Lincoln Center Theater‘s 2025-2026 season both on Broadway and Off Off Broadway has some surprises in store: Among the productions joining the previously announced Broadway revival of the Stephen Flaherty-Lynn Ahrens-Terrence McNally Ragtime will be the acclaimed Royal Shakespeare Company and Good Chance production of Kyoto, Stephen Daldry and Justin Martin (both of Stranger Things: The First Shadow).
One of the productions set for Lincoln Center’s Off Broadway stage will be The Whoopi Monologues, a reimagining of Goldberg’s iconic Broadway play to be directed by Tony Award nominee Whitney White and adapted for an ensemble of women, including Kerry Washington and Kara Young. The play will arrive in summer 2026.
The upcoming season is the first under the leadership of a new executive team, consisting of Artistic Director Lear deBessonet, Managing Director Mike Schleifer, Executive Producer Bartlett Sher, Producer Nicole Kastrinos, Executive Director of Development and Planning Naomi Grabel, and LCT3 Artistic Director and Producer Maria Manuela Goyanes.
“I am honored to welcome these beautiful artists to Lincoln Center Theater, and to roll out the red carpet for audiences next year in my first season as Artistic Director,” said Lear deBessonet in a statement. “The richness and range of work speaks to theater as a place for wonder, truth, and heart—a place where democracy thrives, and we can experience a restored sense of human connection. I’m excited for all that is to come, and grateful to steward this magnificent theater into its next glorious chapter.”
The following is the Lincoln Center Theater 2025-2026 season (an additional Broadway offering at the Vivian Beaumont Theater will be announced at a later date.)
AT THE VIVIAN BEAUMONT THEATER (Broadway)
RAGTIME
Performances begin Friday, September 26
Opening night is Thursday, October 16
Lear deBessonet’s inaugural season will open with a new production of her acclaimed New York City Center Gala revival of Ragtime, starring Tony Award nominee Joshua Henry, Caissie Levy, Brandon Uranowitz, Colin Donnell, Nichelle Lewis, Ben Levi Ross, Shaina Taub, John Clay III and Rodd Cyrus.
Featuring a score by Stephen Flaherty and Lynn Ahrens, a book by Terrence McNally, and original orchestrations by William David Brohn, Ragtime weaves fictional narratives with real historical figures and events, creating a rich tapestry that blurs the line between personal struggle and national identity, making history feel both intimate and epic.
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AT THE MITZI E. NEWHOUSE THEATER (Off Broadway)
KYOTO
Performances begin Wednesday, October 8
Opening night is Monday, November 3
Welcome to the Kyoto Conference Centre, December 11, 1997. The nations of the world are in deadlock. Time is running out and a climate change agreement feels a world away. The greatest obstacle: American oil lobbyist and master strategist, Don Pearlman…
Fresh off critically acclaimed, sold-out productions in Stratford-upon-Avon and London’s West End, the Royal Shakespeare Company and Good Chance production of Kyoto makes its U.S. debut with an eerily prescient message.
Written by Good Chance Theatre Artistic Directors and playwrights Joe Murphy and Joe Robertson (The Jungle) and nominated for a 2025 Olivier Award for Best New Play, Kyoto is a sharp, searing and darkly comic story of the moment all nations tried to set aside their differences for the sake of the earth.
AMAHL AND THE NIGHT VISITORS
Performances begin Tuesday, December 16
Opening night is Thursday, December 18
Through Sunday, January 4, 2026
Opera star Joyce DiDonato will bring her singular voice to a brand-new production of the beloved family opera, Amahl and the Night Visitor, the first seasonal family offering in LCT history, and in association with The Metropolitan Opera.
In the desert lands of the first century, a young boy catches the sight of a giant star. Later that evening, as his mother prays for the family’s future, they are visited by three mysterious kings on a journey to visit a newborn child. This is the tale of how a simple gift can become a miracle that transforms the world. Helmed by acclaimed Tony Award-winning director Kenny Leon, this fresh and acoustically intimate take on the classic captures every aching emotion in composer Gian Carlo Menotti’s score.
THE WHOOPI MONOLOGUES
Performances begin Tuesday, July 7, 2026
Opening night is Tuesday, July 14, 2026
In 1984, up-and-coming monologist Whoopi Goldberg premiered her one-woman show on Broadway, torching the rulebook of traditional solo performance in one of the most electrifying debuts of the era.
Now, the trailblazing work returns—but for a new generation.
Kerry Washington (American Son, Scandal), and Kara Young (Purpose, Purlie Victorious) lead a remarkable ensemble of 5 women in bringing Goldberg’s unforgettable characters back to the stage, in this new production directed by Tony Award nominee Whitney White (Jaja’s African Hair Braiding). Funny, vivid, and deeply human, these nuanced portraits feel as fresh and irresistible today as they were over 40 years ago.
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