Ancram Center for the Arts announced its 2026 season with five ambitious works that explore the themes of our times: polarization but yearning for de-escalation, finding love in an age of anxiety, art’s capacity to hold grief and remembrance, the human ethics of scientific advancement, and the psychic damage of war, even when soldiers return without a scratch.
“As Ancram Center enters its second decade, we are more than ever embracing our commitment to produce powerful works of theater that speak to this moment,” said Jeffrey Mousseau, Co-Director, Ancram Center. “The times we are in call for questioning conventions and creative courage,” added Co-Director Paul Ricciardi. “We also lean in on the unique shared experience that theater offers to take stock and reflect on what keeps us open and humane while living in uncertain times.”
MAINSTAGE PRODUCTIONS
The season’s first Mainstage production will be Letters from Max by Pulitzer finalist Sarah Ruhl (July 17-19, July 22-26). This intimate, autobiographical play, an adaptation of Ruhl’s 2018 book written with Max Ritvo, explores the relationship between Sarah and Max, her former student, as he faces terminal illness at age 25. The two share letters and poems, testing art’s capacity – with humor, lyricism, and candor — to put into words what otherwise feels unbearable. The New York Times called it “warm and literary… a theatrical act of remembrance and a sacrament of grief, but … also a comedy.”
Next on the Mainstage will be the musical I’m Almost There (Aug. 7-9, Aug. 12-16). Love at first sight is easy… letting it through the front door is a goddamn Odyssey. All he wants to do is let the perfect man in. But can he overcome his unhinged neighbor, a seductive cult, a self-obsessed vampire, and a cat intent on dragging him to hell? Written and performed by Todd Almond (Girl from the North Country, Gossip Girl) and directed by Tony Award winner David Cromer (Good Night, and Good Luck; The Band’s Visit), I’m Almost There is a rueful, hilarious, and poignant modern love story in song about a man crossing a sea of doubts to find happiness… and good coffee. Initially developed by the award-winning producers of Fleabag and Baby Reindeer, the Edinburgh Festival Fringe hit comes to Ancram Center from BAM ahead of a major US tour.
Next on the Mainstage will be A Number, by groundbreaking British playwright Caryl Churchill (Cloud 9, Top Girls) (Sept. 25-27, Oct. 1-4, Oct. 8-11). This 2002 psychological thriller explores identity, nature vs. nurture, and ethics through the story, set in the near future, of a father and his three sons, two of whom are clones of the first. Many critics over the years have lauded A Number, arguing Churchill created a work of significant intellectual depth that was ahead of its time and hints at a life with AI. The London Daily Telegraph called it “Magnificent…. Contains more drama, and more ideas, than most manage in a dozen full-length works…. It combines elegant structural simplicity with an astonishing intellectual and emotional depth…moving, thought-provoking and dramatically thrilling.”
7TH ANNUAL PLAY LAB SHOWINGS
Ancram Center’s Play Lab program provides artists with time, space and resources to develop new theater projects that culminate with a work-in-progress showing. Throughout the residency, Ancram Center makes efforts to connect the artist with the community through a combination of interactive workshops, open rehearsals, audience discussions, and more.
The Play Lab series opens in May with Clarence, in a Pause: A Listening Party,created by MacArthur Fellows Heather Christian (composer) and Taylor Mac (librettist). Deeply troubled by our country’s polarization, Taylor Mac (A 24-Decade History of Popular Music) and Heather Christian (Oratorio for Living Things) have created a rabid tongue-in-cheek quasi-baroque oratorio where a concerned citizen confronts an imagined version of Clarence Thomas. In the face of increasing political attack, it reaches for radical empathy. Post concert, Mac and Christian will lead a conversation about ideas raised in the piece and teach a song from the show; the purpose being to leave the room having de-escalated the rhetoric of polarization to the tempo and poetry of song. Showings on Sat. May 30, Sun. May 31 are free to the public. Clarence, in a Pause: A Listening Party is supported by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation as part of Defying Boundaries: MacArthur Fellows at 45.
The final Play Labs showing (Sun. Nov. 8) is Be Safe I Love You, based on the novel by Cara Hoffman. In this original music theater piece, with book by Darrah Cloud and music and lyrics by Stephanie Salzman, Lauren Clay is a soldier serving in Iraq who has returned unexpectedly to her upstate New York home with invisible but very real wounds. The devastation wrought by her combat experiences becomes the tragedy at the heart of this story, as she takes a misguided action to protect her family from an enemy only she can see.
Real People Real Stories, Ancram Center’s popular bi-annual community event where local residents have been sharing true-to-life personal stories since 2016, will return for Summer and Fall Editions on June 26 & 27 and Nov. 21 at the Ancram Center.
Ancram Center for the Arts is an award-winning theater located in New York’s Hudson Valley. Housed in an historic Grange Hall, Ancram Center is dedicated to presenting risk-taking productions and new work by nationally recognized theater artists in an intimate performance space. The Ancram Center for the Arts 2026 season is supported in part by the New York State Council on the Arts. For tickets and more information visit www.ancramcenter.org.
SEASON AT A GLANCE
Season Preview
May 9, 2pm
Join Paul and Jeff to meet the actors, designers, costumers, playwrights, and other creators behind our 2026 season at this free season preview.
REAL PEOPLE REAL STORIES
Summer Edition
Fri. June 26 & Sat. June 27 at 7:30pm
Fall Edition
Sat. Nov. 21 at 3pm
MAINSTAGE PRODUCTIONS
Letters from Max
by Sarah Ruhl
Based on the book by Sarah Ruhl and Max Ritvo
July 17-19 and July 22-26
Wednesdays to Saturdays at 7:30pm; Sundays at 3pm
I’m Almost There
Written and performed by Todd Almond
Aug. 7-9, Aug. 12-16
Wednesdays to Saturdays at 7:30pm; Sundays at 3pm
A Number
by Caryl Churchill
September 25-27, October 1-4, October 8-11
Thursdays to Saturdays at 7:30pm; Sundays at 3pm
PLAY LAB
Clarence, in a Pause: A Listening Party
by Heather Christian & Taylor Mac
Saturday, May 30 at 7:30pm & Sunday, May 31 at 4pm
Showing are free to the public but require a reservation
Be Safe I Love You
Based on the novel by Cara Hoffman
Book by Darrah Cloud, Music and Lyrics by Stephanie Salzman
Sun. Nov. 8
4PM