Lincoln Center Theater has unveiled its 2025–2026 season

THE WHOOPI MONOLOGUES - Tony^®  Award winner  Kara Young

Lincoln Center Theater has unveiled its 2025–2026 season—its first under the artistic direction of Lear deBessonet—with a slate that boldly mixes classic revivals, original works, and genre-defying collaborations. The announcement signals a new chapter for one of the city’s most venerated theatrical institutions, promising programming that is as expansive in its ambition as it is inclusive in scope.

At the Vivian Beaumont Theater, deBessonet will inaugurate her tenure with a Broadway revival of Ragtime, the Tony Award-winning musical adapted from E.L. Doctorow’s novel, with music by Stephen Flaherty, lyrics by Lynn Ahrens, and book by the late Terrence McNally. The production, a reimagining of deBessonet’s acclaimed New York City Center Gala staging, will star Joshua Henry, Caissie Levy, and Brandon Uranowitz.

Ragtime opens officially on October 16, with previews beginning September 26.

The Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater will host a trio of Off-Broadway premieres, beginning with the U.S. debut of Kyoto, the Royal Shakespeare Company and Good Chance Theatre production about the 1997 Kyoto climate negotiations. Written by Joe Murphy and Joe Robertson (The Jungle) and directed by Stephen Daldry and Justin Martin, the play stars Stephen Kunken and mines the tension between global idealism and political pragmatism.

In December, Tony Award winner Kenny Leon directs opera luminary Joyce DiDonato in Amahl and the Night Visitors, Gian Carlo Menotti’s one-act holiday opera, presented in collaboration with The Metropolitan Opera. And in July 2026, The Whoopi Monologues returns to the stage in an ensemble reinterpretation directed by Whitney White and starring Kerry Washington and Kara Young.

Meanwhile, at the Claire Tow Theater, LCT3 continues its commitment to innovation and emerging voices. The 2025–26 season includes a new Comedy Series developed with Seaview and featuring Jenny Slate; the folk-infused musical Night Side Songs by The Lazours, directed by Taibi Magar; and Julia May Jonas’s A Woman Among Women, a contemporary response to Arthur Miller’s All My Sons, co-produced with New Georges and The Bushwick Starr.

Further deepening its investment in playwrights, Lincoln Center Theater will launch a new Reading Series, curated by a distinguished cohort of alumni: Ayad Akhtar, Branden Jacobs-Jenkins, Lynn Nottage, Marco Ramirez, J.T. Rogers, and Sarah Ruhl. The one-night-only presentations will showcase writers new to the LCT community, offering a rare window into works in progress.

Beyond its stages, the theater will expand its reach with robust new community engagement initiatives. The Education Department has been renamed the Education and Community Engagement Department, which will launch storytelling workshops, book clubs, and art-making events connected to the season’s productions. “We want to meet people where they are—and welcome them where we are,” said Kati Koerner, now the Hiltz Director of Education and Community Engagement.

Lincoln Center Theater is also reaching across disciplines with “expanded programming” that includes a free Silent Disco Listening Party featuring Warriors, a concept album by Lin-Manuel Miranda and Eisa Davis, and Come & Sing, a community choral event series in collaboration with Jeanine Tesori.

“The richness and range of work speaks to theater as a place for wonder, truth, and heart,” said deBessonet in a statement. “I’m grateful to steward this magnificent theater into its next glorious chapter.”

It’s a season that doesn’t just invite audiences in—it throws open the doors.

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.

Emmy^® Award-winning producer, actor and filmmaker Kerry Washington (American Son, “Scandal”), and Tony^®  Award winner 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. Funny, vivid, and deeply human, these nuanced portraits feel as fresh and irresistible today as they were over 40 years ago.

 

THE WHOOPI MONOLOGUES is produced in partnership with Whoop Inc./Tom Leonardis and Washington’s Simpson Street.

“WARRIORS” Silent Disco

Wednesday, July 30 at 9:30pm

The Dance Floor at Josie Robertson Plaza (10 Lincoln Center Plaza)

Join Lin-Manuel Miranda and Eisa Davis for an exclusive free Silent Disco Listening Party featuring their new concept album WARRIORS, executive produced by rap icon Nas and produced by GRAMMY^® Award-winning artist Mike Elizondo and co-presented by Lincoln Center Theater and Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts as part of their Summer for the City series. 

Inspired by the 1979 cult film, WARRIORS follows a fictitious New York City gang framed for the murder of a respected gang leader. With a special guest DJ spinning and special guests from the album’s star-studded artist roster, this unforgettable silent disco will inspire you to dance to the city’s heartbeat!