2025-2026 Season
TICKETS ON SALE NOW!
Emory Student Free Ticket Policy
Schwartz Center Box Office: Emory students may receive two free tickets to any production by visiting the Schwartz Center Box Office in person between 12 pm and 6 pm Tuesday through Friday. Must show Emory student ID.
By Phone: Emory students may receive two free tickets to any production by calling the Schwartz Center Box Office at 404.727.5050 between 12 pm and 6 pm Tuesday through Friday. Must present Emory student I.D. when picking up tickets.
Online: You are able to book up to two free tickets for each Theater Emory production. To do so:
- Choose the date of the show you wish to attend and click that link.
- Indicate the number of tickets you wish to reserve. Please note: if you choose more than 2 tickets as an Emory student, you will not be able to proceed. Ticket max is two.
- When you reach the check-out page, press check out to reserve. You will register your Emory email to proceed.
- You MUST provide your Emory email in the check-out process, or your tickets will not be FREE. All Emory students must present their Emory student ID to pick up their tickets at the performance.
In Person: Emory students may also receive two free tickets to any production by visiting the box office the night of the show. Must show student ID.
THEATER EMORY 2025-26 SEASON
TICKETS ON SALE NOW!
Brave New Works
New Date Week One: Feb 7, 2026
Week Two: April 18 & 19, 2026
Schwartz Center, Theater Lab
Brave New Works readings are free and open to the public.
Reservations are strongly suggested; seating is limited.
Brave New Works, Theater Emory's biennial festival of new and evolving plays, provides theater professionals and students with the space and resources to conduct creative experimentation and to create new works for the stage.The 2026 festival will include works from four playwrights including student work, Atlanta-based and national playwrights, and Emory’s 2025-2027 playwriting fellow.
A post-reading discussion will follow each staged reading.
Weather Update: Brave New Works Rescheduled
Due to impending inclement weather, Theater Emory’s Brave New Works readings have been rescheduled to Saturday, February 7, 2026.
Updated Schedule
- SUICIDE ROM COM — 3:00 PM, staged reading
- WHERE PATHWAYS MEET — 7:00 PM, staged reading
If you have already reserved a seat for either reading and are able to attend on the new date, no action is required—your reservation will remain valid.
If you are no longer able to attend, please remove your name from SignUpGenius so another audience member may take your spot.
Thank you for your flexibility, and we look forward to seeing you there!
Week One: Feb 7, 2026 - New Date
SUICIDE ROM COM by Ali Viterbi
Directed by Amber McGinnis
Staged Reading: Sat., Feb. 7 at 3 pm.
Mia wants Jay. Jay wants to die. A fragmented fable about the nature of love, SUICIDE ROM COM explores our hunger for connection and the explosive collision of desire with the demons that haunt us. What happens when you find your other half, and that other half consumes you? SUICIDE ROM COM depicts the arc of a single relationship as two people come together... and tear each other apart.
Content warning: This play deals heavily with the topics of suicide, self-harm, mental illness, and depression. It also includes sexual content, strong language, allusions to BDSM, and some violence.
WHERE PATHWAYS MEET by a.k. payne
Directed by Lydia Fort
Staged Reading: Sat., Feb.7 at 7 pm.
Minnie and Dwight live in a world on fire. And so they take off from 'earth' with dreams of starting anew on a planet all their own. What happens to the tongues and rhythms of the once colonized and enslaved when they first taste true freedom? What happens when Minnie & Dwight's dreams and visions wither and diverge? Who remembers and who forgets?
WEEK TWO: APRIL 18-19
I’M GONNA BE THE GOVERNOR by Ainsley Powers
Directed by Caitlin Hargraves
Staged Reading: Sat., April 18 at 5 pm.
7 girls from all over Texas gather to compete to be the next female youth governor of the great Bluebonnet state. Everybody’s here to learn; some are here to win. The play takes place over five days, as the girls meet, interview, deliver campaign speeches, and propose a mock court case, following their pursuit of future feminist leadership. Scholarships, positions, and the coveted governorship are on the line. For better or worse, the girls must agree on how to achieve them.
LOVE AND ABOLITION by Phanésia Pharel
Directed by Tinashe Kajese-Bolden
Staged Reading: Sun., April 19 at 5 pm.
Love and Abolition is a completion of Jane Austen’s unfinished novel, The Brothers. It is the only novel in which Jane Austen introduced a black character, and in this adaptation, by a black woman, we pay homage to Austen's singular formula while asking - What does it mean to be an abolitionist?
Content warning: Alcoholism, Racism, Slavery
Bright Star
Music, Book & Story by Steve Martin & Music, Lyrics & Story by Edie Brickell
Directed & Choreographed by Thomas W. Jones II
Musical Direction by Greg Matteson
March 26 – April 4, 2026
Mary Gray Munroe Theater
Inspired by a true story, Bright Star is a bluegrass-infused musical set in the Blue Ridge Mountains during the 1920s and 1940s. When a young soldier returns home from World War II, his encounter with literary editor Alice Murphy sparks a journey into a hidden past waiting to be uncovered. Bright Star is a moving tale of love, loss, and the redemptive power of hope.
Content Notice: This production includes violence, alcohol use, death and grief, child abandonment, mental health struggles, adoption and reunion, period-specific attitudes, religious themes, war, and its aftereffects.
Bright Star is presented through special arrangement with and all authorized performance materials are supplied by Theatrical Rights Worldwide 1180 Avenue of the Americas, Suite 640, New York, NY 10036. www.theatricalrights.com
Get Your Tickets to Bright Star
My Foot My Tutor
by Peter Handke
English language translation by Michael Roloff
Directed by Héctor Alvarez
October 2 – 5, 2025
One Weekend Only!
Schwartz Center, Theater Lab
My Foot My Tutor is a wordless, surreal performance that explores control, routine, and resistance through movement, silence, and sound. The playwright, Peter Handke, wrote My Foot My Tutor after creating a series of experimental plays that explored how language limits us. In it, he invites you to lean in, observe, and interpret for yourself as the masked Guardian and his Minor navigate a bizarre domestic world where power is physical, time is warped, and meaning hides in every gesture.
Please be advised: This production contains occasional moments of implied violence and includes the presence of a live domesticated animal.
Get Your Tickets to My Foot My Tutor
peerless
by Jiehae Park
Directed by Wanyu Yang
November 13-23, 2025
Mary Gray Munroe Theater
In this darkly funny satire, twin Asian American sisters, brilliant, ambitious, and inseparable, have dedicated their lives to gaining admission to “The College.” However, when the coveted early decision spot is awarded to someone else, the competition turns deadly. Inspired by Shakespeare’s Macbeth, peerless offers a razor-sharp exploration of academic pressure, identity, and the lengths we’ll go for success. Wickedly clever and bitingly relevant, this play delves into the heart of ambition with humor, horror, and a candid examination of what it takes to win.
Content Notice: This production contains incidents of racism, ableism, death, simulated physical violence, sexualized content, fire, and body shaming.
“Peerless” is presented by arrangement with Concord Theatricals on behalf of Samuel French, Inc. www.concordtheatricals.com
The director and cast members of Peerless will join dramaturg Jieun Lee (Assistant Professor, Theater Studies and literary affiliate) for a post-show talkback on Sunday, November 16. The discussion will explore their artistic experiences with the production and the play’s resonance both on and off campus.
Saturday, November 22, following peerless:
Stick around after the show for a special talkback featuring guest panelists from ExSE. Join us for a community-focused conversation on Asian representation, identity, and the themes that make Peerless so electrifying. All are welcome—bring your questions and your curiosity!
Past Productions
Theater Emory is the producing affiliate of Theater Studies within the Department of Theater and Dance at Emory University. Theater Emory, offering performances during the academic school years since the early 1980s, primarily utilizes and showcases student actors in its Fall and Spring productions.