JuCoby Johnson and “The Ingenue” by Eleanor Burgess.
SCR’s upcoming season represents its largest offering since 2018-19. The more robust programming “will continue at this level of production into the future,” according to the season announcement. The expanded season reflects an upswing in SCR’s general health, according to the theater’s managing director, Suzanne Appel.
“Over the last two seasons we’ve seen stronger audiences in general – 10% larger last season compared to where we were earlier in the (post-pandemic) period. We’ve continued that growth this season; we’ve added a full production.”
Playwrights included in the 2026-27 SCR season. From left, “Blind Runner” playwright Amir Reza Koohestani (photo courtesy of Bea Borgers); “The Ingenue” playwright Eleanor Burgess (photo courtesy of SCR); “Three-headed Monster” playwright JuCoby Johnson (photo courtesy of SCR); and “Mother Russia” playwright Lauren Yee (photo by Beowulf Sheehan).
In another new development, one of the season’s two world premieres, “Three-headed Monster,” will be presented on SCR’s third stage, the 94-seat Nicholas Studio. Besides giving theatergoers a more intimate experience, the move frees up SCR’s largest venue, Segerstrom Stage, for an additional spring production.
“We are thrilled to bring audiences into the Nicholas,” Appel said. “It will be a very intimate experience for a world-premiere play. It will allow audiences to have a closer relationship with the artists and the work.” Staging the play in the Nicholas also allows for a longer run, Appel added. “It’s in a smaller space over four weeks, instead of in the (Julianne) Argyros (Stage) for only a three-week run. A longer run is (preferable) for an exciting new play such as this one.”
Appel said there are many other changes, big and small, to the 2026-27 season that will benefit the theater and audiences alike.
“I think that the commitment to having more classics and modern masters on the Segerstrom Stage, in particular, is something a little bit different. And recognizing our world premieres and other adventurous (plays) that audiences really don’t know as well – those are more likely to be a good fit in our more intimate spaces.”
One of the most beloved parts of SCR’s previous seasons, Outside SCR, isn’t returning – yet. The four-year summer season, staged under the stars at the Mission San Juan Capistrano, ended in 2024. But Appel said there are plans afoot to offer something special in the summer of 2027.
“I think we’re definitely interested in the possibility of a future return for Outside SCR, but we need the right location. It’s not coming back next season, but within SCR Presents (limited-run, special engagements that fall outside of SCR’s regular season programming) there will be something really special in the summer (of 2027). We will have some programming to look forward to.” The locale remains undetermined, Appel said. “It’s as much about having the right location as anything else. A lot of folks miss Outside SCR, and we would like them to have that experience back.”
South Coast Repertory’s 2026-27 season
“Into the Woods”
Music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim
Book by James Lapine
Directed by Peter Rothstein
Sept. 12-Oct. 10, 2026
Segerstrom Stage
“Blind Runner”
A Mehr Theatre Group production
Text and Direction by Amir Reza Koohestani
Oct. 18-Nov. 8, 2026
Julianne Argyros Stage
“Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol”
Adapted by Jerry Patch
Directed by Hisa Takakuwa
Nov. 28-Dec. 27, 2026
Segerstrom Stage
“Mother Russia”
By Lauren Yee
Jan. 22-March 20, 2027
Segerstrom Stage
“The Importance of Being Earnest”
By Oscar Wilde
Directed by Lisa Rothe
Jan. 23-March 20, 2027
Segerstrom Stage
“How I Became a Pirate”
Book, music and lyrics by Janet Yates Vogt and Mark Friedman
Directed by Kari Hayter
Feb. 19-March 7, 2027
Theatre for Young Audiences
Julianne Argyros Stage
World Premiere: “Three-headed Monster”
By JuCoby Johnson
Directed by H. Adam Harris
April 4-May 2, 2027
Nicholas Studio
World Premiere: “The Ingenue”
By Eleanor Burgess
April 18-May 9, 2027
Julianne Argyros Stage
“Hamlet”
By William Shakespeare
Directed by David Ivers
May 8-June 5, 2027
Segerstrom Stage
