The Players Guild of Dearborn announces its 2025-26 season, with two comedies and three musicals. For more information, go to PlayersGuildofDearborn.org.
Whether you enjoy laughter or a toe-tapping show tune, the Players Guild of Dearborn’s 2025-26 season is sure to please, with two comedies and three musicals.
Until then, enjoy Shakespeare Royal Oak’s outdoor summer production of “MacBeth” at Starr Jaycee Park in Royal Oak.
PLAYERS GUILD OF DEARBORN ANNOUNCES NEW SEASON
PGD’s 98th season includes the comedies “The Cottage” and “Picasso at the Lapin Agile,” as well as the musicals “She Loves Me,” “Next to Normal” and “Hairspray.”
The season will open with the Sandy Rustin comedy “The Cottage,” which runs Sept. 12-14, 19-21 and 26-28, offering a modern take on Noel Coward scenario.
Set in Britian a century ago with modern sensibilities, a woman decides to expose her own love affair to her husband and her lover’s wife, following which a surprising and hilarious web of secrets are revealed. A screwball comedy, it has been described as both a “naughty romp” and “fiercely fun.”
More romance follows in the second show of the season, the musical “She Loves Me” which features a book by Joe Masteroff, music by Jerry Bock and lyrics by Sheldon Harnick.
It runs Nov. 7-9, 14-16 and 21-23, and is based on a play by Miklos Laszlo.
Set in 1930s Budapest in a perfume shop, the story focuses on two feuding clerks, Amalia and Georg, who can’t stand each other, but who have unwittingly fallen in love as pen pals brought together by a lonely-hearts ad. The musical explores whether their love can survive once their true identities are revealed.
The third show of the season is the Steve Martin comedy “Picasso at the Lapin Agile.”
The show, which runs Jan. 9-11, 16-18 and 23-25, is an absurdist comedy set in a 1904 Parisian café, where Albert Einstein and Pablo Picasso meet before either became successful or famous.
They debate the value of genius versus talent while interacting with the other characters. At one point a visitor from the future, a well-know entertainment icon, makes a cameo appearance, which focuses thought on the theory that great leaps of the imagination are important to the creative process in both art and science.
The fourth show of the season is the musical “Next to Normal.”
The show, which runs March 6-8, 13-15, and 20-22, features music by Tom Kitt and book and lyrics by Brian Yorkey.
The Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award-winning rock musical focuses on the impact of mental illness on a suburban family.
The story follows a wife and mother who struggles to find ways to treat her bipolar disorder, along with its delusions, mood swings and anxiety, and the impact her treatments have on her and her family. The family realizes that while they may never be “normal,” they can work toward being “next to normal.”
The season ends with the high-spirited musical “Hairspray,” which runs May 1-3, 8-10 and 15-17, with a book by Mark O’Donnell and Thomas Meehan, music by Marc Shaiman and lyrics by Scott Wittman and March Shaiman.
Set in 1962, Baltimore teen Tracy Turnblad dreams of dancing on the local television show, the Corny Collins Show. Along the way, she transforms herself from an outcast to a star, defeating the mean girl reigning teen queen, and integrating the show at the same time.
Season tickets are $95, and include a ticket for each of the five season shows. Friday and Saturday shows are at 8 p.m., with 2:30 p.m. Sunday matinees. Season tickets go on sale July 1, and are available at playersguildofdearborn.org.
Shakespeare Royal Oak presents “MacBeth” July 24 through Aug. 3 at Starr Jaycee Park, 1321 W. 13 Mile Road. For more information, go to ShakespeareRoyalOak.com.
SHAKESPEARE ROYAL OAK CELEBRATES 25TH SEASON WITH ‘MACBETH’
Shakespeare Royal Oak celebrates its 25th season July 24 to Aug. 3 with the Shakespearean tragedy “MacBeth” at Starr Jaycee Park, 1321 W. 13 Mile in Royal Oak.
When the Scottish general MacBeth receives a prophecy from a trio of witches predicting that he will one day become the King of Scotland, he becomes consumed with violent actions and ambition, murdering the current king and assuming the throne. As he becomes tyrannical and bloodthirsty, he and his equally ambitious wife fall prey to insanity and death as a result of their power-hungry, evil ambition.
Directed by Jeffrey Michael Nahan, the cast includes Drew and Meredith Parker as MacBeth and Lady MacBeth, Erika Hoveland as Duncan and Hecate, Aidan McCracken as Malcolm, A. Viktor Schroeder as Donalbain, Jason Irwin as the bloody sergeant and a murderer, Sara Wolf as Ross, and Oscar Quiroz as Lennox.
Brian Ogden plays Banquo, with Kate McClaine as the first witch, Princess Jones as the second witch and Lady MacDuff, and Kori Fay as the third witch, a murderer and a nurse.
David Moy plays Angus, with Craig Ester as MacDuff, Connor Finnegan as a porter and a murderer, Byron Keys as a doctor and an attendant, and Dennis Kleinsmith as Siward and an old man.
Tickets are $35 and are available at ShakespeareRoyalOak.com.
Show times are 7:30 p.m. July 24, 25, 26 and 31, and Aug. 1 and 2, with 3 p.m. July 27 and Aug. 3 matinees.
The Shakespeare Royal Oak high school age teen ensemble presents “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” at 7 p.m. July 27, 28 and 29 at Starr Jaycee Park, with donations accepted at the gate.