ARTS

Vermont theater companies reveal summer schedules: Where to see live professional theater

Burlington Free Press

Vermont professional theater companies are announcing their spring, summer, and fall 2025 schedules.
Productions range from musicals such as "White Christmas" and "The Drowsy Chaperone" to plays like "Salvage" and "The Revolutionists."
Theaters include Lost Nation Theater in Montpelier, Weston Theater Company, Dorset Theatre Festival, and Northern Stage in White River Junction.
Vermont Stage in Burlington and Middlebury Acting Company are wrapping up their current seasons.

Professional theater companies throughout Vermont are giving stage fans plenty of heads-up about their summer schedules, with a few productions on the calendar for the spring, fall, and beyond.

Offerings range from “White Christmas” – yes, in the heart of summer – to a play with a story that unfolds within the library straddling the Vermont/Quebec border. From shiny 21st-century-built theaters to cozy playhouses, the theater scene in Vermont covers a lot of ground geographically and thematically.

Get ready to be entertained – and maybe made to think in rich and myriad ways – by productions presented by some of these professional theater groups in Vermont.

Taryn Noelle performs a number from "The Drowsy Chaperone" at an event March 19, 2025 at the former campus of Vermont College announcing Lost Nation Theater's upcoming season.

What plays are scheduled at Lost Nation Theater in Montpelier

This professional company based at the Montpelier City Hall Arts Center gets a head-start on summer by offering two spring shows and one production each in summer and fall during its 2025 season announced on March 19.

April 9-13, the solo show “Too Fat For China” details the complicated attempt of one woman to adopt a baby.
June 5-15, Lauren Gunderson’s “The Revolutionists” provides an in-depth fictionalized look at the French Revolution through the eyes of four women.
July 17-Aug. 3, the Tony Award-winning Broadway musical “The Drowsy Chaperone” both celebrates and sends up that prime-for-sending-up American institution known as the Broadway musical.
Oct. 2-19, the Pulitzer Prize-winning rock musical “Next to Normal” concludes Lost Nation’s season with a story centered on a mother’s struggle with bipolar disorder.

Tickets and times can be found on the theater's website: www.lostnationtheater.org.

Kathleen Keenan and Tim Guiles perform a song from "Next to Normal" at an event March 19, 2025 at the former campus of Vermont College in Montpelier announcing Lost Nation Theater's upcoming season.

Weston Theater Company: What is coming up at Walker Farm Theater

The southern Vermont professional stage company announced its 89th season on March 3. Unless otherwise indicated, all shows will be at Walker Farm Theater while the main Weston Playhouse building continues to undergo flood-related renovations.

June 11-July 6, the season begins with the musical “Almost Heaven” based on the songs of John Denver.
June 17-29, Weston’s Free Young Company stages “Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus: The Musical,” based on Mo Willem’s story, in Weston and on tour across southern Vermont.
July 16-Aug. 10, break the summer heat with Christmastime thoughts while watching the Irving Berlin musical “White Christmas.”
Aug. 20-31, the Kareem Fahmy play “A Distinct Society” is set partly in Vermont, with the Haskell Free Library that straddles the border with Quebec re-created on the Weston stage.
Sept. 26-Oct. 12, a play within a play, “The Twelfth Night Show” by Weston alumni Megumi Nakamura and Jacob Brandt involves a group trying to save their theater with a fraught production of Shakespeare’s “Twelfth Night.”

Tickets and times can be found on the theater company's website: www.westontheater.org

Dorset Theatre Festival: Here's the Dorset Playhouse schedule

The southern Vermont professional theater company announced its 48th season on March 11, to take place as usual at the homey Dorset Playhouse.

June 20-July 5, the Lena Kaminsky comedy “Salvage” involves the discovery of hidden treasures – and maybe some greater discoveries about life – at a small-town dump.
July 11-26, “The Book Club Play” by Karen Zacarias lives up to its title in this comedy that explores the complicated dynamics of the titular group.
Aug. 6-16, “Satellites,” by playwright Erin Breznitsky, is a story of love interrupted by a protagonist’s wayward voyage through outer space.
Aug. 22-Sept. 6, the comedy-drama “Other Desert Cities” tells of a memoir writer who learns anew at her parents' California mansion of a significant family secret.

Tickets and times can be found on the theater company's website: www.dorsettheatrefestival.org

Theater-goers file into the Barrette Center for the Arts in White River Junction on May 11, 2022 for the Northern Stage production of "Monty Python's Spamalot."

Northern Stage in White River Junction: Here's the 2025-2026 schedule

Why wait? This professional theater company in the Connecticut River Valley announced March 17 that the 2025-26 season starts in the early days of fall and wraps up more than a year from now at Byrne Theatre inside the 10-year-old Barrette Center for the Arts. (The 2024-25 season isn’t over yet, as the musical “Waitress” runs May 7-25.)

Sept. 24-Oct. 26, Northern Stage tackles the Irene Sankhoff/David Hein musical “Come From Away,” based on the true story of a small rural Canadian town thrust into world events on Sept. 11, 2001.
Dec. 3-Jan. 1, Peter Pan receives an update with the Neverland-set holiday-season story “Peter & Wendy.”
Feb. 4-22, 2026, Don Nguyen’s “The World Is Not Silent” addresses the communication gap between a first-generation Vietnamese-American and his aging father.
March 25-April 12, 2026, “The Children” by Lucy Kirkwood, set on the isolated British coast, centers on a pair of retired nuclear scientists dealing with the aftermath of a nuclear disaster.
May 13-31, 2026, the Northern Stage season concludes with “Wonder! A Woman Keeps a Secret,” a play by Talene Monahon about a renowned missing painting and a family’s cruise on a ship from Paris to Portugal.

Tickets and times, along with more details, are on the group's website www.northernstage.org.

Vermont professional theater companies wrapping up current seasons include:

Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Eboni Booth, a graduate of the University of Vermont

Vermont Stage, Burlington: How to see live theater this spring

Through April 6, University of Vermont graduate Eboni Booth’s Pulitzer Prize-winning drama “Primary Trust” runs at the Main Street Landing Performing Arts Center.
April 30-May 18, the Vermont Stage season concludes with the Jeff Bowen/Hunter Bell musical “[Title of Show].”

For more information including ticket prices and times, visit www.vermontstage.org.

A scene from the Vermont Stage production of "Primary Trust"

Middlebury Acting Company upcoming production at Town Hall Theater

May 8-18, “Wharton Between the Sheets,” a literary love story by Anne Undeland, unfolds at the Town Hall Theater.

For more information about the show including ticket prices and times visit www.middleburyactors.org

Contact Brent Hallenbeck atbhallenbeck@freepressmedia.com.