Hartford Stage announces 2025-2026 season
Hartford Stage ( 50 Church St, Hartford, CT 06103 ) Artistic Director Melia Bensussen has announced the lineup for the Tony Award-winning theater’s 2025/2026 season. Bensussen will helm two productions: a spring 2026 production of the Arthur Miller classic Death of a Salesman and a world premiere adaptation of Rope by Jeffrey Hatcher this fall, which is based on the same source material that inspired the Hitchcock film of the same name. Associate Artistic Director Zoë Golub-Sass is set to direct the witty farce The Cottage next winter, and Michael Wilson will return to helm the annual holiday production of A Christmas Carol: A Ghost Story of Christmas, which he adapted and brought to Hartford Stage during his tenure as Artistic Director. Native Gardens, a comedy of battling neighbors with good intentions and bad manners, will be helmed by a director to be announced.
Hartford Stage and Theaterworks Hartford will co-produce Stephen Sondheim’s classic Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street. The production, which will be available as part of both theater’s subscription seasons, will be performed at Hartford Stage with Theaterworks Hartford Artistic Director Rob Ruggiero directing.
Dates and descriptions for each show can be found below.
Subscriptions packages for the 2025/2026 season are on sale now. Purchase by visiting HartfordStage.org or calling (860) 527-5151. A Christmas Carol: A Ghost Story of Christmas is available as a subscription add-on only until July. Post-show discussions, open-captioning, and audio-description will be available for select performances. Visit HartfordStage.org for more details.
Tickets for individual shows, including A Christmas Carol: A Ghost Story of Christmas, will go on sale in July.
Student Matinee performances are available for Rope, A Christmas Carol: A Ghost Story of Christmas, Death of a Salesman and Native Gardens. For more information or to reserve tickets, visit HartfordStage.org/education.
The 2025/2026 season
ROPE
Adapted by Jeffrey Hatcher
Based on the play Rope’s End by Patrick Hamilton
Directed by Melia Bensussen
October 10 – November 2, 2025 • World Premiere
Is there such thing as a perfect crime?
The riveting crime thriller that inspired Alfred Hitchcock and Jimmy Stewart in 1948 gets a tantalizing new adaptation from playwright Jeffrey Hatcher (Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde). A murder has been committed, and the two killers host a dinner party in the very room where the victim’s body is hidden. Drunk on arrogance, they claim it is the “perfect murder” and believe getting caught is impossible. But tension builds as cracks begin to appear and audiences are whisked from one moment of suspense to the next. Are the murderers’ slips unconscious or something more sinister? This must-see for fans of thrillers and crime dramas will captivate anyone who has ever been tempted to get away with something.
A CHRISTMAS CAROL: A Ghost Story of Christmas
By Charles Dickens
Adapted and directed by Michael Wilson
November 22 – December 28, 2025
Hartford’s Beloved Holiday Tradition
On a bleak and snowy Christmas Eve, Ebenezer Scrooge wants nothing more than to collect his debts. But when he is visited by a ghostly old friend, Scrooge must confront his own selfish ways and discover the true meaning of Christmas. Join Scrooge and the spirits of Christmas Past, Present, and Future on this journey of redemption in a mesmerizing display of theatrical magic and wonder.
THE COTTAGE
By Sandy Rustin
Directed by Zoë Golub-Sass
January 16 – February 8, 2026
A comedy about doing the right thing with the wrong person.
If six people are involved in a love triangle – does that make it a love hexagon? A witty farce about romance, sex, marriage, betrayal and, well — love, The Cottage will keep you laughing as a hilarious web of secrets is revealed. It is 1923 in a charming cottage in the English countryside. Sylvia is certain that she married the wrong man and has sent telegrams to that effect to both her husband and her lover’s wife. That brazen decision sets off a cavalcade of arrivals, surprises, and laughs. What follows is a fast-moving, unpredictable, and — potentially murderous — romp.
DEATH OF A SALESMAN
By Arthur Miller
Directed by Melia Bensussen
February 27 – March 29, 2026
A salesman has got to dream.
This Tony Award and Pulitzer Prize winner is one of the most profound classic dramas of the American theater and a poignant story of the perilously high cost of the American Dream. Willy Loman desperately craves success for himself and his sons, but stark reality cannot live up to his dreams. The wall of delusions he has constructed quietly crumbles around him while a devastated and demoralized man searches in vain for a hidden path to greatness. Meanwhile, his devoted wife holds out hope, and his sons wrestle with their own failings. Death of a Salesman is beautifully written and endlessly surprising, revealing new truths to every generation of audiences.
NATIVE GARDENS
By Karen Zacarias
Director TBA
April 17 – May 10, 2026
Good neighbors don’t grow on trees.
What starts as a warm welcome for new neighbors quickly devolves into a flower-flinging backyard battle for the ages in this hilarious contemporary comedy. Pablo and Tania, an up-and-coming young couple, are new to the neighborhood. Virginia and Frank next door have been fixtures for decades. While the couples disagree on landscaping and decor, they agree on one thing: the ugly chain link fence separating their yards has got to go. Their plan takes an unexpected turn when the truth about that old fence is discovered, and Tania’s vision for native plants and wildflowers doesn’t align with Frank’s pesticide-dependent manicured masterpiece. Their differences extend beyond gardening with race, class, age, and gender all on the table. Despite all of this, will they be able to sow the seeds of friendship?
SWEENEY TODD: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
Music and Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim
Book by Hugh Wheeler
Based on an adaptation by Christopher Bond
Directed by Rob Ruggiero
A Co-Production with TheaterWorks Hartford
June 5 – July 5, 2026
A musical thriller.
Winner of 8 Tony Awards (including Best Musical), the musical thriller Sweeney Todd is Sondheim at his best! In a historic partnership, Hartford Stage and TheaterWorks Hartford are joining forces to produce a powerfully intimate chamber production of this theatrical masterpiece. TWH Artistic Director Rob Ruggiero will direct this chilling tale of love, murder and revenge at Hartford Stage. Set in the dark corners of 19th Century London, Sweeney Todd soars with an unforgettable score, razor-sharp wit, and heart-pounding theatricality. This story of “the demon barber of Fleet Street” promises to thrill and delight Hartford audiences.
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