(PHILADELPHIA, PA) -- Lantern Theater Company has announced its upcoming 2026-27 season, which will mark the company's 33rd year of bringing great stories from great writers to Philadelphia and beyond. The season showcases four extraordinary plays from renowned playwrights, past and present.
The 2026-27 season includes the Philadelphia premiere of Summer, 1976, David Auburn's touching portrait of unexpected friendship, directed by Kate Galvin; The Weir, Conor McPherson's masterful and haunting exploration of storytelling, directed by Matt Pfeiffer; Hamlet, William Shakespeare's timeless tragedy of revenge, morality and madness, directed by Lantern Artistic Director Charles McMahon; and the Philadelphia premiere of Wild with Happy by Colman Domingo, a vibrant and deeply moving journey through grief and self-discovery.
Introducing the 2026-27 season, McMahon noted: "These are plays with surprises and reversals, always building towards satisfying and cathartic endings. If there is a theme to our season, it will be found in how the characters use memory and intention to make sense of their worlds – and in so doing, help us to do likewise."
Season Subscriptions and Flex Packages start at $120 and are available online at www.lanterntheater.org or by calling the Lantern Box Office at (215) 829-0395. Single tickets go on sale in July 2026.
The Lantern's current 2025-26 season will conclude with the Philadelphia premiere of Franklinland, Lloyd Suh's new play about Benjamin Franklin, directed by Charles McMahon and just in time to celebrate our nation's 250th birthday. It runs from May 7 through June 7, 2026.
Lantern Theater Company's 2026-27 Mainstage Season
September 10 – October 11, 2026 | SUMMER, 1976 (Philadelphia Premiere) by David Auburn; directed by Kate Galvin. One summer an unlikely friendship springs up between two young mothers that changes forever the course of their lives. Alice and Diana couldn't be more different, one a free-spirited academic spouse and the other a driven and self-critical artist. As the events of that fateful season test their friendship, we join them on their poignant and humorous journey in this captivating drama from the author of Proof.
November 12 – December 13, 2026 | THE WEIR by Conor McPherson; directed by Matt Pfeiffer. A tight circle of regulars in a small Irish pub on a lonely windswept hillside is joined by Valerie. Just arrived from Dublin, she has moved alone into an old house nearby. Trying to impress the attractive stranger, they tell tall tales of unexplained local events, until one story turns out to be heartbreaking and hauntingly real. From one of Ireland's greatest living playwrights comes an evening of surprises and masterful storytelling.
February 4 – March 14, 2027 | HAMLET by William Shakespeare; directed by Charles McMahon. Hamlet finds himself in a world of danger when his father's ghost appears to him charging murder and demanding revenge. Before taking action, Hamlet devises plots to uncover the truth from family and friends obstructing his search. In this masterpiece of his artistic maturity, Shakespeare gives us magnificent poetry and a searing examination of the human soul put to an impossible test.
May 6 – June 6, 2027 | WILD WITH HAPPY (Philadelphia Premiere) by Colman Domingo. Gil has just lost his beloved mother, and he wants to do right by her passing. But his friends Mo and Terry – not to mention his Aunt Glo – bring laughter and joy to his grief, not always intentionally. First produced at The Public Theater in 2012 and written by Philadelphia native and now global megastar Colman Domingo, Wild With Happy explores the comedy in personal tragedy and the joy in saying goodbye to those we love the most.
Founded in 1994 and now in its 33rd season, Lantern Theater Company's mission is to produce plays that investigate and illuminate what is essential in the human spirit and the spirit of the times. The Lantern serves the Greater Philadelphia region with award-winning productions and education programming, notably partnering with middle schools and high schools in the Philadelphia School District to provide in-classroom residencies in support of curricular learning.
The Lantern became a national leader in streaming theater during the Covid health crisis, producing ten fully designed plays that were created and filmed in the company's resident home at St. Stephen's Theater, garnering coverage in national media including The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal, and reaching more than 30,000 people in 15 countries and all 50 states.
