Fiddler on the Roof, Safety Not Guaranteed Set for Signature Theatre Season

Signature Theatre has announced its 2025-26 season, featuring five musicals and two plays, four of which are Washington, D.C., premieres.

Signature kicks off the 2025-26 season with Play On! (August 12–October 5, MAX Theatre) directed by Lili-Anne Brown. Conceived by Sheldon Epps and featuring a book by Cheryl L. West, Play On! is a musical based on Shakespeare’s comedy Twelfth Night set to Duke Ellington’s greatest hits, including “Take the ‘A’ Train” and “It Don’t Mean a Thing.” When aspiring songwriter Vy comes to swinging 1930s Harlem to make it big, she discovers the doors of opportunity are closed to women and disguises herself as a man to pitch her songs to Harlem’s hottest composer, the Duke.

Next up, Matthew Gardiner will direct the Washington, DC premiere of playwright Miriam Battye’s (Succession) Strategic Love Play (September 23–November 9, ARK Theatre), a not-quite-romantic comedy about the absurdity of modern dating in the seemingly endless quest to find “the one.”

Director Joe Calarco will re-imagine the classic musical Fiddler on the Roof (November 4–January 25, MAX Theatre), based on the stories of Sholem Aleichem about Tevye, a poor Jewish milkman and his family. The musical features a book by Joseph Stein and a score by Jerry Bock and Sheldon Harnick.

Up next is the American premiere of In Clay (December 9–February 1, ARK Theatre), a new musical based on the overlooked twentieth century female artist Marie-Berthe Cazin. On the eve of a visit from her estranged childhood friend, now an acclaimed painter, Cazin recounts her life from her early days as a gifted protégée discovering the art of pottery to watching her husband rise to fame partly by claiming her work as his own. Set in 1930s Paris, the musical features book and lyrics by Rebecca Simmonds and a Parisian jazz score by Jack Miles.

The new indie-rock musical Safety Not Guaranteed (March 3–April 12, MAX Theatre) by Guster’s Ryan Miller and Nick Blaemire (Glory Days) is based on the film by Derek Connolly of the same name. In it, ambitious journalist Darius sees a classified ad for a time travel companion and sets out on an expedition to find its writer.

This season, Gardiner will allso direct Pippin (May 12–July 26, 2026, MAX Theatre). Featuring a book by Roger O. Hirson and a score by Stephen Schwartz, Pippin is about the restless heir of Charlemagne, on his quest for purpose.

The season will conclude with the Washington, DC premiere of playwright Shayan Lotfi’s What Became of Us (June 16 – July 26, 2026, ARK Theatre), directed by associate artistic director Ethan Heard. A play about two siblings maintaining connection over the course of a lifetime, What Became of Us is played on alternating nights by two separate casts each from a different diasporic background.

Signature’s Cabaret Series will include Sailing: Yacht Rock (July 22–August 10) with Deimoni Brewington and Tracy Lynn Olivera, I’m Here: Black Broadway (February 24–March 15) featuring vocalist Awa Sal Secka paying tribute to the Black luminaries who changed Broadway, I Put a Spell on You: Nina Simone (March 31–April 19) featuring Felicia Curry honoring jazz icon Nina Simone and the women she inspired, and Get Down Tonight: Classic Funk (May 5–17, 2026) with Isaac “Deacon Izzy” Bell.