UC Irvine Drama's 2026-27 Season

Six productions explore ambition, identity and the courage to connect

UC Irvine’s Department of Drama invites audiences from a film set in the New Mexico desert to the deck of the Titanic, from Tolstoy’s Russia to Brecht’s Chicago. Across six productions, the 2026–27 season asks what ambition can cost, what makes us human, and how we respond when fear and power threaten our shared connections.

The Drama season includes a dark comedy about filmmaking and the climate crisis, a concert production of Titanic: The Musical, a physical-theatre adaptation of Machines Like Me, the electropop opera Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812, an original work of clowning and mask theatre, and the political satire The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui. 

“Each production asks us to look more closely at how we live in community: what we pursue, what we fear and what we choose to do when it matters,” said Joel Veenstra, Chair of UC Irvine’s Department of Drama. “What excites me most is the range of stories our students and collaborators will bring to life, and the conversations I hope audiences will share with one another after the final bow.”

Together, these productions bring graduate and undergraduate actors, designers, stage managers, music directors and crews into collaboration with faculty and guest artists. The season’s produced shows will be in four unique venues: the Experimental Media Performance Lab (xMPL), Irvine Barclay Theatre, Little Theatre, and Claire Trevor Theatre; each offers a unique space for students to learn, experiment, and make theatre together. Beyond the produced season, there is a wide range of faculty and student research projects and Emergent Series productions to explore. Audiences are invited to enjoy the work, join the conversation and support the artists who will shape theatre’s future – every Drama production is so much more than a show!

Tickets are on sale now and can be purchased through the Arts Box Office.

Continuity
By Bess Wohl
Nov. 6–14, 2026 | Experimental Media Performance Lab (xMPL)

The Drama season opens with Continuity, a darkly comic “play in six takes” by Bess Wohl, winner of the 2026 Pulitzer Prize for Drama for her play Liberation. Directed by Andrew Borba, the play follows an exhausted film crew racing through magic hour to finish an action blockbuster in the New Mexico desert, where artistic ambition, Hollywood pressures, and environmental realities collide. Extending those questions beyond the stage, this UC Irvine production is built on environmentally conscious practices inspired by initiatives such as the Broadway Green Alliance, from solar power to fully recycled materials, with the goal of an “environmentally neutral” run. With scenic design by Colt McGuire, costume design by Genny O'Gilvy, lighting design by Cirimae Palaganas, sound design by Alex Kelly, projection design by Genesis Tanner and stage management by Elissa Saldivar, Continuity weighs what stories can do, and what they can't, in a world facing ecological crisis.

Continuity is presented by arrangement with Concord Theatricals on behalf of Dramatists Play Service; visit concordtheatricals.com.

Titanic: The Musical
Story and Book by Peter Stone
Music and Lyrics by Maury Yeston
Orchestrations by Ian Weinberger 
Nov. 21-22, 2026 | Irvine Barclay Theatre

Fall quarter closes with a concert production of Titanic, winner of five Tony Awards, including Best Musical. Directed and music-directed by Daniel Keeling, with music direction by Jim Kollias, the production features one of the largest ensembles and orchestras in UCI Drama history, staged in partnership with Beckman High School String Orchestra. Titanic follows the passengers, crew and officers aboard the legendary “Ship of Dreams” on its ill-fated maiden voyage, weighing questions of progress, privilege and the human cost of ambition. Production stage management by Jolana Villarreal.

TITANIC - ENSEMBLE VERSION is presented by arrangement with Concord Theatricals on behalf of Tams-Witmark LLC; visit concordtheatricals.com.

Machines Like Me
Book by Ian McEwan 
Adapted for the stage by Annie Loui
Jan. 29–Feb. 6, 2027 | Little Theatre

Winter quarter launches with Machines Like Me, a bold new CounterBalance Theater-style physical-theatre adaptation of Ian McEwan's novel. Adapted and directed by Annie Loui, seven transforming actors play multiple characters in a world where the line between human and machine grows dangerously thin. When Charlie comes into money, he buys Adam, one of the first synthetic humans, and with Miranda's help co-designs his personality, until Adam's own desires and convictions force all three to confront questions of truth, morality and identity. With lighting design by Amelie De Jesus, sound design by Eliza Vedar and stage management by Elissa Saldivar, Machines Like Me asks what makes us human: our deeds, our inner lives, or something more.

Machines Like Me is licensed by arrangement with The Agency, 24 Pottery Lane, Holland Park, London W11 4LZ, info@theagency.co.uk.

Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812
By Dave Malloy
Mar. 5–13, 2027 | Claire Trevor Theatre

Winter quarter closes with Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812, an electropop opera based on Leo Tolstoy's War and Peace. Directed and choreographed by Andrew Palermo, with music direction by Roland Perold, the production follows young Natasha Rostova as she awaits her fiancé's return from the front, falls under the spell of the roguish Anatole and leaves it to family friend Pierre, in the middle of an existential crisis of his own, to pick up the pieces of her shattered reputation. Beloved for its daring score and immersive storytelling, the Broadway premiere led the 2017 season with 12 Tony Award nominations, including Best Musical. With scenic design by Genesis Tanner, costume design by Lyall Hovey, lighting design by Hayden Kirschbaum, sound design by Matt Feeney and stage management by Sammie Moore, this project brings Tolstoy's world to thrilling, danceable life.

Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812 is presented by arrangement with Concord Theatricals; visit concordtheatricals.com. 

Clowns & Masks
the who of you
Created by Eli Simon
Apr. 2–10, 2027 | Little Theatre

Spring quarter opens with Clowns & Masks, an original work created and directed by Eli Simon, acclaimed maestro of clowning and author of The Art of Clowning and Masking Unmasked. The production brings two wildly divergent theatrical tribes face to face: the vulnerable, unruly world of red-nosed clowns and the strange, sculptural world of traditional full-face masks. What begins as an encounter with the unfamiliar becomes a playful and poignant exploration of how difference can spark curiosity, attraction or conflict, and how easily fear can turn to conflict, or connection can turn to love. Stage management by Sammie Moore.

The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui
By Bertolt Brecht 
Translated by George Tabori
May 28–Jun. 5, 2027 | Claire Trevor Theatre

The Drama season closes with The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui, Bertolt Brecht's dark comic satire of Hitler's rise to power, reimagined as the story of a small-time Chicago gangster who schemes, threatens, and murders his way into control of the city's cauliflower trade. Guest-directed by Budi Miller, an internationally recognized actor trainer and UNESCO-designated Master Teacher of Mask Work, the production blends gangster drama, political farce, Shakespearean parody and biting social commentary while tracing how corruption, fear and silence allow tyranny to take hold. With scenic design by Ashley Mendez, costume design by Kari Setlak, lighting design by Rachel Fields, sound design by Eliza Vedar, composition by Vincent Olivieri, music direction by Jay Real and stage management by Elissa Saldivar, this project remains a wickedly funny and chilling parable for an age when authoritarianism again threatens to flourish.

The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui (TABORI, TRANS.) is presented by arrangement with Concord Theatricals on behalf of Samuel French, Inc.; visit concordtheatricals.com. 

The 2026-27 Drama season combines the work of students and faculty alike, across all disciplinary modes and identifications. A proud leader of interdisciplinary work, UCI Arts values and continues to cultivate creative connections within its departments (Art, Dance, Drama, Music) and across campus.

Learn more about the Department of Drama and all Drama events at drama.arts.uci.edu.